If you weld, you know job one is protecting your eyes. You never, ever strike an arc without wearing a welding helmet or goggles. If you do a fair amount of welding, goggles are not going to protect your face and neck from the ultraviolet and infrared ways that are generated by the spark. You must wear a welding helmet.
When selecting a welding helmet, the first decision you need to make is the kind of lens you are going to get. You have two choices – standard dark or auto darkening. One is better – and more expensive – than the other, but, let's discuss both.
Passive lens welding helmets have been around for decades. Originally, they were made of thick leather to protect your face and eyes while you were welding. These days, they are made of high impact plastic, which is lighter and more comfortable. Typically the lens is dark glass with UV and IR coatings. The big advantage of these welding helmets is that they are relatively inexpensive. If you only weld occasionally, perhaps these might be okay for you.
If you weld regularly, using a passive helmet can get old fast. You constantly need to open it to see, and then nod your head for it to drop back down so as to have your eyes covered before you start to weld. You wouldn't be the first one who started to weld again after forgetting to nod their helmet back down. Do that enough and your eyes are in serious trouble. Even if you are watchful enough to be sure to bring down the helmet every time you strike an arc, the constant burden on your neck can be tiresome.
Even though it's a little bit larger investment, you'll be happier and better off with an auto darkening welding helmet. These helmets have an LCD panel powered by batteries and a solar panel. The LCD panel is sensitive to the light and will darken almost instantly when it detects a bright light, and go clear again when the light is turned off.
These auto darkening helmets take away the need to constantly flip the helmet up and down, and remove the risk of forgetting the flip it down before you start. You can leave the helmet on when you stop the arc and still see where to go next.
The biggest variable in terms of quality of an auto darkening welding helmet is how quickly the screen darkens. Notice, above, we said it darkens almost instantly. Well, it turns out that – the size of the "almost" – makes a big difference. An entry-level auto darkening helmet will get dark in 1/3,000 of a second, whereas a pro helmet will darken in less than 1/10,000 of a second. Turns out that tiny amount of time makes a big difference. If you do a lot of welding, your eyes will suffer fatigue during the day and damage over time if you get a cheap helmet.
So the rule is, if you do a lot of welding, get the best helmet you can afford.
Some of the best auto darkening welding helmet reviews are of Miller, Hobart, Jackson and other cheap and solar powered models.
We saved the fun part for last. You can get a helmet in just about any color and many shapes. Your welding helmet can look like a NASCAR driver's helmet, Freddy Krueger, or Darth Vader. You can show your colors or the stars and stripes. Roman warrior, no problem.