hey guys, ive been doing some minor welding around the garage and ive been walking away with a bit of a headache afterwards. ive noticed that my harbor frieght special welding helmet it starting to have a 2-3 second delay in with switch from unshaded to shaded. i thought the arc was looking alittle bright but i hadnt welded in a month or so, so i chalked it up to that. but after having read the safety thread in the body shop thread and hearing all the horror stories ive decided that i like to see things and id like to not go blind at 23. so heres my question. where can i get a decent quality helmet that has the auto darkening feature, a comfortable head strap (with sweatband?), larger view window than normal, good over-head coverage ( i often have to turn off the overhead light in the area im working in to get a good view or put my hood up if im wearing one),preferably name brand for quality and warrenty purposes (3M, miller, etc.) and the most important feature....price. my range is up to about $300, i know you cant put a price on your health but....ok no wait you actually can. any suggestions of stores to look in or particular helmets would be appreciated guys. thanks. -tim

i have not had the money to buy a self darnkening helmet yet but everyone i know that has the Harbor Freight self darkening helmet has had problems. They are rather cheap and arent made for the daily welder. Ive used a few Lincoln masks and Miller Masks and have been happy with both. Id aim a little more towards the Miller if you can.

I was a pipeline welder by trade. I started years ago with the old passive glass helmets. I have had many auto hoods. First was a Speedglass, Jackson, Huntsman and Miller. I would stick with Jackson,Miller or Huntsman. The biggest improvements in helmets is the large view window. In restoration use, Get one that has a flip up electronic window, but still has the clear glass in place for grinding ---- or better yet ----get one that has a grinding setting button. The older ones would go dark when the saw sparks from the grinder. Then you can,t see good detail. I buy mine at the welding supply called NORCO. My next one will be a Miller.

I have had a SPEEDGLASS welding helmet for 5 years. I have used it nearly every day with no problems apart from replacing the batteries a few times.

Tim don't overlook welding fumes as the culprit. They have masks by 3M and others for this purpose.

yeah ed that definatly didnt help, the garage is all closed up for winter without any ventilation.

what do you guys think of this miller?
http://www.weldsafe.com/miller-digital-elite-auto-darkening-helmet-black-Welding-Supplies-c-14-p-1-pr-14.html

it has the grinding mode like dennis had mentioned. im surprised how hard it is to find a plain looking helmet, the designs are nice and everything but im just a plain kinda guy

I have a Miller that I bought two years ago for $250 at a car show swap meet I is nice because it can be adjusted for light sensivity for grinding or the problem I had was having a light bulb under the car and if you looked at it the shield I had would go dark..

Let me go on record here to say I've had no problem with my Harbor Freight helmet. I was told that scratches in the glass make the worthless for vision protection. My main concern is that it is set dark enough for the type of welding I'm doing. I believe stick, MIG , and TIG require a different setting.

Jeff

Tim,
I have a Miller Pro-Hobby helmet and I LOVE it. I do switch between a faceshield and the welding helmet for grinding and such, but I really like it for the price. I bought it new on eBay for I think $170 or so?

I am glad that you are taking your health seriously... There are a lot of younger guys that I work with that think putting on a respirator or wearing safety glasses isn't cool or something stupid like that... You will live a long and healthy life if you take it seriously, which in turn will give you more years with your car!!!! (and the chicks you take out for a ride if you know waht I mean....)

yeah ed that definatly didnt help, the garage is all closed up for winter without any ventilation.

what do you guys think of this miller?
http://www.weldsafe.com/miller-digital-elite-auto-darkening-helmet-black-Welding-Supplies-c-14-p-1-pr-14.html

it has the grinding mode like dennis had mentioned. im surprised how hard it is to find a plain looking helmet, the designs are nice and everything but im just a plain kinda guy

That is a really nice helmet and if it's a price you can live with.....go for it....:yes:
I hear ya about all the colorful graphics. Do flames, skulls and eagles make one a better welder ??

Tim,
I have a Miller Pro-Hobby helmet and I LOVE it. I do switch between a faceshield and the welding helmet for grinding and such, but I really like it for the price. I bought it new on eBay for I think $170 or so?

