AntraTrue Color Wide Shade Range 4/5-13 Auto Darkening Welding Helmet w/Solar AH6-660-6218 Large Viewing 3.86X2.50" for TIG MIG/MAG MMA Plasma Grinding, 6+1 Extra Lens Covers

I have used this helmet regularly since January 2017. When first purchased, I had no issues whatsoever. Overall, I've been very pleased with this purchase, especially for the price!!However, for the last 1.5 months of use up to today the helmet stops triggering. I've reset the battery, and gone through all necessary troubleshooting steps, but the lens will sometimes not darken at all or will shut off in the middle of welding. The workaround I've found is turning the dial to the "Grind" function and turning it back to whatever darkness level I was using. This "resets" it each time and it triggers properly, but I cannot get it to stay consistently working. It always goes back to not working properly.It is very aggravating to strike an arc and blind myself, or worse, get blinded mid-weld because the helmet will not darken. I am hoping the seller will consider sending a replacement for the faulty device, as I do enjoy the helmet... but it is proving to be unreliable.

For the money it's hard to beat. I've been using auto shade helmets for well over ten years and love them. I needed a new one as I am living in a different country to where my old one currently resides.This helmet addresses all of the problems I had with the previous one.1) It has adjustable lower limit when dropping the helmet. So the helmet falls to the same place every time. The old one had no stop.2) It has adjustable sensitivity. The old one was fixed and only had shade adjustment.3) It has a grinder mode. Working outdoors with the old one the Sun was often enough to trigger the auto darkening. I can disable it on this one.4) The helmet tightening system is better. It uses an o-ring to provide far better tension adjustment. When the helmet has a stop it's not so critical but without a stop and the adjustment slipping, it was a PITA.I never had issues with the old helmets two sensor system or it's lack of light on delay. If these are important to you I can't comment.It comes with spare protective lens covers for the outside and one for the inside.The solar feature works. I removed the batteries completely and the helmet still functions. There is a difference in the solar voltage compared to the battery voltage which affects the sensitivity. Mine is more sensitive on straight solar than with the batteries fitted. If the manufacturer added a simple Zener clamp (3.6Volt) and series diode to isolate the battery, the performance on battery and solar would be identical. The only time this is an issue is that the sensitivity and darkness scales shift due to varying voltage confusing the user. This can easily be corrected in future revisions and is not a problem if you are aware of it.The helmet is very light. It's not going to be industrial rated as it's made of thin plastic. Good for ease of use but not so good for heavy industrial applications. If your goal is to use this in the workplace you are better off with a different unit.For the exact same reason, it is not recommended to weld overhead. Any hot slag can easily melt and go through the helmet onto the user.I gave it four stars because of it's inability to be used for overhead welding. If this is not an issue to you, then it would be a five star helmet.Since I do the occasional overhead weld this means either another helmet for that or put protective barriers on the mask when doing so.It's a good enough helmet to let this go for my situation. Yours may be a deal breaker.Given the price point I would highly recommend this helmet, if you can live with the limitations. If you can't then no price is low enough.

This helmet looks and feels pretty good. Unfortunately, the first time I used it, it started flashing me. I turned up the delay, but no change. I thought maybe the flicker of the overhead lights somehow triggered them, but after trying incandescent, fluorescent and LED lights, I saw no improvement. I thought maybe I was obscuring the sensors, but being mindful of them didn't work. I purchased the item some months ago and hadn't had a chance to even take it out of the box, so I figured maybe the batteries were low, but a fresh pair of CR2032s measuring full voltage didn't fix them at all, I still get flashed randomly somewhere between every few seconds to a minute. After reading online, I found recommendations to leave the "solar powered" helmets in the sun a few hours to charge. Even though this one obviously uses batteries at least to assist the solar cell, I tried it. No luck.I noticed that even with fresh batteries, inserted in the manner shown in the manual, if I hold the battery button it darkens, but the second I hold a hand just partially over the solar cell simultaneously, it dies. It's as if the batteries have absolutely no purpose. I'm so frustrated and partially blind from this thing that I'm wishing I had just purchased a model that wasn't "auto-darkening". I'm all ears for suggestions, but I'm leaving 1 star until I can finish a single weld with this helmet.

Good helmet for the price. Band is comfortable. Sensitivity and delay both work well, and the darkening range is great. I also like that you can shut off the darkening for grinding. I mostly MIG weld in a farm shop environment, so the 9-13 setting works well for me. I am able to see where I am going and the weld puddle clearly. Also I wear glasses and this helmet is comfy with them. Very satisfied. One last item, is the front plastic lens is a standard size so that if you want to put a 1.25 or whatever power lens in place of the original it is as easy as going to the local welders, purchasing the power you want and installing.

I took a lot of care in choosing this item and read plenty of in depth reviews. Almost tempted with the sexy carbon/cool graphics of other similar products but ultimately decided to stick with my own maxim - buy as much quality as you can afford. Superficial artwork adds not a thing to how well the helmet performs. This one is worth the money - and then some. Lovely big viewer. Supremely effective darkening. Decent build. Exceptionally comfy with plenty of adjustment to fit all size heads. I'm new to welding, and that makes the helmet if anything even more essential. Have yet to develop a 'feel' for how my puddle is forming therefore need to be able to see it. Just buy it - you'll be glad you did.

I do bits of welding only occasionally, using a 40 year old arc welder. The problem of striking an arc somewhere near the right point has always been tricky for me. Up to last week, I didn't know that auto-darkening helmets existed, and I was a little sceptical about the claim that they needed only a few milliseconds to adjust to the arc.Today I tried it out and was amazed at how easy it makes the whole process. It's comfortable to wear, there's no flipping up and down, the view is clear and the arc is much easier to strike because the tip of the electrode is clearly visible all the time.The helmet was delivered to a click-and-collect point near me the day after ordering and the small amount of assembly required was quick and easy to accomplish.So, from my point of view, an excellent purchase

This is a very good auto-darkening helmet. It’s very easy to see through the lens when you are setting up your work and the response time when you “strike up” is super. My previous helmet’s response time was a bit slow, causing eye discomfort. I used to be a welder (years ago!) but now only weld as a hobby and this is the best helmet I have ever had. Some people complain about the dial on the helmet, being easy to accidentally adjust but so far, I haven’t found this to be a problem. If you’re looking for a good auto-darkening helmet at a great price, I would certainly recommend this one.

I've done quite a bit of arc welding with this helmet and can see the weld pool clearly, which is a must if you want the weld in the right place. Does the important job of protecting your eyes. You can see the work piece clearly through the screen then once you start the arc it darkens to what you have selected. You may have to try a few settings until you get it right for your type of welding, but using a dc inverter arc welder isn't too aggressive.

Really like this welding helmet, one of the best I've used (a 3M Speedglas was nicer quality), but the viewing window is an excellent size and really does make a difference. Lots of adjustment on the headgear to get just the right fit and the easy adjustment make using this helmet a breeze. Lots of adjustability, comes with about 10 spare outer screens and 1 spare inner screen, plus 2 spare batteries. Well worth money and would recommend. As others have said, it's not the thickest plastic but it seems pretty rugged and will last if not abused.