Cheap Wedling Helmet or Scam?

[old and tired]

I did not but I'll take your word on it. Sure about the cheap Chinses hoods too?

Yes...

 

[5030]

One thing I learned about China long ago and that is, left to their own devices with no oversight, they consistently produce inferior goods. Good example of that is Makita. Makita has a number of their products built in China but with strict oversight and those products are excellent but the Chinese copies (that sell for much less on Amazon) are junk.

 

[Fallon]

I haven't ever verified it, but always heard the dangerous UV gets blocked by the clear plastic lense. You can still flash yourself & end up seeing stars for a bit. But it's not the retina damaging light.

They have problems with the current gear for making high end chips. You can't use a lense to focus the light anymore as they move to smaller wavelengths of light (higer frequency UV). The glass eats up all the very high frequency light. So they have to use mirrors not lenses. Ordinary glass windows prevent sunburns for similar reasons. So even cheap chinesium plastic probably blocks the dangerous UV.

 

[yomax4]

It is stated by most manufacturers that UV and IR rays are blocked to the equivalent of shade 16 even if the lens is in the light state. That doesn't mean you won't get major eye fatigue from using too light of shade. As stated above. You only get one set of peepers so choose wisely.

 

[hornett22]

What are your eyes worth?

This is my first thought.

I highly recommend the harbour freight solar welder helmet. It's $150 but it's been great.

 

[ruffdog]

having endured one arc flash (by my own stupidity), switching speed will always be the most important aspect of any hood and what I look at when looking at a hood. Usually, the faster the speed, the more they cost. Switching speed, then viewing area then hood coverage. A cheap hood won't have a fast speed.

It is stated by most manufacturers that UV and IR rays are blocked to the equivalent of shade 16 even if the lens is in the light state. That doesn't mean you won't get major eye fatigue from using too light of shade. As stated above. You only get one set of peepers so choose wisely.

Yeah, I'm one of the people that would get eye pain with any auto hood, even the $350 ones my job bought me. I'm happy with the flip helmets as my eyes don't hurt. Most people didn't have an issue though.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Any lens rated 1/1/1/1 is awesome. I use a gold Jackson Truesight II W70 auto lens. More gold lenses have come available in the past few years and they have come down in price for off-brands. Gold lenses have the advantage over green lenses by offering a better view of the weld puddle you are welding.

Old man considerations: If you need to remove glasses or use cheater glasses to see anything, you still will need this eye this enhancement under your lens and hood.

My suggestion is to avoid using bi or trifocals or suffer the fate of old woodworkers who never cut a finger off until they got lenses that changed their depth perception by minor changes of their eye or head angle. You don't want hot junk touching yourself so if you need focusing lenses, use one consistent lens.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Yeah, I'm one of the people that would get eye pain with any auto hood, even the $350 ones my job bought me. I'm happy with the flip helmets as my eyes don't hurt. Most people didn't have an issue though.

My buddy Mark who frequently shows up on my Youtube channel welds anything one or maybe two shades lighter than I do. If I change my auto shade lighter, I get eye pain associated with flashing. As a Millwright, Mark is way more familiar with big, huge structural stick welds than I ever will be. Even so, if I used his settings on the same helmet I think I'd fry my eyes. Both of us can use fixed lenses but I really don't like it as it messes with my starts leading metal from cold into hot and then the real weld. I guess it is familiarity.