PM Weldequip, I just bought one (not the galaxy, but a good one) of him for 85 €, still waiting for delivery, but that I blame the Finnish post office for.
I have a galaxy 3000 and can recommend them... as a potplant, or bucket to let the kids play in the sand pit with. Alas I cant really recommend them for welding as they are too slow to react, they occasionally dont change so you get a really nice flash, the darkness adjustment on mine never worked properly (in the original and 1 replacement lens) and was pretty much stuck on 13 so it was too dark for low power mig work.
hi guys my first post, although ive been reading for months now
so i too bought this galaxy 3000 off the bay and im very suspicious of it. firstly the advertiser claims it has 'permanent din 16' uv/ir protection on the advertisement. on the actual packaging of the helmet there is no mention of this at all anywhere. is this a con?
now secondly ive just been testing it and it doesnt seem to work. ive got a normal 'flip flap' helmet which has a no10 shade in it and i can barely see the sorrounding area when the arc is running, so much so that i often cant run two beads next to each other because it is so dark. now the galaxy doesnt seem to change darkness at all (even if try to change to the darkest shade 13). im i right in assuming this is a non working helmet?
thanks weldequip
nope, im getting no darkening. is there any batteries in these? the unreadable piece of paper that came with it mentions nothing about them. just says no user serviceable parts. does it need some sort of charging?
also what are your feelings about their claim to permanent din 16 protection?
If it's a solar model it may need leaving in light for a few minutes after removing from the box to charge the solar cells.
Any decent make should provide full UV & IR eye protection even if they don't react, but my own personal feeling is that there are too many cowboys on eBay now selling any manner of gear, whether it complies with relevent safety standards or not... they are just after your money!
weldequip
I agree with Weldequip - I no longer trust my Galaxy 3000, but it "Usually" darkened. Alas it always went to about shade 13 (when it darkened at all), and that was too dark for me to see where the heck I was welding!
I am also a bit dubious of the UV blocking as well - I wear transition lense (darkening) glasses and using the Galaxy 3000 while wearing them the glasses went dark during the course of welds. You try looking out through a shade 13 lense through a set of sunglasses - you can barely see the weld arc lol. The new helmet has no problem with the glasses - they stay clear during the entire welding process, so something was getting through the old helmet....