Helmet Shootout: W60 Truesight vs Harbor Freight Blue Flame vs HSL-100 fixed shade

[jakeru]

I just got a new Jackson W60 Truesight welding helmet, and haven't found a huge amount of real reviews on the interwebs about it, so figured I'd add my 2 cents. How better to review a helmet than compare it to others, right?

I intend to compare it against my other welding helmets, which consist of: a Harbor Freight "Blue Flame", and a really old Jackson HSL-100 with fixed shade glass lens.


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We'll start with the fixed shade unit... the Jackson HSL-100 with green glass fixed shade filter.


This HSL-100 with the glass lens weighs in at 1.28 lbs:


The headgear really sucks, and has an annoying habit of catching on hair. It feels heavy, with the large glass lens, (I'll bet plastic would lighten it up some) and I am sure that my opinion is worsened by the particularly worn out condition this one is in. It's pretty nasty. On the plus side, it's fairly cheap (about $40 or maybe less I think, would buy you a new one that is probably much nicer than this one) and has a large viewing area. The shell is pretty hard and rigid, but seems a rather clumsy shape/design to me.

How does the helmet perform? What can I say... when there is no arc struck, here's what a test viewing area looks like, compared next to what the same area looks like with no helmet on:

...as it pretty clear from the above, it simply makes whatever you are trying to see pitch black. This is *not* the hot ticket for getting your arc to start where you want it. Once you get your arc started, I suppose it's OK. It's got a quite large viewing area. I never reach for it though, because of it's bad headgear design, it's heaviness, and inability to see before the arc had started.

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... next up: the Harbor Freight "blue flame" 91214 / 67854
http://www.harborfreight.com/blue-fl...met-91214.html



This "harbor freight special" feels pretty lightweight. Weighs in at what seems to be a pretty lightweight 1.10 lbs:


On sale with coupon, it can be had for less than $40, makes it I believe the least expensive option for an autodarkening helmet out there. It does a surprisingly good job. I think it's a great value for a starter helmet.



The controls are quite simple. The sensitivity only has two adjustments (low and high) and neither is good for low amp DC TIG (or even medium-amp DC tig really... anything 50 amps or lower is problematic, would say) without pulse. A workaround is to dial in a bit of pulsing to get it to trigger; the pulsing need not be very "drastic", and it works every time. If you have a pulsing capable machine, that's pretty easy to do. But then when you're welding on the lowest of the lows that the machine can do, it might not pulse and that might make the helmet "flash" you. (Note: when this happens, an autodark still provides UV protection. It just will momentarily blind you and make you have to stop welding for a little while until the spot goes away so you can see very well again.) This helmet also has adjustable shade dial from 9-12 on the outside, which is nice and I do use it to set a lighter for for low TIG amp work, with a heavier shade for higher amp TIG work. It had a grind mode, but I don't find myself using it because the tunnel vision is just not safe IMO for grinding with this small-viewing window helmet on.

I've gotten the headgear to work quite well after fussing over it and getting it all adjusted. Due to the vertically small viewing area, it is important to get the helmet positioned just right in terms of how it sits up/down on your head. If you transition from different angles of looking up vs down (e.g., going from looking sideways to looking up) the helmet will rock on your head and require repositioning most likely to be able to see well. The back knob pushes in to turn for adjusting I never felt like I fought with; was pretty easy to adjust. Even though it's an autodark, I am used to raising it up when not welding when doing most prep work, etc. I remember sanding the tilting mechanism to give it the right amount of friction. I like it so I can make it fall down (without slamming down hard) with a "nod". Don't like it so tight that it doesn't fall down completely. Needs to fall down completely with as much friction as possible to keep it from slamming down. I think I remember the knobs tightening/loosening during helmet movements before I fussed over them. But I got them working quite well. The battery is not changeable, and this helmet relies on solar charging to keep it working right. I've never had a problem with it that taking it out of a dark corner and into the open area where light exists didn't fix. This shell is several years old.

How does it perform? The view, like almost all autodarkening helmets, is primarily green. Here is how the test viewing area looks, shown alongside the area again without any filter blocking the vision, for comparison.

