Ya know what would be nice....

[Haywire]

A helmet lens that could be dark in one area and light in the other. It would automatically darken the most at the point of the arc and gradient out from there so you could see the area around the weld better. It would have 2 knobs.. the regular darkness adjustment and then a gradient curve adjustment to adjust how fast it lightens as it gets away from the arc point.

I've got my helmet on 9 and it's much better than 10, but sometimes I still can't see much farther than an inch or so from the point of the arc. Maybe that's all I need to see but it would be nice to be able to see 6" off. I can see pretty good when I'm playing around with 5/32" 6011 at 130+ amps but with 3/32" 7018 at half that, it's pretty much a glow around the arc.

I see the Defender has a wider range (7-15) than my HF (9-13). Maybe that's a solution.

Ian

[performance]

Haywire,
That's exactly what auto darks do. The way the LCD is designed, the further from the center of vision the lighter it gets.

[Haywire]

Haywire,
That's exactly what auto darks do. The way the LCD is designed, the further from the center of vision the lighter it gets.

Didn't know that. Mine doesn't act that way. Seems like it all goes dark to the same level.

I think I need to try out a good helmet and see what the difference is.

thanks,
Ian

[A/C Guy]

Didn't know that. Mine doesn't act that way. Seems like it all goes dark to the same level.

I think I need to try out a good helmet and see what the difference is.

thanks,
Ian

That is what the cheap stuff does. I can not believe how much better I can see with my 9100 helmet compared to the budget helmets. I never realized how much I couldn't see until I tried a decent helmet. The cheap junk is just junk. Get a good lens, or better yet, get a good helmet. They are worth the extra money. Your eyes are worth it.

[Jason]

A friend of mine has a HF auto darkening helmet and told me that is all I need to get. I have seen reviews where people state that there is no real difference but I would like to think different. I went ahead and got a miller digital elite rather than the HF helmet and I can see a lot better. We do have them at different settings but the glass itself is larger and allows more view. I have my helmet set at 10 and have no trouble seeing what I am doing and can see away from the arc. With his helmet set to I think 12 or 13, I would loose the line at the arc that I was following and would sometimes get off my straight weld.

[Grizzly1944]

Haywire,

I have an old Jackson helmet that I installed an HF auto darkening lens on. It works fine. The HF helmet is too short around the chin and my neck gets burns from it.

HF stuff is ok, but you get what you pay for.

I recently purchased a Radnor 54V auto darkening adjustable lens for the Jackson, and it's a world of difference. It's dark amber shade allows better vision of the weld and much of it's surroundings. It brings you out of the cave so to speak.

The lens goes for about 100 bucks at your local Airgas store.

I'm not trying to endorse any personal protection equipment over another. Everybody has thier preferences, and this is what works for me.

Best Regards

Don