No there’s not going to be a lot of difference.Ok ... so ... is there something obvious with the same credentials (reputable brand, 3yr guarantee, reliable, spares / acessories easily available, true colour, sub £100 etc) that *everyone* here would agree would be considered a good / VFM buy do you think please (and if so, what)?
Cheers, Tim
Yeah some expensive helmets are but most cheap to mid range are also.Optrel Crystal is 1112
You would hope so but the point I’m trying to make is the optics make a difference to how good the helmet is. My Viking is superb for how clear it is but in the sub £100 region there’s probably not a lot of difference if they have the same specs.The Crystal, in my opinion anyway, will pi$$ all over any helmet in the low to mid price range and probably most in the high price range as well. The last of the numbers is angular dependence so unless you are constantly having to look at an angle to your weld then it is not as big a deal as the other 3 numbers.
Yes, I did have a look at that one as well but (as mentioned) I'm not sure it's available over here atm , if there is a carriage cost or if they will ship here from Poland and how much would it cost me to send back, should it need to within the two year warranty etc? Also, what would be the chances of getting spare screens either when buying the mask and / or in 3 years time?No there’s not going to be a lot of difference.
This is the Sherman V4 which is supposed to be 1111 (look at the spec in the pic of the lens), 4 sensors etc and cheaper than the esab. That would be my choice for that price range. https://weldes.co.uk/gb/autodarkening-helmets/69-sherman-v4-welding-helmet.html
Ok, I'll check that out as well.The Crystal, in my opinion anyway, will pi$$ all over any helmet in the low to mid price range and probably most in the high price range as well.
Thanks for the info. Do you know what the scale goes up (down) OOI?The last of the numbers is angular dependence so unless you are constantly having to look at an angle to your weld then it is not as big a deal as the other 3 numbers.
They are not cheap and for an occasional welder they may be overkill but for me I would not be without one, I have two, one I keep in the workshop for mainly tig and the other I take out on jobs.Ok, I'll check that out as well.
Scale for each is 1-3, 1 being the best.Thanks for the info. Do you know what the scale goes up (down) OOI?
Cheers, T i m
Makes sense.Scale for each is 1-3, 1 being the best.
As said the last number is not as important as the first 3 in my opinion as 99% of the time you will be looking directly out of the lens rather than trying to squint up/down/sideways.
Again, makes sense.Even then it is variance in shade when doing so and with a lens that auto adjusts like the Optrels it is likely not as big an issue as with a standard or poorer quality lens.
Thanks very much for that. I like to try and understand what I'm looking at ... 'You can manage what you measure' etc. ;-)Here is info on what the numbers mean.
Optical Clarity |Lincoln Electric
Selecting the best auto-darkening welding helmet reaches beyond standard occupational safety issues; it also should take the wearer's vision into account.www.lincolnelectric.com
No there’s not going to be a lot of difference.
This is the Sherman V4 which is supposed to be 1111 (look at the spec in the pic of the lens), 4 sensors etc and cheaper than the esab. That would be my choice for that price range. https://weldes.co.uk/gb/autodarkening-helmets/69-sherman-v4-welding-helmet.html
Yeah, I put one in the basket and looked for shipping info but didn't see the normal 'We will ship to the following countries' stuff. ;-(Alas, that ship has sailed as weldes.co.uk don't, at least as far as I know, ship or deal with the UK since, well, you know what!
p.s. Is that a whippet in your picture?
Cool. ;-)Yes!
I thought I could still see puppy in him. ;-)We have two; he's the younger one (almost five) taken when he was a year or so old
- he's a loveable **** and will do anything for food.
Our daughter (working as part time animal warden) fell in love with a bigish Yorkshire Terrier cross stray and so we had a dog again.Have dogs yourself?
Thanks for that.BTW I also have the mask from Inverter Fusion that @Onoff mentioned above; I leave that one at school so I don't have to share one with the pupils - a great mask for the price.
At home I have an ESAB Sentinel for TIG and an Optrel Neo P550 for MIG.
We (as a family) always had whippets and my sister and niece still do. My last 3 were a whippet-terrier (so intelligent), a 'blue' whippet (she was her own dog) and a lurcher, all came from rescues. When they all passed away we didn't replace them and much as we missed not having a dog around, we also enjoyed the freedom and lack of responsibility.
Thanks for (re)posting that. ;-)I have posted this a few times but here is a vid of me holding the phone inside the Crystal whilst it is in the light state. When welding it is similar but obviously darker but the first time I used it I didn't think it had gone dark as everything was still so clear then I realised it must have or I would have been blinded
Hehe. I think in this case it was the terrier in her, so much so we thought she had been on this world before. It was nearly as if she could understand English and she could certainly read our feelings.Seeing the words 'whippet' and 'intelligent' in the same sentence is not something I've seen before!
They (dogs) do have something unique don't they.Whilst my wife's family had dogs, they're new to me and I now know that I never want to be without;
This terrier was the first non-sighthound we have ever had and he was also a dog (rather than a bitch etc). So we had to adapt from dogs that would generally just walk with their heads up to something that walks with his nose on the ground and *has* to stop to sniff and pee up everything along the way. ;-) And when he stops it's like having my SIP 150 on the end of the lead. ;-)we settled on whippets as a wife's friend suggested them and I'm certainly now a sighthound fan
Yeah, they are all lovely looking and tempered dogs.- I'd love to get a rescue greyhound, galgo or podenco at some point.
I was reading reviews of one of the masks mentioned here suffering from unplanned / random switch-offs?Most helmets darken due to the light but there is at least one or two that I believe work off radio waves or something like that.
Noted. Is this the £450 jobby or is the Crystal 2 a more expensive model?The visibility of the arc with the Crystal is great, but then again most of the top end lids are pretty good but the Crystal is the best I have used.
Yeah, that seems to be a fairly common thing.I have tried to take videos of the arc through the Crystal but mostly I have failed, probably because the camera auto adjusts .
Actually that's pretty cool and does give me some idea of the sort of things you can expect to see though a 'good' mask. Would you say it's a similar level of visibility when MIG welding at say 50A?This is about the best I have so far but the actual arc doesn't show well and the colour is a lot more blue than you see with your eyes.