This picture if you enlarge it, actually doesn't do the Blue Flame justice in terms of its clarity, I've actually thought of it as a very clear filter when the plastic covers are fresh. I think it would actually be much better if I put a fresh protective plastic covers on there. However, the photo does represent the colors that it lets though, and the diminishment of intensity in the light state.

[jakeru]

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... next up, is the Jackson W60 "Truesight" (with serpent graphics)



The truesight weighs in at 1.36 lbs, making it the heaviest of the three, although not a whole lot more than the rest (less of a difference than I was expecting)

So far the weight seems OK to me, but more time using it will tell if it's annoying.

At a cost of well over $200, it's one of the more expensive helmets out there.

The headgear knob on the back has a nice feeling rubber grip, and you just twist it. Works fine. The thing I like best about this headgear is it has a detent at the raised up position, so it should put an end to the annoying "helmet creeping down" syndrome. You know, what happens when you are welding something a bit lower than normal so you are looking down, and raising the helmet between welds, and it creeps down? The truesight protective lenses are pretty specialty part with molded rubber around the edges and a recessed area where you look though. I can't figure out why they did it that way.

Here are some additional pictures of the inside, in torch mode, and weld mode:

Note that the "welding mode" light only comes on for a few seconds, so it's not distracting. (It was actually kind of tricky to capture this photo since it was turning off so fast)

The helmet works really well in terms of sensitivity for any TIG application. It reliably triggered on the smallest pulse-free DC arc I tried, (which was 2 amps). Even if I tried to intentionally block two of the four arc sensors. And it didn't even need the max sensitivity to do so - sensitivity level of 7 did the trick, but could be adjusted up as high as 9 if desired. What I was also amazed by, was that it remained darkened just by the red glowing of hot stainless, such as after performing a weld if you get an area hot. That's not a bad thing though for welding stainless at all though, if anything it should help remind to keep the post flow triggered extra long to help keep the hot metal area from oxidizing.

It uses replaceable AAA batteries. I was surprised that it actually came with batteries. You do have to turn it on by pushing a button which activates the numbers, so I think should be an easy habit to get into. It turns itself off after 2 hours, so it's unlikely to have a problem with turning itself off inadvertently. But the blue flame (and the fixed shade, of course) were both "always on" - hard to argue with. It also has a battery life meter and a solar cell with helps power the helmet to make the batteries last longer. when the batteries go I plan to use lithium-air AAA batteries, I figure they should last longer than alkalines.

Like most helmets of this price, it has a large viewing area. The vertical viewing height is overkill, IMO. It's unnecessary to have a viewing area taller than your glasses (for those of you who wear glasses, at least, but similar overkill is probably applicable to those without glasses). It does make nice peripheral vision though, so I feel more comfortable wearing it with it down when not welding (when setting up to do a weld, for example.) With the blue flame, I never felt like I could see well with it down when not welding, so usually manually lifted it whenever I wasn't welding. I think I'd rather have the filter be a bit wider and less tall, but I understand this is a a "traditional" size and is interchangeable with some other helmets, which is neat.

What is fairly unique about the Truesight (I think this may be a feature in another high-end Jackson helmet as well, but probably only the newer ones) is that the color of the filter is not green, but more of a natural color / yellowy orangy color. That was the main reason I bought it. So far I am pretty amazed by this, and still exploring this feature. It makes for a very "different" welding experience compared to the traditional green filters. When welding stainless, there were bursts of purple and blue around the arc. When welding aluminum, there was red colors where the cathodic etching was doing its thing. These visual cues could easily help to be more aware more of what is really going on when welding, and perhaps make you a better welder if you are good at your game. Without a green filter, you get tiny hints of these things happening, but with a truesight it's like looking at a whole new word. I was almost in disbelief when it was first happening, I thought surely there must have been something wrong with my setup, however my welds were turning out good, the despite the radically different visual appearance of the puddle and area when "under the arc." I've only used it a little bit so far, but look forward to using it more and giving some more feedback after trying the new colors out.

Here is the reference picture viewed through the Truesight filter, shown next to the same viewing test area with no filter:

As you can see if you enlarge the pic of the Truesight view, it lets through a lot more colors than the traditional "green view" illustrated in the blue flame review above. It's also not all that orange or yellow, but closer to natural colors. It actually seem to have pretty close to the same viewing intensity (in the light state) as the green view, perhaps a little lighter which is good. I'd say that its larger viewing area has a big effect as well on being able to more effectively use it in the light state. (Such as for doing fit-up without flipping the helmet up, etc.)

