Welding hood/helmet comparison: Viewer suggestion.
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- Опубліковано 5 сер 2024
- In this episode we tackle looking at the differences in cheap vs expensive welding hoods.
0:00:00 intro
0:01:42 Cheap hood
0:10:23 Expensive hood
0:24:22 Face mask
0:27:13 Conclusion
My first helmet was the Yes welder. It worked fine until it fell off a table. It started flashing me all the time. The clarity was awful. I bought the Lincoln 3350 for full retail ($350). The price hurt because I am Joe Amateur. My welding improved the moment I put the helmet on. I could see what I was doing. Buy a helmet with clarity. It is worth it.
Glad to hear it made a difference. Being able to see better is definitely a good thing 😀.
"On the floor where its atleast reasonably clean" 😂. Just wanted to say that I greatly appreciate your time and skills and the fact that you upload videos for all the hammer sharp individuals like myself. Thank you
No problem 😀.
The battery is used to auto darken the lens when an ark is struck, then the solar panel takes over from the battery.
This stops you from being blinded if the battery had gone flat during welding, that is probably why it still worked in the sub zero temperatures.@@makingmistakeswithgreg
I'm a welder for my pacheck,I my 1st was a Speedglas 9002x,got a Viking large window 'Lincoln' at work.99 percent of my work is done with a large window Jackson passive-I only use the auto's for tig and plasma gouging
I got my first taste of trying welding this weekend with a passive $20 dollar menards special hood. The comfort or lack of was a bigger problem than it being a passive hood.
Great point. Fighting with your equipment or dealing with something that’s uncomfortable takes the fun right out of things lol.
I recently upgraded my helmet from the harbor freight to a hobart inventor i got on sale at tractor supply it definitely is alot easier to see out of im really happy with it
I don’t trust any of the really cheap auto hoods found on Amazon and eBay. Every cheap Chinese product says that they meet certain standards, but I don’t always believe them. For example with welding hoods, they’re supposed to meet UV and IR standards, but do they? There’s really no way to know. I’m not really interested in going blind to save a few bucks. For those who don’t know, that UV and IR protection must work without the darkening. I use an ESAB Sentinel helmet. My first one was the A50, with a 1.1.2 view ability rating. It still works. I just wanted the brighter screen. I’m 74 and my vision isn’t what it used to be. The new A60 I recently bought is 1.1.1. Helmets with that rating have the greatest transparency. I really like these helmets except that the front is a bit wider than I’d like. Others have said this as well. They’re a medium price helmet at $299 for the older model, and $350 for the new one. I ’ve used the old one for six years and never had to change the battery, but I don’t weld as much as Greg does.
Can test with a little UV flashlight and a $20 bill. The Antra hoods are good, but the YesWelders are atrocious. Lit up the $20 like a Christmas tree
@@Jajaky I still wouldn’t trust them. Those lights don’t put out short UV and likely not much, if any, medium wave UV as well. It’s the short wave emission that causes cancer the most. The medium wave second,y. The sun only puts out long and medium through our sea level atmosphere. That’s why more severe sunburn occurs at higher altitudes as well as higher cancer rates. It’s just not worth the risk.
Thanks for this. I’m wanting to get into welding and your channel has helped a ton with my questions!
Glad to hear it’s helped you out 😀
Thanks for sharing! My first hood is the harbor freight with flames! Works well and I still have it. To start learning TIG, I picked up a wide field of view Yes! welder, when I picked up my 7-in-1. Super have with both.
Went from the Horrible freight to a midline lincoln and it's a world of difference. I couldn't see sheet with the HF.
I’ve worn many hoods over the years and to me the Lincoln Viking and ESAB Sentinel are the best made!
I have yet to use the sentinel, what do you think in comparison to the Viking? I may pick one up for testing.
Definitely the little holes on the front of the hoods are Infrared sensors. Usually the cheaper ones only have 2 and the more expensive have 4. Fun tidbit. If you wanna test the battery in your hood or just test your hood in general. You can use any old ir remote, just point at the front of your hood and press a button and the hood will darken.
That must be why my phone randomly triggers it. It can be really frustrating when filming lol.
the harbor fright one does have a battery... dish soap rubbed on lens helps with frost... and yea, HF hoods do last. I've got one or two that I've had for at least 20 years. The one I replaced the lens with a auto dark lens (it was that old) Head gear still works fine. No, I don't use it every single day but much more than most. Your expensive hood is about $550. And yea, has 4 sensors. Latest one I bought - Yeswelder LYG-M800D. It's decent. I used it for a few hours in 10-15 F (above 0) with no issues. I did the dish soap trick. BTW, rain-x anti-fog isn't worth a crap. You can always swap headgear and lens. The plastic 'hood' part does nothing.
