Tools & Fabrication - Need a good welding helmet, gimme some suggestions

Hello all,

Im a heavy equipment mechanic by trade, I build large mining equipment and do plenty of welding about 2-3 days per week. Ive recently made the big mistake of buying this snap on welding helmet.
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg207/MrElectric003/EFPHANNIBAL.jpg

A co worker had one and liked it so I picked one up. The thing doesnt fit my head right and squeezes the sides giving me a headache and making it hard to concentrate. Ive still used it here and there for quick things but now both of our helmets flash us even after a good charge. We are going back and fourth with our dealer trying to get him to do something for us.

So I want to buy a new helmet. Im not against paying a good amount, as much as I use it id like a good one I just expect it to last for a higher price. Ive been looking at the Millers and the ones below here. I prefer an oversized lense and its got to be auto-darkening because almost all of what I will be using it for is arc stick welding. If any of you have used any of these or have a good reccomendation id sure appreciate it!
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg207/MrElectric003/41n1C6tTbfL__SL500_AA300_.jpg
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg207/MrElectric003/412BrKHXqXUL__SL500_AA300_.jpg

Im a heavy equipment mechanic as well and Im required to wear a hard hat at all times as Im sure you are. I would recommend the 3M Speedglass welding helmet with hard hat. Theres alot of add ons you can get with it depending on the model you buy. The helmet does have draw backs tho. Its heavy to wear, the sliding/tilt feature parts are flimsy plastic and I've seen them break. If your not required to wear a hard hat with your welding helmet i use the Miller Elite at home. It has a large view screen and isn't to heavy to wear for long periods of time. I hope this helps a little. Good luck.

http://solutions9.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/PPESafetySolutions/PPESafety/Personal_Protective_Equipment/Product_Catalog/~/3M-Speedglas-Welding-Helmet-Hard-Hat-9000-Welding-Safety-04-0012-31H-with-3M-Speedglas-Auto-Darkening-Filter-9002V-1-EA/Case?N=4294696692+5011378&Nr=AND(hrcy_id%3ALTZ2ZBQXH3gs_C0107Z1X3V_N2RL3FHWV K_GPD0K8BC31gv)&rt=d

That's a nice hood I'll look into that for sure. I am required to wear the hard hat on mine sites but I'd like headgear too for when I'm in the shop. Thanks I appreciate it!

I use the speedglas 7 days a week and love it. I use the 9002x with the bigger viewing area. It's a little heavier but I find the lens works the best.

i hate my speedglas, but i don't have the big window and our shop quit carrying replacement lenses....best hood i ever owned was my Jackson NexGen....pretty pricey, not too light, but very nice. I've been welding for 10 years and any more, i just prefer a cheapo ~$40 Jackson or whatever brand solid state hood...big viewing area, cheap lenses, lightweight due to no batteries/electronics.

i hate my speedglas, but i don't have the big window and our shop quit carrying replacement lenses....best hood i ever owned was my Jackson NexGen....pretty pricey, not too light, but very nice. I've been welding for 10 years and any more, i just prefer a cheapo ~$40 Jackson or whatever brand solid state hood...big viewing area, cheap lenses, lightweight due to no batteries/electronics.

That is a nice hood. A guy in my shop has one and ive borrowed it a few times. Id prefer a larger viewing area but other than that its pretty good.

Miller, Miller, Miller. I have used an Elite for about 2.5 years... 10-12hrs a day 6 days a week... 4 sensors, big viewing area, reliable. Lot of guys in my shop have switched from the speedglass, but to each their own.

I have had my Speedglas for quite a few years now. I have used a Miller in the past and been impressed but the Speedglas is a bit smaller helmet, especially when your upside down laying in a car welding up cages. :). Best guess would be the miller or Speedglas, see if you can borrow one of each and give them a try to see which one fits your head the best.

I tried an older Miller Elite today and it worked pretty good. The guy uses it all day and has had it for four years or so. I like the Speedglas too but there are so many out there its hard to tell the difference. Which has the flip up lense and large view? Have you guys with the speedglas ever had a problem with the lense fogging up?

I have a speedglas 9000 series that I've had for about 15 years it has the ariginal head gear and I have replaced the batteries in it once. It's been a great helmet I would definitely recommend them.

I use a speedglass 5-6 days a week at work. I also own a miller digital elite. They both have their pros, not a whole lot of cons. I really like the head gear on my speedglass. Although my miller is really comfortable as well. Both have a large view. I seem to get flashed more with the speedglass though. Its a tough decision between the two. You really can't go wrong with either.

