Good info bro. Time to get one soon. My helmet know is starting to drop on its own rather than stay in the up position. Getting irritating to say the least.
My new welding helmet
- Thread starter sicivicdude
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Good info bro. Time to get one soon. My helmet know is starting to drop on its own rather than stay in the up position. Getting irritating to say the least.
The blue one with all the scratches in the picture is a "$50" cheapy auto-darkening. It has served me well for 4 years but as the internal battery has become weak it's gotten inconsistent at lower power arc starts. I could have bought a $5 battery for it and kept on rocking but with the sell and profit from the engine driven welder, I decided to reinvest and get a higher end helmet.
I will never recommend, for the price difference ($25 versus $50) anyone buying a single shade (flip down) helmet. For $50 you can have a decent auto-darken that (at least while you're learning) will make welding easier and more reliable. The price point for a cheap auto-darkening helmet versus a nice auto-darkening helmet means that it's a good deal for an occasional user (hobbyist) and mainly when you have time to "play" with it. If the weld is time critical or going to be inspected or be a life threatening situation if it fails (basically if you're doing it for profit
) then more money is warranted on a better quality helmet with more features.
I'm old enough to have done most of my welding with the old flip down helmets. It's like staying with dos instead of upgrading to windows cuz it's simple & your just to stubborn to change. Autodarkning was a tremendous improvement in the trade. You can get magnifying inserts for most brands. I really want to try a large lens like civic got. As age ruined my eyes I had the problem with bi-focal & progressive glasses that when you look down for close up vision you'd be looking at the inside of the helmet instead of out the lens. I'm thinking a large window would allow me to use my glasses instead if a magnifying insert. It would be a huge improvement for me to have full vision instead of just magnified. Thanks for the pics civic, now I got the wanna's for a big window!
LOL Helmet envy!
This helmet has the slots for the cheater lenses:
Welders Direct: Magnifying "Cheater" Helmet Lens
I'm not sure how effective the extra large lens is going to be for trying to use it with your glasses. Most of the large lens is below where a normal auto-darken lens ends....
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On each side above the inside protective plexiglass layer, there's a slot on each side. I was VERY pleased to see that Arcone included that feature in this helmet. From a manufacturers standpoint it costs $.08 in plastic but sets this helmet in the same league as the higher priced brand name models.
Only problem with being from the "stone(d)" age is I still flip my auto dark 
.
If I'm doing anything big I get into the swing of it, but quick jobs I usually forget. I've got Tractor Supply cheapy on Christmas sale $60.
Don't know if all are the same, but left mine in rain X
D, luckily within warrenty timeI:I
.If I'm doing anything big I get into the swing of it, but quick jobs I usually forget. I've got Tractor Supply cheapy on Christmas sale $60.
Don't know if all are the same, but left mine in rain X
D, luckily within warrenty timeI:I- Status
