Jackson/Huntsman helmet

[Jay4200]

Looking for opinions on the Jackson/Huntsman Nitro (3018230) ADF helmet?

https://weldingsupply.securesites.com/cgi-bin/enlarge.pl?main/Huntsman/3018230.gif:Nitro+ADF

Thanks - JayC

 

[Jay4200]

That popular, eh?

JayC

 

[cowski]

got a jackson halo nexgen with the 370 headgear. really like it.little flimsy .but light.

 

[Jay4200]

got a jackson halo nexgen with the 370 headgear. really like it.little flimsy .but light.

How fast is it? I just got sent a Nitro spec sheet from Jackson, and the switching speed spec is 1/2,750 sec. That spec number seems horrific - even the cheap chinese helmets advertize switching speeds of 5-10 times that fast. Unfortunately, I specifically considered (and already bought) a Nitro helmet instead of a cheepo mask to get better performance, but if that specification is actually correct, I'd be too afraid of eye damage to even consider using it.

Has anyone seen independent testing results with the cheepo masks? I can get a mask for $40 that advertizes 1/25000 sec switching speed - do the cheepies really perform that well?

I can say that I got sandy eyes after using a $40 Harbor Freight ADF mask for an hour - they claim 1/25000 switching speed.

Thanks - JayC

 

[ericher69]

JayC

All masks even the el cheapo's have the uv protection in the lense even if it fails to switch....
Meaning that yes it would be bright but you would not damage your vision
I have a princess auto "autodark" helmet Canadian version of Harbor Freight and I can use for long periods without trouble

I will be buying a Miller digital elite soon as I like tue graphics and performance reviews that I have read

 

[cowski]

nitro must be their bottom line ?it would be comparable to the base miller hobby ,radnor,hobart and maybe even speedglas.i am sure it is fast enough if you do not tig.the nexgen is fast but it retails about 350 at the welding shop i like it better than the digital miller ,which is a good helmet i would be happy with.i have used 2 cheaper helmets 1 was ok the other junk.the good one lasted 3 years. the other one never worked right .

 

[weldermike]

Most important with digital masks are the amount of pick ups that trigger the auto darkening, cheapo masks may only have one where as a good mask will have four, one in each corner of the lens. This helps when working with you hands in front of your face so you dont block the pick ups and get flashed, the more the better, and money well spent. A really good mask will also be solar charged, so when welding(ultra violet light) it will charge itself. No batteries! Hope that helped a little bud!

 

[Jay4200]

nitro must be their bottom line ?it would be comparable to the base miller hobby ,radnor,hobart and maybe even speedglas.

It is their low end, but it is still a $175 helmet - although I paid considerably less. It has either 2 or three sensors, depending on how old the actual ADF is. But man, that switching spec is the slowest I have ever seen - seems really strange to build something like that in this day and age. It's not like it costs any more to get the fastest LCD (it really doesn't).

I did a little looking around, and most of the name-brand expensive helmets have switching speed specs in the .06-.1mS range. I did find a reference that found that a $250 Miller used the same ADF as the $50 HF mask, but that was a couple of years ago. Oddly, the current cheapos ($50-70 range) mostly spec either 1/25000 (.04mS) or 1/30000 (.033mS). It makes me wonder if the cheepies really meet their specs though - they are surely not tested by any independent agencies, and I did get sandy-eyes after using one for an hour.

Unfortunately, I got the specification sheet for the Nitro after I bought the helmet. As luck would have it, it looks like the seller (ebay) is going to stiff me, as I have yet to hear from him/her since paying. I guess it's going to be a $40 Chinese cheepo after all .

JayC

 

[weldermike]

Sorry! Shouldhave mentioned early, check into company called speedglass. Used to be very costly but do to competion have come way down in price. I weld for a living and have one of there 9000 series masks for about close to 15yrs now

 

[crazyal]

I just got one of those HF cheapy helmets. Between the discounts and being on sale I think I paid about $25 for it. I go long periods of time without welding and things tend to get beat up from falling down or things falling on them. If you look around the web people say they work so I figured what the heck. I still haven''t used it yet.

I would be surprised if the glass used by all of these helmets didn't come from one or two different companies. If you look at TV sets a lot of brands use the same panels since investing in a cleanroom fab to produce them is costly.

As for published times, I would take them with a gain of salt. With LCD panels there are several different tests that companies use. I wouldn't expect the speed to be correct for a HF helmet no more than I would expect their impact wrench to produce the maximum amount of torque they list.