so i picked up a harbor freight welding helmet some reason can't seem to be able to see my puddle with stainless sometimes yes and sometimes no, is there a big diff on more expensive helmets or am i doing something wrong

 

be careful with your harbor freight helmet. I have one too. It worked great with my MIG welder and my transformer TIG machine. When I sold my transformer and bought an inverter TIG machine I kept getting flashed. I eventually went back to a fixed shade helmet and have been using it since until I get a good quality hood like jackson or speedglas

 

you really trust your eyesight to the cheapest possible product there is? ballsy.

 

that's what is happening

 

Stop wasting your money on cheap helmets. Spend the money and buy a quality auto-darkening helmet like Miller or Speedglas. You WILL weld better and $300 is minuscule when you're talking about permanent vision loss.

 

another with this issue. I use the cheap HF for mig and got a nice fixed shade 10 jackson for tig welding.

 

Miller Elite or fixed glass. Only hoods I will put on my head. If you haven't used an Elite, try one, you'll understand.

 

Speedglass all the way! I have been using mine for 5 years. My not be the nicest or have the biggest viewing window but it has never let me down!!!!!

 

I have a lincoln, it feels good but is a bit heavy.

 

Miller digital elite is an awful helmet. Esab new tech 6-13 xl adc plus is probably the best helmet on the market right now. Speedglass and fixed shade work well too.

The one nice feature about the miller helmet is the "x-mode" besides that its heavy, uncomfortable, weak poorly designed headgear, cant wear a respirator under it. I have one that i keep as a back up to my esab helmet that i only bring out if i need to use the x-mode.

 

Any idea why (physically, not "HF is junk") the HF hoods don't work well with tig welding? For the little mig welding I do, my HF hood seems to work great. Am I getting eye damage and don't know it?

 

Gonna order another one from arczone don't know which one they are some 180 and some 400 and there is also a option can someone but me on the correct path for the correct one

 

i run a Tweko and i love it. only like $90 when i bought it from the local welding store about 2 years ago. i've welded back to back using that and a $300 Miller helmet and i can't really see the difference other than larger weight of the Miller

 

The sensitivity of the sensor or the amount of sensors. What you pay for with welding helmets is sensor quality, sensor adjustability, number of sensors, type of sensors (some helmets have ir and emf), lense speed, lense quality (afik speedglass and the top of the line esab helmets are the only ones that give ir/uv protection ratings) and other features.

 

here's something to think about with the HF helmet. they are what? 69? for 83 shipped you can get a miller classic off ebay from torchking that's a dual sensor helmet with sensitivity adjustment and variable shade.

 

Who said anything about digital? Also, I have the standard and supplied breather air hoods. Respirators are for beginners.
To each his own I guess.

 

The standard is worse than the digital. It lacks emf detection and cutting and grinding modes. I have both a standard and a digital. I thought the miller helmets were ok until I got a real helmet. My rundown on helmets that I own.


Best: esab newtech 6-13 xl adc plus
Pretty good: 3m speedglass 9100x
Good: jackson nexgen
Decent: miller digital elite
Ok: miller elite
Bad: hobart xvs (not pictured)

Does the miller elite work? Yeah it works, but it's not as good as you make it seem.

Also why would I need a supplied air hood with a rigid purge chamber? The respirator comment was for people without fume extraction or proper ppe.

 

Hah, well I have been welding for a few decades and this new fangled stuff never ceases to amaze me. My Miller Elites both have grind settings with dials. I guess I have no idea what you mean then. I have a Speedglas and it is much worse than the Millers, Now you are going to make me look aat the Models. I actually use my stuff almost everyday, yet couldn't tell you the numbers and such.

 

Our shop owner got some sort of auto darkening helmet... assuming harbor freight... I had it sitting inside for awhile and havent used it... First time I went to weld I got flashed a few times... did this until I held it in front of my shop lights for like 15 minutes (still flashed then too) then stopped. Gotta get something decent and affordable.
I have a transformer tig and it worked great when I would use it consistently.