I never tried that anti fog on a welding lens, but I had poor luck with it on safety glasses so it’s good to know it works poorly on other things too lol.
I just got a YES hood it has a large window - True color view - 1/1/1/2 Optical Clarity - auto darkening - 4 arc sensor and controls on the outside $70 I gave it a quick check to be sure it works but with the colder weather I have not done ant real work but I can get back to you when it warms up. FYI I'm a retired electrician that worked outside year round for 30 years and like to sty inside were its warm.
An interesting topic Greg.
I bought a Parweld XR937H back in May last year to replace my 28yr old Jackson Translight Autodarkening helmet (Cost £250inc VAT back then because it was a new thing). The Parweld has the same style head gear as your Lincoln, but its flimsy and annoying so I binned it and put the head gear in from the Jackson which is great quality and very similar to the one in your Chicago Electric. That improved the Parweld helmet greatly. However, the weight 538g (approx) is 40% heavier than the old Jackson. That weight really tells when you are under something welding overhead.
The Parweld has been relegated as a spare because I have replaced it with a Universal (cheap ESAB make) auto helmet. It has a button for grinding rather than a slide switch like on the Parweld which is cumbersome to use. My tip for folk looking for a helmet, go try one on, mailorder is not the way to go.
100% agree, trying them on is the way to go. It’s also worth it to consider the weight, lightweight ones can make a huge difference in neck pain when you’re wearing it 10-12 hours a day for weeks on end. I am moving into a new job as a lead fabricator/welder (where I will actually weld and fabricate full time) and it will be interesting to see how much the weight of the 3350 affects me.
I agree the larger view lens are well worth it. In my experience with what I do I have to say that the lenses (and I have been using them since auto darkening first came out) for me all seem very adequate some of the newer technology have truer color when the darkening is not on. My biggest complaint is the head gear. I have had expensive helmets (Jackson, Lincoln etc.) and I have bought replacement top end headgear but I have never had one that didn't sag. It will drive you nuts. I have also had several cheap helmets over the years with the same results. Now there is no question that some of the better units are more comfortable but I am always looking for one that will just stay up when I put it up. Even to the point that I will knock it down when needed but I want the damn thing to stay up past the first cycle or two when I have the nuts cranked down as far as they will go. Preferably a nod down should suffice but that is secondary to me compared to staying up. I will add that many of the chinesium super cheap ones do not expand enough to get a cap on under them. Also I seem to have no real problem with wearing out the batteries. I have probably eight or better helmets on the rack and I tend to use one almost exclusively so the others are sitting for years. A couple have no replaceable batteries but manage to always have a good charge just from shop lights, others do have replaceable batteries but I rarely ever have to replace them. I get to feeling guilty and will go through them every two or three years with the meter to test the batteries but they turn out fine. I continue to check them to make sure no leakage is occurring. From that I have to say that the recharging capability seem excellent from those arrays in the lens. Now I don't have that Lincoln Viking so it may be a different critter. I think for me a helmet that went through batteries that rapidly would be a deal breaker (a fella never seems to have the right kind of battery when he needs one and no place close to get any). I have also bought after market quality lens to put in older helmets that were not auto darkening with very good success. The Italians for one make some very good replacements. I put one in the Jackson Wide View (which came out before the auto darkening was widely available) twenty five years ago and have no complaints about that. With all that said I still can not find a head gear that works, even though I have been buying helmets since the early seventies. Tried adding a teflon thin washer, etc. to some of them and got no real improvement. The bottom end helmets will quickly fall apart and the plastic snaps to adjust them are a joke as well as the back ratchet so I would stay in the mid range or get used to electrical tape to hold the head gear together with no adjustments. Surprisingly the lenses themselves seem more than adequate.
Having gone thru a few helmets, currently I have 5 of which I only use 3. The rest are wall hangers , that is all they are good for.
I recently bought a Miller Digital Infinity as it is a very wide view. So far this is the best helmet I have used. Some say the Oprex from Switzerland is the best and lightest. The Miller has clear view and true colour , which if you have never looked thru a helmet like that you would not understand the difference. I am not sure if the Lincoln has true colour , maybe their newest model does.
Boy did I luck out, went into Tractor Supply and they had this Hobart Creator helmet still in the sealed package for $65 bucks
was like $125 (clearance) having a blast with this new Lincoln 90i, I guess watching hours of videos payed off, knowing how to trouble shoot was a big help (thanks) I am amazed how easy it is. having clean steel sure makes a difference. But you are right about popping a 20amp breaker, wired in a new circuit and it still blew, not sure why Lincoln would underrate it like this, should be a 30amp circuit, so 10g and 30amp breaker going in will get a heavy duty 20amp resep that should solve the problem. it's not going to be running like an air compressor that sees hour's on end. the machine has one heavy ass cord so the weak link is the 20amp resep. and they have a factor built in anyway.
