What welding helmet to buy?

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Is the ESAB Eyetech II  welding helmet considered one of the best you can buy for eye protection?There are cheap ones I see at Home Depot and such but those are probably of the same quality as the HarbourFreight right?
Reply:There's a lot of quality hoods out there. It mainly depends on your budget and flavor of choice."SOUTHPAW" A wise person learns from another persons mistakes;A smart person learns from their own mistakes;But, a stupid person.............never learns.
Reply:I like my miller digital eliteLincoln 255XT Power Mig                                                                    Lincoln Precision Tig 225Hypertherm Powermax 30
Reply:esab helmets are quality items ,i beleive optrel makes them for esab. but as a rule of thumb buy the best you can afford there are no spares for those orbs in your head.FelonCaution lurker lives here" hmmm That is serious,pass the ganja and pick up a  24 of MGD"
Reply:I have had a $50.00 Harbor Freight auto dark helmet for four or five years now maybe longer. Never been flashed, still works great. Only thing is the headgear is "cheap" but I would be hard pressed to buy the Speedglas I always wanted when this one "does the job well"!"Where's Stick man????????" - 7A749"SHHHHHH!! I sent him over to snag that MIC-4 while tbone wasn't looking!" - duaneb55"I have bought a few of Tbone's things unlike Stick-Man who helps himself" - TozziWelding"Stick-man"
Reply:I've heard the 3m speedglass helmets are great, was looking at getting myself a 9100. anybody have input on these? Anything out there thats better for the price?
Reply:I have a Speedglas 9100XX and it is awesome. I've used a few cheap Horror Freight helmets and a Jackson Auto Darkening (I can't recall what model it was, borrowed it from one of the instructors for a few minutes) and I keep going back to my 9100. It's very comfortable and the headgear is very adjustable.The only thing that most people balk at is the price. I got mine for 300$, but it's well worth the investment.The world is amazing when you are slightly strange.
Reply:Originally Posted by CrawfordI've heard the 3m speedglass helmets are great, was looking at getting myself a 9100. anybody have input on these? Anything out there thats better for the price?
Reply:I have a speed glass 3M 9000 helmet.It has shade 9/13. I have had it for five years. I never got flashed but, the narrow chin design left my neck burned from uv rays. So I had to buy a leather neck guard. It stopped the burn but, now the helmet is on the heavy side. So heavy that you have a pain in the neck at the end of the day. The head gear was not very adjustable. It is either to tight to flip your head down causing to fall off your head, or too loose falling over your face. I also have to turn it off to cut with torches or plasma cutter to get a lesser shade so I can see what I'm doing. You have to hold the on/off button in for two seconds. Somtimes it works right away, somtimes you have to reset and try again. This can be a pain in the sss when your trying to get several things done right now. I think they need to improve the head gear, redisign the lower front, welding helmets are wide on the bottom for a reason. Protection!  Get the bugs out of their buttons also. Although the 3M autoshade has never flashed or failed me, I bought a hobart helmet and its so lite I forget its on my head! The head gear stays right where you adjust it all the time. It also has adjustable knob on the outside on the helmet for shades 9 thru 13. I don't know how long its going to last, only had it for a year. I still use the speed glass 3M helmet for long and alot of stick welding. The Hobart helmet is good for mig welding, where your fitting alot of parts together and cutting alot parts out then welding, keeping production up faster in my opinion. One more thing in hot humid weather the 3M helmet vent works out the fogging up of the lens. Its worth the time to look them over (all helmets) because you only get one set of eyes, you don't want to get skin cancer later in life from uv rays, and a pain in the neck from a over weight helmet.Last edited by Thomas Clark; 03-16-2010 at 10:31 PM.
Reply:I still use an old Jackson regular helmet I tried an auto darkening once didn't like it so I stuck to the old stuff that works for me
Reply:Originally Posted by Stick-manI have had a $50.00 Harbor Freight auto dark helmet for four or five years now maybe longer. Never been flashed, still works great. Only thing is the headgear is "cheap" but I would be hard pressed to buy the Speedglas I always wanted when this one "does the job well"!
Reply:I have a HF and a Hobart. For years I thought the HF was fine but as I compare the two I found with the HF I was looking away till it dimmed. Just a little slow. Never really noticed it till I bought a better helmet.
Reply:Originally Posted by oxy moronex-snap-on addict with a Harbor Freight autodarkening helmet?  i guess after you spent all your money at the snap on stuff, you have very little left to spend on your welding helmet? I have welded for a whole year now with the same HF auto darkening helmet.  It is adequate,  it works, there's no gimmick.  I have NEVER been flashed, and it requires no battery.  and i have zero complaints about the head gear.
Reply:Originally Posted by Felonyass Monk but as a rule of thumb buy the best you can afford there are no spares for those orbs in your head.Felon
Reply:I have the Lincoln Vista 3000 and have been happy with it.  I selected it because it had one of the largest lenses available.  I've only used it with TIG though.Electronics Engineer (embedded controls)Miller 200DX w/ Coolmate 3Thermal Dynamics 82 plasma cutterGrizzly G0678 8x30 millPM1440BV 14x40 latheHF 6x12 surface grinder
Reply:Granted, I am just a newbie in the trade but from past experiences with face/eye protection (high caliber paintball), it doesnt really matter what the brand is as long as it is comfortable for you to wear over extended periods of time, and the replacement parts are within a reasonable price range and provides adequate protection.I know this because I have made the mistake before on spending rediculous prices for masks, and it turns out to be expensive to change lenses/functional parts, and also it gets uncomfortable over extended periods of time. hope this helpsP.S. i finally settled on a miller auto darkening mask. uber comfy!
Reply:I personally have had the best luck with Miller helmets being the most durable. There are several good quality brands on the market with Miller (in my experience) being the best buy. You are getting a good helmet for a relatively good price. Last edited by smaw8; 03-20-2010 at 08:49 AM.Dynasty 200DXCoolmate 3Millermatic 180Bluestar 185DXSmith guages and torchesmore stuff...
Reply:Buy a very cheap lid. No point in spending lots of money. I have been welding 10 yrs now and my lid cost me $60 cdn. My lens on the other hand is a fixed shade #10 optrel auto dark. I say cheap because they are cheap lol, light, flexible, usually durable if you dont throw it, and so on. As long as no light is coming into the shield then you are fine. You can wear a beanie and add a sweat band to the headgear and you should be quite comfy. Try to get one with a flip up lens so that when you use a grinder you can have the clear lens to veiw out of. TRUST me one very common injury to welders is eye injury due to grinding. You dont want to have steel drilled from your eye like myself. I still have yet to find a reason for myself to spend hundreds of dollars on a lid. But my preference is the FiberMetal shield I have been using for the last couple of years.
Reply:i have two helmets, both are auto darkening, 1 is a miller elite series..that isnt bad but it has a lotta buttons and switches...i dont use that 1 that much..the 1 i use the most i bought at tractor supply for 60 bucks its a hobart hood,its simple and easy..so price really does but it doesnt have much to do with quality
Reply:My Hobart reacts a lot better then my HF. I gave my HF away.