Back regarding welding stainless with this helmet, one thing I was amazed at was how I could see the color of the oxidation with the helmet down. That is, I could see if I had the tan/brown color, the salmon pink, the purple, etc. Absolutely amazing, all these extra colors in the view it provides. The green lens never lets me see any of that. I only remember being able to see any of that faint oxidation film coloration after flipping it up.

[jakeru]

For easier comparison of the different colors, here are a side-by-side view of the the Blue Flame's "traditional green" view and the Truesight's "amber band pass" view:


I'm not sure if I can figure out how to take arc shots through both for actual "under the arc" comparisons, but if I can I'll post them up in this thread. But the colors under the arc between these two filters seem to differ as radically as they do in the light state.

Edit: It's worth mentioning some minor downsides I noticed in my initial experience with the Truesight helmet. Due to its price, one would expect for such details to be perfect. One, the headgear wasn't assembled (or had come loose) to the helmet in one spot. The pieces were loose and even came out of the box (luckily I got them all accounted for). Two, there is plastic casting flash in various places in both some of the the headgear plastic pieces (feel "sharp" on some places) as well as on the helmet shell itself, such as where the lens gasket seals to the helmet shell. I can cut, file, or trim them down if they do bother me though. Three, I've seen some misleading information that this product is made in the USA, which I believe Jackson may be responsible for. However the inside of the actual helmet shell reads "made in Taiwan" cast right into the plastic.

[everlastsupport]

Hey Jake,

Somewhere on the web there was a fellow that had a mount with a helmet and camera behind it he used to film welding video. I'll look later for it. He used another helmet to do the actual welding. I was surprised to see how well it worked. Wasn't Jody level, but I recall it was pretty darn good.

BTW, thanks for the review.

[Rambozo]

Did you lock the camera settings for exposure and white balance for your pictures?

[sportbike]

Cool, thanks for the review. I am thinking about getting a larger lens auto dark helmet to replace / supplement my "Blue flame" as well.

[jakeru]

Did you lock the camera settings for exposure and white balance for your pictures?

What I did to take those through-the-lens pictures was first depress the shutter button halfway without the lens, then introduce the lens while keeping the shutter button halfway depressed, and then fully depressing the shutter button to record the view through the lens. I had the camera (a Canon ELPH 300HS) set to auto ISO, White Balance, and iContrast. What I don't know is which of those auto settings are set when button is halfway pressed, versus which need full depression to be set. (I know for certain the focus is set with halfway, but not sure about behavior of the other settings.)

I just checked out the shooting settings in the image metadata, and it does look like it recorded the pictures with different ISO speeds:
* ISO 1000(Auto) for the HSL-100 and the blue flame shots
* ISO 800(Auto) for the Truesight shot
* ISO 1600(Auto) for the no lens shot

All other shooting settings in the image metadata were the same (including exposure compensation = 0). Other camera settings used were "scene-based light metering", and of course, no flash. I suppose I could try re-doing with the ISO manually set to something. (Any suggestions what to set it to?) I was thinking that a tripod might help a great deal. I've got a small one I was thinking I could set up. Using a tripod would capture the exact same viewpoint as well.

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Update - just checked into the Auto ISO behavior in my camera's manual, and it appears to be set based on the half-depressed shutter position. I just verified it on the camera, indeed the automatically selected ISO speed gets displayed on the screen immediately after depressing the shutter button halfway. So, I don't know why it didn't automatically select the same ISO speed for all the shots. Maybe because I aimed them slightly differently. I did crop out the same regions taken for the uploaded pics, to better facilitate the side-by-side comparison.

[Rambozo]

Yeah, fully automatic cameras can be so "helpful" for things like this. I would try a manual mode then select a pretty bright target, and adjust exposure to get a decent shot through one filter, then swap helmets and use the same settings. That would give a nice comparison. A CMOS chip is not going to have enough dynamic range to get a good shot with and without a filter at the same settings, but it should be fine between different filters.
I really appreciate what you are doing. I had never seen an autodark with the color corrected type of filter. I was always a fan of the gold and silver mirrored fixed shades, because of what you could see. Thanks for the review.