Part of the reason why they pop breakers is the fact it’s extremely difficult (costly) to make a mig/wire welder that can throttle its draw from the wall. Welders like fronius units will basically limit the wattage draw from an outlet so you don’t get breaker trips. Thats difficult because mig operates on variable amperage, with the amperage being whatever it takes to keep clearing the short of the wire. Well .035 takes a lot more current than .030, so a 15a draw from the wall at a certain wire speed with .030 can easily be 20+ with .035. Since wire feed needs to be able to be adjusted high enough to weld with .030 wire, you can’t limit current by just limiting wire speed, since you would have to set max wire feed based on the biggest wire the machine can run. You don’t have this issue with stick since you run regulated amp output and you can set a voltage cut off so you will never be able to draw more from the outlet than a predetermined amount.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg That makes a lot of sense, my friend next door knows how to weld, I am going to do some amp draw tests at the box while he is welding I have a industrial rated 20 amp resep, i found laying in a dumpster 😉 at the last nuclear station we worked at year's ago , you wouldn't believe the stuff they throw away, they don't mess around with NRC stuff.
I think I understand by Lincolns description of the use of this welder that it can be man portable and utilize what ever power supply that is available. if my amps tests show under 30 amps I don't see why I can't rewire the circuit for 30 amps. and these 20amp plugs are intended to have both slots loaded 20 amps max 24/7 from a split branch., thanks for the explanation on how the welder is built. oh BTW my friend said to tell you we were welding 3/16 plate butt type joint?
3/16th butt welds are definitely doable with the machine. Leave a slight gap for better fusion.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg 👍🏻
I've bought a number of these welding helmets similar to that Viking over last 3..5+ years and each cost me about only $30-$90. Al of them still intact and work perfectly. As you may know, when you're welding you need at least three of them, one for yourself, and a couple for your buddies to have a cinematic view of you frying some thick steel :)
Yeah I understand we're talking about but I found the ultimate hood that don't cost an army leg nor does it cost pennies. Is he yes welder helmet? It's got a three window helmet but using that for almost 3 years now and never had a bit of problem. Guess it's heavy, but what it does in the long run is better off. You should check it out
I have a Yeswelder, full feature, large screen I use predominantly. I can see with it better than anything else. The headgear is lightly built and requires care. (Lincoln is a good drop in replacement if needed.) I have a fixed pancake I use outside because I can't see if there is any light coming from behind me.
I also have a RadnorRD48 I just can't make friends with.
I bought one of the yes welder helmets to replace an Antra. After using the Yes welder, I felt like I had arc flash. I go grab my little UV flashlight to test the UV blocking, and guess what... the 20 dollar bill I used to detect UV through the lens lit up like a Christmas tree! I thought it was pretty much guaranteed to block the UV, but I guess China finds a way.
I tested my old Antra, and it worked perfectly. Idk what Yeswelder was doing, but it certainly isn't safe. Even $12 sunglasses passed this test
Thanks so much for sharing this. I actually picked up a yes welder hood for testing with 3 others. I will definitely check this out. Either yours is a one off defective unit or they are all like that. Generally speaking the hoods should have UV filtering even in the non darkened state, so if you were seeing it though that is a bad sign.
I have a cheap helmet which puts you in a green dystrophy and a slightly better one (90€)that has a wider view and "full" color. Guess which i like more... 😂 But it is not the only the head gear as you said, the better one is fully adjustable with knobs from the outside (a swich for range grind /cut 5-8/weld up to 13) and potentiometers for sensitivity, darkening and delay. For that money a good Deal, I think.
I have a pretty good selection of hoods. My every day users are an Esab sentinel and a Speedglas. I have hoods by Miller, Lincoln, Optrel, and Jackson, all except the Jackson are widescreen and easily usable. About a year ago I was given an Arc Captain wide-screen hood, I was amazed by the usability of this 50 or 60 dollar hood Just something to consider.
The difference in the modern sub 100$ hoods vs old ones is pretty amazing. I picked up that harbor freight in the video for very little, and it’s way better than the cheap one I had 20 years ago.
I bought a hood from HF my mistake it was damaged at work, looking around I found someone discarded “Western” brand and to my suprise the lense is exactly identical made!! Three new batteries in and off to the races. Comfortable head gear.
I have my Hobart auto hood at home use and it is decent job to.
Doesn’t surprise me that there is another brand with compatibility. Harbor freight has some pretty wild products that are rebranded as premium by other companies. Without spoiling it harbor freight sells an identical tool that Milwaukee has as theirs, at 2x the price lol.
