Customer Reviews

Neiko Solar-Powered Auto Darkening MIG/TIG Welding Helmet, ANSI Approved Lens

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I didn't expect much from a helmet priced under $ 100.00 but boy, was I in for a rude awakening. The helmet is lightweight, has a huge viewing area, and no more searching for my weld start. I have been using "Bessie", (my old flip helmet) for years. No more blind mice missing my starts. I was stoked and my roommate, who owns a muffler shop couldn't believe I got it so cheap when he tried it. The thing that sold me on this one over the others was the larger viewing area it offers. I am pleased, and I would definately buy again. Thanks

Just began welding, and at the advice of many, decided to buy an auto-darkening helmet. Indeed, it makes a big difference in accuracy when striking an arc and starting welds, and really is convenient. Decided on this one in part due to existing reviews, since I have no experience to judge by. After having used it a few times, I'm pleased with it. Headband is comfortable, easy to adjust. The sensitivity and darkening controls seem to work as advertised. Not extremely robust construction, but not bad either. With a little care, seems like it should last a while in hobbyist/home use.

One thing to watch out for: The lens/sensor assembly is held in with a plastic bezel, which snaps out for replacement. When I received mine and opened the box, the bezel was partly jarred loose. If I hadn't noticed this and reseated it, the lens/sensor might have fallen out, in which case I wouldn't be giving it 4 stars. :)

All things considered, I feel the price/performance ratio is reasonable, and would recommend it to other hobbyist-type users based on what I've seen so far.

Bought this as I needed a welding shield for the MiG welded by brother gave me to use. As I only do occasional welding, I was looking for a low cost shield that had the auto-darkening lens. In practice this shield does the job quite nicely. I could see the weld puddle and was able to control what I was doing with minimal issues. The only negatives are the lightweight construction of the helmet (I expected that) and the tensioning feature of the helmet to keep it up while not in use. Like I said for the occassional welder this is a definite "best buy". Highly recommend with the foreknowledge the helmet is lightweight in designd and durability.

I am a novice welder and used the flip down helmet for the first 2 weeks of learning to weld. I decided to bite the bullet and buy an auto darkening helmet. I was surprised to find that they had gone drastically down in price since they first came out. I can not compare this to other auto darkening helmets as I have never used any other but I don't see how they could be that much better. The size adjustment locks in place good. It darkens when I strike a weld. What more could you ask for? To anyone that still uses the old flip down mask I would highly recommend switching. It is like night and day and my learning curve was a lot easier with this helmet.

Edit: After spending one summer in my workshop the head band strap plastic became very brittle and broke due to the heat. It was not abused in anyway other than being left in a hot workshop. I was able to take the head band off of the helmet that came with my welder and put it on this helmet. Both helmets were subjected to the same heat in the workshop but the other hand band was fine. The new head band is not a perfect fit causing the mask to be touching my nose. I will be looking for a different mask. I deducted one star only because the auto darkening part of the mask still works good.

Bought this because I'm taking a community college course in basic welding (and I have had a welder in my garage for 5 years that I want to learn to use, but I digress)and the helmet in class made me feel as though the lights were out even when I was welding. With this helmet I was a little nervous at first, but last night when I tried it out for the first time, I was extremely delighted with the auto darkening performance (I could leave it down while cleaning the weld and see just fine) and found the helmet to be comfortable as well. The coverage on top isn't as much as I would like so I'm wearing my hat backwards with no problem and it actually does cover my neck better than the class issued helmet so I don't have to worry about a UV burn (I have a long neck). I would highly recommend this helmet for occasional/non-professional use as that is all that I'm skilled enough to recommend it for (might be great for pros, I will never know) and even though it isn't constructed to the highest quality (lens keeper pops out in one corner if there is any flexing of helmet, but not detrimental to performance and just something I keep in mind) I think it is well worth the price and a 4 star rating. I would purchase it again.

I bought this helmet to take a welding course. I guess this is a case of you-get-what-you-pay-for. This is probably ok for very occasional use, but step up to a pro-helmet if you intend to do more than that. Otherwise, it is a waste of money.
My first complaint is that EVERYTIME you flip it up, the torque on the flip adjusters change and it tends to creep down, constantly. That is really annoying over a three hour class when I am flipping it up every couple of minutes.
The bigger problem is that doesn't cover enough of your head in the down position, causing two problems: the first is that weld sparks land on your head. wearing a hat fixes that but at the expense of comfort and good fit.
The second problem is much more aggravating: light reflects on the back of the lense, making it very, very difficult to see the work you are welding. This is even worse if you wear bi- or trifocals which restrict the range of head motion you can use to get into focal length of the work.

This is my first helmet, I never touched a welder until tonight and got this as starter helmet. The auto darkening feature is amazing...when the arc starts it dims perfectly. How did people use the old style helmets for decades (!?)

I too thought the lens size was larger, but now I see why some people are upset. The photo Amazon uses has a reflection on the lens which obscures it...the top half is the sensor...the bottom half the viewport. If you look at photos of the other sub $100 auto-darkening helmets they all use exactly the same lens assembly.

For this price I'm totally satisfied.

I live in the north of Sweden near the artic cirkel and here its dark the hole day in the winter so its many hours in the garage and i weld a great deal.
I think the helmet is great and the price is great, much for the mony.

Normally I won't skimp on tools but since I'm a beginner welder I figured I wouldn't spend big on my first auto darkening welding helmet. Big mistake.

For the first week it worked fine. More or less. The next week I turned it on struck an arc and it didn't darken. It sorta flickered so I wasn't sure but then realized, no, it's burning my eyes. I thought the trigger needed to be set so I set the sensitivity so it would darken for the sun or a bright lamp and then I struck another arc. Didn't work then either. Still auto dimmed for the lamp over the welding table but just not for the arc that was burning into my eyes.

So, bottom line: if you need protection from 60watt bulbs this is the helmet for you. If you like having small blue spots floating in your eyes for the rest of the day, again, this is the helmet for you. If you don't actually use your eyes or are a blind welder this is truly the perfect helmet.

For those of you who find having your eyes useful find another place to save money. Buy cheaper gloves, skip a few dinners out, buy one gauge thinner but do yourself a favor and don't buy this helmet. I went and bought a 3M Speedglas 9100x and it's flawless. I wished I'd saved the money on this one.

Inexpensive helmet with all the features of a more expensive one. If you're having trouble welding with a regular helmet this will make all the difference. It has adjustable sensitivity, the level of shading is also adjustable, and its solar powered. The plastic on it is a little flimsy but I've had no problems with it. I would reccommend this product to anyone.