I am glad that you are taking your health seriously... There are a lot of younger guys that I work with that think putting on a respirator or wearing safety glasses isn't cool or something stupid like that... You will live a long and healthy life if you take it seriously, which in turn will give you more years with your car!!!! (and the chicks you take out for a ride if you know waht I mean....)

I have the Miller Pro Hobby too that I got from the local welding supply when I bought my Miller Auto 180. Night and day from the passive helmets of old. My only problem is forgetting to turn it on for initial use.....:( I still flip it up for better vision when not welding. It may take a while before I get used all this new fangled stuff.....:rolleyes:

i have a Lincoln helmet from lowes with an autodarking 11 shade. its not a bad helmet, but i wish i would have spent more and got an adjustable shade because 11 doesn't always cut it. it was about $100.

Can I recommend not going to buy a whole new helmet. Get on the internet and fine your local welding supply shop and carry you existing helmet with you and just buy an auto darkening lens. The shop can recommend what will fit your hood and will run you about 100-150 dollars. Works just the same as buying a $250 miller but half the cost.

I bought a miller performance series for around $180 i believe, and i have no complaints at all.
Its comfortable light and most important its going to protect my eyes.
This model has auto darkening and a grinding mode, its a great hood for the price.

I'm on my second Harbor Freight helmet and it is better than the first one as far as seeing better before the spark. When my helmet starting acting up (the same way,too much delay) I found the contacts for the AAA batteries were a little corroded. Cleaned them up and installed new batteries and all is well.

I've got the Miller '29 Roadster auto helmet (adjustable shade), I use it for tig welding. I've had it for about two years and its been great. I had an Optrel before this one and it was good, but failed after 2 years. It's my understanding that other than the bright light the lenses will protect your eyes from the harmful rays, even if it doesn't auto darken, although you will still have problems from the bright light.

I use this and I have been happy with it.
http://www.accustrike.com/

I heard about it on camaros.net from the HOW TO thread here
http://www.camaros.net/forums/showpost.php?p=66951&postcount=2

Seems like a lot of people using the miller helmets including myself. I have the miller elite inferno. Yes it has flames and skulls. No it dies not make for better welding, but was available when I bought my new toy. I worked out a package deal including the miller 180 autoset, helmet, a couple 8lb rolls of wire, couple sets of gloves and a few other things for 1150.00. I have been using it a couple times a week for last 7 months with zero for complaints. Its a very good product and I think most people would find the miller auto darks a very user friendly and quality piece.

Should have mentioned included this info more for others thinking about buying a new helmet being as I would assume you have replaced yours by now based on the dates of the original post.

hey guys, i forgot about this thread. the other week i ran out of shielding gas and while i was at the welding supply i figured eh what the heck ill pony up and get a helmet. i figured its my eyesight we are talking about so id like to trust it to a name brand. the guy had nothing but nice things to say about it. alright heres what i got

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c189/timbevis/DSCN9900.jpg

What no flames,skulls or eagles?
Good move you only get 1 set of eyes, I know id never trust mine to a harbor freight shield.

What no flames,skulls or eagles?
Good move you only get 1 set of eyes, I know id never trust mine to a harbor freight shield.


haha you dont know how hard i had to look to find a good helmet that was just plain jane. i mean to each their own but im just a plain kind of guy, what can i say?

the helmet works great guys, just tried it out on some scraps and it think it might be a little too sensitive. but there are adjustments ive yet to play with and plus i was outside, but thus far its my only complaint. the miller grind mode is a really cool feature too. i cant even remember how many times ive gone to break out the angle grinder and thought "eh its not big deal ill be using it for 30 seconds if that" and ive taken for granted the fact that eye glasses do not count as eye protection and as a result i had a nice chunk of metal removed from my eyeball last year. and not to mention that the brightness of even the sparks from grinding can be harmful. oh well, now i can try to be that safety concious older guy trying to convince the younger guys who think they are invincible to protect themselves before damage is done....wish i would have listened to them