Speedglass 9100x. Its what we use at work and in my opinion is the best. the new headgear they put in them is really nice, no pressure points.

Miller all the way.. I have the new miller 9400i ( very bottom pic) and love it. Its kinda heavy but I deal with it. And that snap on helmet is made by jackson

Miller Performance! had it for over 3 years and ive gotten Alot of use out of it. working flawlessly

If you can find an old pipeliner hood I would buy it, I have pipe welded for years and thats all we ever used.

I use a Miller Pro at work and Harbor Freight special at home. Both operate pretty similar but the Miller has a sturdier build

i have always used miller helmets as all machines are miller as well. whatever you do, dont cheap out...you only get one set of eyes lol. speedglas is also very nice helmets like many others have mentioned

Thats silly, the miller helmet has hurt my eyes more than the cheap ones because you have to turn it on and it shuts off after approx 20 mins without seeing an arc. Usually not a problem, but some jigs are complicated

I have used quite a few different helmets, and so far my Miller Elite has been the best. It has a large foam pad on the back of the head band that makes it extremely comfortable. Plus the large view window is incredible for an auto darkening helmet.

It says its not recommended for overhead welding, but I have done lots of it without any problems.

Miller Elite the best hands down had mine for a few years and love it

Thanks for the input guys. My snap on dealer finally got me most of my money back so I can order one. I think ill be going with a miller elite.

I like my miller elite, when it works. Like someone else said, when I'm doing something complicated it has a tendency to shut off too soon, and worse for me, it seems to kill batteries. I seem to go through batteries at least once a year and they're not cheap.

I also have one of the cheap HF ones that everyone raves about, it's good for most people but I've found that for whatever reason I can see the flash before it darkens (my brother can't, so it's not something with the helmet). For a while I got used to shutting my eyes for a split second when I start the arc but that got annoying.

Honestly if I'm just reaching for something I'm surprised how often I end up with my old school, large port cheepo single shade CH flip down. I haven't replaced the batteries in my Miller for close to a month now and just used this thing instead.

I just got one of the accustrike helmets,
http://www.accustrike.com/
but haven't played with it enough to tell if I'll like it. It has some nice headgear in it, but is not as nicely constructed as my miller. I've found that just sitting around and playing with it I'm not sure that the chin thing is as convenient as it could be... I'll see if I get used to it. I did upgrade it with one of the gold #10 lenses and I will tell you that that's the clearest lens I've looked through so far.

Speedglass 9100x. Its what we use at work and in my opinion is the best. the new headgear they put in them is really nice, no pressure points.

I have the original 9000 series and hate it to this day because of the horrible head gear. Always like the lens though. When the new head gear came out I demo one, and loved it right away. The 9100x is my dedicated TIG helmet. For mig and sick work, my whole shop uses a base Jackson hood with drop in solara lens. 9 or 10 shade. For roughly $125 it is a very durable setup that last quite a while. I wouldnt use a $300+ helmet for mig or stick work. Dont really need it, and the wear and tear is more than needed.

I use the speedglas 7 days a week and love it. I use the 9002x with the bigger viewing area. It's a little heavier but I find the lens works the best.

X2!! I am a TIG welder for a living and this helmet is the great..Alot of the old school welders that I work with have speedglas helmets that are 20 plus years old and they function like new..

I have used quite a few different helmets and so far miller elite has been the best. It has the large foam pad on the back of the headband which makes it extremely comfortable.Plus, a large overview is good for auto darkening helmet.

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auto darkening welding helmets (http://store.cyberweld.com/autdarwelhel.html)

Miller, Miller, Miller. I have used an Elite for about 2.5 years... 10-12hrs a day 6 days a week... 4 sensors, big viewing area, reliable. Lot of guys in my shop have switched from the speedglass, but to each their own.

I love my miller and if it ever needs replaced it will be with the same thing

Ive Got 3 Miller digital elite's in my shop, wont use anything but.... I ran 1 for 10'hrs straight once, mig welding a 3/8" thick 316 stainless tank.... I weighed a couple pounds less when done from water loss I would imagine, ate 5 contact tips, 2 sets of gloves and the helmet kept on chugging..... Ahhh the importance of deadlines....

