We have four welding helmets to choose from here at Eastwood so I figured I would take a second to walk you though the differences and features.
Working from left to right through the images we’ll start off with our Auto darkening helmet. This unit will only darken to one shade which is 11 and features a solar panel to recharge the helmet. This makes this helmet perfect if you wish to not have a lot of features to mess with and generally MIG weld in the 100-175 amp range or TIG weld in the 40-100 amp range. It also features a solid 3.8″ by 1.85″ viewing window to see your welds and is lightweight. The darkening time from not dark to dark is 1/4000 of a second with this welding helmet.
If you wish to start to dabble in a helmet with some adjustability and more features our Large View welding helmet may fit the bill perfectly. Now this helmet can adjust from shade 4 all the way up to shade 13, which will allow you to weld from very low amperage up to much higher than the first helmet. Another great improvement is the viewing area which is 3.9″ by 2.64″. See more of what you’re welding. From this point on each of the helmets I discuss will now have true color welding view, this means you won’t see the traditional grew hue which many helmets have. I’ll drop a picture of the two views a the bottom of this article. The darkening time from not dark to dark is 1/25,000 of a second with this welding helmet. The fastest speed of any of our helmets. Four sensors help with this along with the ability to darken at much lower amperage welding. Featuring replaceable batteries means you’ll keep this helmet around for a long time. This unit also features an optical clarity of 1/1/1/2 for clear viewing.
Next up will be our XL view welding helmet. It features all the same great specs as the large view but with an even larger window to look through, 3.9″ by 3.6″ to be exact. We have also moved the controls for shade darkening to the outside to make it very easy to adjust one the fly. This is especially handy when using the grind mode. Grind mode keeps the helmet from darkening which is extremely handy after you have finished welding and want to knock down some welds. Why go find clear face shield when you’re already wearing protection. Clarity and darkening specs are identical to the large view welding helmet you just read about. One feature that these two helmets also share is the ability to hold a magnifying glass or as we call them “cheater lenses”. A cheater lens is extremely handy if you have trouble seeing close up or if you’re working with very detailed small welds.
Finally we wrap up the line of welding helmets with our Panoramic Welding Helmet which offers 180 degree viewing and a massive 4.53″ by 3.35″ main viewing window. That doesn’t take into account the side windows which also darken. Now the main lens can darken from shade 4-12 and the side lenses always darken to shade 11 no matter the setting. Again we feature external controls for easy adjustments on the fly without having to pop the helmet off. The lenses on this helmet darken in 1/10,000 of a second to quickly protect your eyes. Just like the previous two helmets we have incorporated replaceable batteries to make this helmet last a long time.
Here is a quick picture which will depict what the large view, xl view, and panoramic view will look like with true color welding lenses. The right side is what the first helmet would look like when looking through it.
I hope this helps point out the differences of these helmets and allows you to make an informed decision. We also have a lot more information on the individual product pages which can be gotten to by either clicking the pictures of the helmets or their titles. Another great way to see all our welding accessories is to visit Eastwood.com.