[jakeru]

I got some better, more scientific color tests for the autodarkening helmets. Since we're interested in comparing the colors, I figured a common 24-set box of Crayola crayons set outside in the sun would make for a nice, standardized subject for color gamut testing. Here is what the crayons look like...

...in sunlight (with no filter):

...Blue Flame-filtered:

... and Truesight-filtered:


Note: I locked the camera exposure settings for the above two welding lens-filtered shots, to: ISO 800, F5.0, 1/320 shutter speed. (The non-filtered shot used it's own exposure settings.) I removed the filters from the helmets to take these shots, so no outer cover lenses were present (however, inner cover lenses were still present.) The welding filters were in their light states / aka "grind mode". For all three shots, I had the camera's White Balance set to "Day Light", and all other camera settings set the same.

[Rambozo]

WOW, that really highlights not only the color cast, but the difference in brightness. Great job, you devised a perfect test. I think I need a new helmet. I was really looking at the Miller DE and one other, but this makes me rethink things a lot. It really does remind me of the view through the gold mirrored filters. So many colors. The truesight really goes after the blue end of the spectrum and that is the portion that is really bright in an electric arc. I bet the view while welding is fantastic.

[performance]

I have the jackson executive adjustable that has a amber cast to it as well. It appears a little green, but the great thing is that you don't perceive a color difference as much as you do with green.

[Rambozo]

I like how the Truesight has it's own full size mag lens insert. I wish they offered a little stronger one, but such is life. That let's us old guys use the full size of the larger viewport. As you mentioned it always seemed pointless to have a large vertical viewport, when glasses or a mag insert limited how much you could really use.

Does the headgear allow adjustments for how close the front is to your face? So far I don't see much of a downside to this helmet, with the exception of a little extra weight, and getting used to new controls and features. The price seems more than fair for all the features and is on par with others in the same class. Since you tested it down to 2 amps, it seems like having the RF or X-Mode triggering is not really required for reliable triggering with low amp TIG. I saw another review of the Truesight that mentioned you can use a standard 4 1/2" x 5 1/4" outer as long as you buy the rubber gasket to go around it that Jackson uses in it's other shields. I can't say I'm a fan of the wild graphics on helmets, so thankfully they also have a plain one.

[performance]

As far as the cheaters go, I have a solution. Walmart eye centers carry wrap around safety glasses with magnification. Since you are technically supposed to be welding with safety glasses on anyway, this may actually help your vision, with or without a cheater. And they have them in different strengths and styles for just a very few bucks...About what you'd pay for a cheap pair of reading glasses or less.

[Rambozo]

Yeah, I wear bifocal safety glasses. It just seems like for every work distance, I have to come up with a different lens arrangement. Still pisses me off, since I never needed glasses until mid 40's.

[jakeru]

Mark - Is your Jackson Executive model amber only in the light/grind mode? I've heard that some of Jackson "amber" lenses actually turn green when darkened, e.g., "under the arc".

For example - this vendor advertises a Jackson BOSS as being "Amber view lens (in Grind Mode ONLY)."

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Rambozo - The Jackson headgear does have three fore-aft adjustment positions, adjustable in 7/16" increments.

I also considered the Miller Digital Elite as an alternative to the Truesight. The main thing that turned me off about the Miller (when I tried one in the LWS) was the "ratcheting" up/down action of the headgear really bothered me. I much preferred the smooth acting headgear, found in any other helmet. The X-mode may still be useful for certain scenarios, like welding in bright sunlight.

I also considered the Speedglas 9100x. The one I tried (in the LWS) sure felt heavy (although whether it's actually heavier than the Truesight I ended up with or not, though, I'm not actually sure.) I wasn't sold on the side windows which seem to be hard to find without, which seemed to add some extra weight. It was very nice overall, but also *very* expensive; > $300.