Why spend $300+ on a hood?... Complete waste of money in my eyes. I use a $30 Miller MP-10 with a $10 Gold lens and the $20 headgear used on the Miller Titanium series helmets that swaps right over. It's amazingly comfortable and has a huge viewing area (standard lens). It weighs literally 1 pound. I find it funny how I weld just as good/better and just as fast/faster as someone with decades more experience and a hood that cost 10x as much. Keep your $270, and spend it on gloves/tools/jackets/boots.... Spend it if you don't want to have to bob your neck a tiny bit/be lazy.

All of our stick welders at work use standard helmets and the lazy ass MIG welders use their expensive autos. I'm the only MIG welder in the shop that uses a standard helmet.

Why spend $300+ on a hood?... Complete waste of money in my eyes. I use a $30 Miller MP-10 with a $10 Gold lens and the $20 headgear used on the Miller Titanium series helmets that swaps right over. It's amazingly comfortable and has a huge viewing area (standard lens). It weighs literally 1 pound. I find it funny how I weld just as good/better and just as fast/faster as someone with decades more experience and a hood that cost 10x as much. Keep your $270, and spend it on gloves/tools/jackets/boots.... Spend it if you don't want to have to bob your neck a tiny bit/be lazy.

All of our stick welders at work use standard helmets and the lazy ass MIG welders use their expensive autos. I'm the only MIG welder in the shop that uses a standard helmet.

Then you don't do a ton of production. I find them best for tig welding but, still, they save a ton of time, not having to flip the helmet up down up down up down....... Same reason as why GMAW, or FCAW has surpassed SMAW in almost every aspect..... SPEED, time is money. How do you know that you weld as good or better as me or others that posted? Or faster? Purely speculation, of which, I can almost guarantee is wrong...

Mind you I am not talking hot glue gun mig weldors.....

Then you don't do a ton of production. I find them best for tig welding but, still, they save a ton of time, not having to flip the helmet up down up down up down....... Same reason as why GMAW, or FCAW has surpassed SMAW in almost every aspect..... SPEED, time is money. How do you know that you weld as good or better as me or others that posted? Or faster? Purely speculation, of which, I can almost guarantee is wrong...

Mind you I am not talking hot glue gun mig weldors.....

Yes I do. I'm not saying I'm faster/better than you or anyone here, I'm talking about my workplace. Which is Ohio's biggest producer of oil and gas separation units, gas production units and oil and gas drips. I have proven to my coworkers time and time again that I can do the same job faster with my helmet. A head flip takes very minimal effort and time. Not having to do that is not worth $300 to me. That's all I'm saying. You can get whatever you want, and I won't tell you NOT to get it, but I will tell you my opinion on them.

Yes I do. I'm not saying I'm faster/better than you or anyone here, I'm talking about my workplace. Which is Ohio's biggest producer of oil and gas separation units, gas production units and oil and gas drips. I have proven to my coworkers time and time again that I can do the same job faster with my helmet. A head flip takes very minimal effort and time. Not having to do that is not worth $300 to me. That's all I'm saying. You can get whatever you want, and I won't tell you NOT to get it, but I will tell you my opinion on them.

i weld for a living and i must admit u cant beat an auto ...period....u can get a good auto lense for abt 60 70bucks...but itll be a fixed shade....the highend autos like the miller elite and speed glass units are so expensive because of there flexibility....variable shade and varaible sensitivity is a must for me since i dont work in a fab shop or anything i work out in the refineries ...different situations require different shades and that flexibility is worth 400 bucks to me...and really come on thats what? a days worth of work?

i weld for a living and i must admit u cant beat an auto ...period....u can get a good auto lense for abt 60 70bucks...but itll be a fixed shade....the highend autos like the miller elite and speed glass units are so expensive because of there flexibility....variable shade and varaible sensitivity is a must for me since i dont work in a fab shop or anything i work out in the refineries ...different situations require different shades and that flexibility is worth 400 bucks to me...and really come on thats what? a days worth of work?

All I'm saying is that, in my situation, it just isn't worth it for me. I get along just fine. I don't hate using autos, It's just an unnecessary expense for me. Especially unnecessary for someone with just a hobby shop or occasional use.

Edit: I will agree that they are a huge convenience. One of the few times I wish I had one is when I'm plasma cutting or torching parts and could easily switch to torch/grind instead of having two seperate helmets. But, again, I'm not about to spend that much for that. Also, a lot of guys here have reliability issues even with the newest Speedglas and Miller Titanium hoods. They have great warranties, though.