I know it is a pain, but I keep a face shield hanging on my welding cart, so when I finish welding and move to grind, green back, I just swap the entire mask. That’s how I get around using the HF mask and move between grind and weld “mode”
I bought a yes welder with the side glass in the reviews they said the head gear was horrible but the hood was good so I bought the recommended Lincoln replacement head gear and have been really happy with it since I swapped them out so 60 for the helmet 30 for the new head set and its been pretty good mind you i am a novice welder but i have made and repaired quite a few things I also have a HF red helmet that I don't mind using at all
The cheaper helmets main drawback is the headgear. Glad to hear better headgear would work for it. One thing that is actually a benefit to the cheaper hoods is the weight, many of them are pretty light weight which is nice. I will be doing a review of a yeswelder, arc captain, and a couple others in a lower priced shootout.
I have a miller digital elite from 2010 or so. Wondering if it's worth it to upgrade to a more current model. Also hate the blister buttons. Not only can I not hit the buttons with gloves on, I have to use my fingernail to hit them even without gloves...
I went with the Vulcan Arcsafe 10.1 sq - the head gear is a pretty solid rip off of the Lincoln. It was probably 3 times the Chicago Electric. But I am considering it money well spent.
I wanted to look at the headgear on that hood but the local harbor freight had them strapped down so good I couldn’t remove it lol. I have heard a lot of good about them.
Could you confirm again if the test button takes into account the delay setting? In the video you set the delay all the way to "S" (short aka basically 0) instead of "L" (long)
I screwed around with it and mine doesn’t seem to make a difference with the delay setting. The test button seems to work on its own time.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg It does seem to take into account the delay, the user manual for the helmet states "L" max is 1 second delay "S" max is 0.1 seconds, you originally press and release it at "L" at 19:20 and it turns off at 19:22 ish(your hand is completely away from the button, however when you after change it to "S" it turns off on literally the next frame of the video (you can advance video frame by frame with "," and "." while video is paused) not trying to argue just trying to get correct info out there :)
i use a jbo AR-13 GF fiberglass welding helmet
My lights in my shop make the HF hoods go dark, unless i have the sensitivity set to minimum.
Great point, I noticed that too. The cheaper hoods tend to get far more false positives.
when first started welding , cheap hood = got flashed about 4 times and stopped, went to store and got a Good helmet about $180, sure it uses a couple $1 batts a month, but NO Flashes since. You only have two eyes, $200 is not a high price.... even for a beginner. well thats my feeling anyway.
Great point, and something I didn’t really mention much. Cheaper hoods generally do flash you more, especially with tig. You are right, your eyes are valuable, and protecting them is important 😀
Talking about cheap headgear, the knob on my Lincoln 3350 busted off twice. BS on a $300 hood.
I wonder, did you have the one with the grind button on the side or the one I have without it? Maybe they cheapened the headgear on the newer one.
Grind button.
I just bought one with the grind button and the headgear is definitely cheaper than the older model I have. No doubt they cheapened it.
You have the same condition I have lol. Give me a flat surface, an I'll pile crap there
Luckily the floor is big enough to find a spot 😅
I've had plenty of the cheap hf hoods they have 2 batteries inside. They only are in use to turn it on then the solar kicks in and covers the darkening. They are regular lithium button cells and not rechargable, or replaceable. They are spot welded in place. When they die it's time for a new hood! I had a Hobart but it was off similar quality with only the high range of shades albeit with a wider window. All of those, ALL OF EM died after getting rained on many just a few drops and nothin. Some dried out and worked until the next shower but usually not 2. I currently have the hf hood with the green tribal graphics. It has the lower set of shades and the upper, with a big window. I've only had a couple of jobs where i was welding overhead from the helmets perspective anyway where i couldn't see. With all the other upper only shade helmets it's get screwed trying to tig weld. I couldn't get it light enough to see what the hell was going on with low amps. I started wearing sunglasses and turning the helmet to grind mode (off) until i got it close enough to use. I feel like the $80 (on sale) hf hood offers good-better clarity than any of the cheaper ones. The Hobart was probably in the middle... So if you need a 5,6, or 7 shade I'd recommend the mid grade hf helmet. If you are just doing sick and want an auto darkening helmet the 40 dollar hf are ok. If doing mig or flux core pay more than 40. You'll be happy you did. At least i am.
Ps I have used a Miller hood (on loan) and didn't see much if any difference to the 120-(80 on sale) hf hood.
Pps every hood I've used let light in from behind (sun at your back) creating a glare situation in the hood. I'm planning on making a denim hood back to cover my entire head and block out all distracting light sources. Probably save my dome from flux core welding rod spatter too!
Speedglas 9100xx(?) - helps me see what I’m doing…
That’s probably the most common hood I see in industry. I haven’t used any of their newer ones to know how they compare, but the reliability of them is unquestionably good.