I do feel like the breath-deflecting baffles of the Speedglas may be good to have though for fogging reduction; the Truesight is so far showing some early signs of possibly having a fogging up problem. So far it's only been the lower part which is not where I look though, but it's a bit concerning because the weather hasn't even gotten that cold yet, and I've only ever had problems with the Blue Flame fogging up when it gets cold. (So, wonder how bad the Truesight is going to be with fogging up in the wintertime).

Also, there are some signs that the friction mechanism in the Truesight/Jackson headgear may not be totally reliable. One of the two adjustment knobs rotates back a forth some as the helmet is lifted/lowered... not confidence inspiring towards not loosening up over up/down cycles. The friction also kicks in quite suddenly over a very limited range of knob adjustment. There is an o-ring inside there that is providing the friction, but it doesn't have a groove or channel to ride in, just kind of "loose" in there between two plastic discs.) I feel like I could probably somehow fix that it it becomes a problem though.

Is there any value to using a "cheater lens" for someone who doesn't use/need reading glasses? I've had situations where I was welding something so small that I wished I could have magnification, sometimes I just can't get my face close enough to see what I'm welding on as well as I'd like to. Sometimes I take my glasses off when I weld (they are for distance vision, for nearsightedness correction) but since they are kind of a mild prescription, it doesn't make that much of a difference.

[performance]

Mark - Is your Jackson Executive model amber only in the light/grind mode? I've heard that some of Jackson "amber" lenses actually turn green when darkened, e.g., "under the arc".

For example - this vendor advertises a Jackson BOSS as being "Amber view lens (in Grind Mode ONLY)."

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Rambozo - The Jackson headgear does have three fore-aft adjustment positions, adjustable in 7/16" increments.

I also considered the Miller Digital Elite as an alternative to the Truesight. The main thing that turned me off about the Miller (when I tried one in the LWS) was the "ratcheting" up/down action of the headgear really bothered me. I much preferred the smooth acting headgear, found in any other helmet. The X-mode may still be useful for certain scenarios, like welding in bright sunlight.

I also considered the Speedglas 9100x. The one I tried (in the LWS) sure felt heavy (although whether it's actually heavier than the Truesight I ended up with or not, though, I'm not actually sure.) I wasn't sold on the side windows which seem to be hard to find without, which seemed to add some extra weight. It was very nice overall, but also *very* expensive; > $300.



I do feel like the breath-deflecting baffles of the Speedglas may be good to have though for fogging reduction; the Truesight is so far showing some early signs of possibly having a fogging up problem. So far it's only been the lower part which is not where I look though, but it's a bit concerning because the weather hasn't even gotten that cold yet, and I've only ever had problems with the Blue Flame fogging up when it gets cold. (So, wonder how bad the Truesight is going to be with fogging up in the wintertime).

Also, there are some signs that the friction mechanism in the Truesight/Jackson headgear may not be totally reliable. One of the two adjustment knobs rotates back a forth some as the helmet is lifted/lowered... not confidence inspiring towards not loosening up over up/down cycles. The friction also kicks in quite suddenly over a very limited range of knob adjustment. There is an o-ring inside there that is providing the friction, but it doesn't have a groove or channel to ride in, just kind of "loose" in there between two plastic discs.) I feel like I could probably somehow fix that it it becomes a problem though.

Is there any value to using a "cheater lens" for someone who doesn't use/need reading glasses? I've had situations where I was welding something so small that I wished I could have magnification, sometimes I just can't get my face close enough to see what I'm welding on as well as I'd like to. Sometimes I take my glasses off when I weld (they are for distance vision, for nearsightedness correction) but since they are kind of a mild prescription, it doesn't make that much of a difference.

The helmet I have is an older executive, about 4 years old. They have made some changes in the features, but it does have a green liquid crystal shade, somewhat, but when the arc is lit, it gives an amber hue. I can't explain it, but it is a nice clean look at the arc. I don't have a grind mode...though I have 8-13 shade.

I use the upgraded head band as well. It's fine. Every once in a while, it does loosen if I am not paying attention, but it is as nice as I can find. Speed glass is maybe slightly better, but for the 15.00 I spent on the headband to upgrade, it was worth it. I use a Jackson/Moresafe helmet, not the standard Jackson or Halo series. I bought mine originally from HTP back in 2008. Here's the old link to it: http://www.htpweld.com/products/weld.../9013060M.html

[Rambozo]

... the Truesight is so far showing some early signs of possibly having a fogging up problem. So far it's only been the lower part which is not where I look though, but it's a bit concerning because the weather hasn't even gotten that cold yet, and I've only ever had problems with the Blue Flame fogging up when it gets cold. (So, wonder how bad the Truesight is going to be with fogging up in the wintertime).

Also, there are some signs that the friction mechanism in the Truesight/Jackson headgear may not be totally reliable. One of the two adjustment knobs rotates back a forth some as the helmet is lifted/lowered... not confidence inspiring towards not loosening up over up/down cycles. The friction also kicks in quite suddenly over a very limited range of knob adjustment. There is an o-ring inside there that is providing the friction, but it doesn't have a groove or channel to ride in, just kind of "loose" in there between two plastic discs.) I feel like I could probably somehow fix that it it becomes a problem though.

Is there any value to using a "cheater lens" for someone who doesn't use/need reading glasses? I've had situations where I was welding something so small that I wished I could have magnification, sometimes I just can't get my face close enough to see what I'm welding on as well as I'd like to. Sometimes I take my glasses off when I weld (they are for distance vision, for nearsightedness correction) but since they are kind of a mild prescription, it doesn't make that much of a difference.

Someone else complained about the headgear going bad on them, but replacement headgear is cheap ($20 with free shipping). I'm curious as to how the new Miller headgear with dual top bands feels. I have an odd shaped head and have never found any headgear that will hold a heavy helmet for long periods without bothering me because I have to crank it down so tight. When I used to weld a lot more I was always seeking out super light helmets for that reason. Like the old Huntsmans that were made out of some kind of fiberboard, and the Bilson Vision.

Perhaps a treatment with an anti fogging solution would help you. I used to use Fog-X on the inside of motorcycle helmets with good results. There is also headgear with a small blower attached that could help. A coworker once wired up a small fan and a solar panel to his helmet to stay cool. As I recall he duct taped it on and it looked silly but it made a very noticeable difference and I'm sure a nicely made version would be good for anti-fogging as well.

Sure a cheater will help, after all they are just simple magnifiers. What you will lose is depth of field so you will need to be in the sweet spot to be able to use them as they are fixed focal length. And of course there are welding microscopes for the micro TIG stuff. I've never needed that, yet, but I have had to solder stuff under a microscope many times, like repairing torn flexible circuits in robot dogs.

[redbeard]

Thanks for the review jakeru, I was getting ready to pull the trigger on a Lincoln Viking when you posted this up just in the nick of time. With the 20% rebate thru 9-30, it gets the price down pretty close to even. Cheapest I've found is 281 with free shipping here: http://www.weldingsuppliesfromioc.co...UESIGHT/Detail Anybody found better?

Good to know about the potential weaknesses too, kind of hate thinking about upgrading headgear on a >200 helmet, but such are the breaks. The only other thing I can't seem to find is real specs for the truesight, Lincoln and Miller (IIRC), put out some actual numbers for thing like switching speed and TIG amp rating instead of just the non-specific sales pitch from Jackson.

[jakeru]

Mark - sounds like a nice helmet. I like the 8-13 range. Can you tell if the colors through it look the same as the colors I showed in the crayola 24 pack picture of the truesight above?

FWIW, I found some specs published by Speedglas on the transmittance curve of their 9100 series helmets:

I know it's hard to see, but that transmission curve seems to peak right at 534nm (green.) Too bad Jackson doesn't publish this kind of information for their amber-band pass filters.

[everlastsupport]

Jake, Thanks again for the review/info. I like Jackson (have an OLD non-auto gold still hanging around). I also like Miller DE and SpeedGlas 9100 myself. The Elite is a very nice helmet. Wish you had them to reveiw too

On a side note, anyone looking for a higher end helmet, there are generally some good deals on ebay, but do not expect anything dirt cheap. I did miss out on 2 Digital Elites a bit ago and it was a local seller. Still kicking myself, he said he would take $150 local from me and pull the auction. Also ask a lot of questions if it looks to good to be true.

Currently there's a Joker DE going for $115 (6 bids) and a 9100x at $205. I have been leaning toward the Speedglas alot just from word of mouth and seeing at WSI.