Lincoln Electric VIKING 3350 Auto Darkening Welding Helmet

Lens very clear and comfortable

I'm a beginner welder and I wanted a decent helmet to start out with ads my eyes are very important to me. Well turns out this helmet was even better than I Had anticipated. My dad welds all the time and has now claimed it as his own. the other 6 he has just collect dust now. The auto visor works flawlessly, and the puddle is very clear to see while welding. easy operation even with gloves on to switch to grinding mode.

Buena calidad de materiales y visión amplia

Best helmet I’ve ever had

I did a lot of research, and results indicate from reviews to not even think about other auto-darkening helmets - and for this helmet, those reviews are spot on (correct). Stay away from Harbor-Freight, YesWelder, even Miller Digital Elite 2.0, etc. I'm not stating this Lincoln is better than Miller Digital Elite 2.0, but rather for the weekend DiYer, this is your go-to helmet for Flux-Core, MiG, etc. As soon as I opened the box, I set the shade to 10 (for thin sheet metal flux core), and set the lag-time for becoming clear (after the arc distinguishes) to short "S", and went to the garage and fired up the new Lincoln 90-iFC flux core welder (110 Volts AC). Before I struck the arc, the lens was very clear. Once I struck an arc, the lens auto-darkened within 1/25,000 seconds, which is 200 times faster than the human "look away" reflex time when accidentally looking at the sun (1/125 second). The look-away reflex is a natural response built into the eye (central nervous system) from preventing retinal burns and burning the eyes out from bright lights. Amazingly, the arc appears very small and is not inflated like cheap lenses will do. The diameter of the visible arc during flux core (0.035 Lincoln flux wire) on 1/8" steel was about 1/8", so very small. As a result I could run a small bead like a micro-surgeon. The color of the arc is a blue-white color, and the small molten bead looks like liquid mercury, so there's no messing up on whether the bead is gluing together both side of the lap or butt being welded. The helmet's very comfortable when tightened around my head with a Lincoln do-rag on - yes, you need a do-rag for flux core, since it's spatter on steroids - everywhere. Be sure to wear long sleeve shirts - no matter how hot it is outside, as well as pants, and full suede gloves. The bright arc releases a lot of UV, which has proven to be a strong carcinogen - we're talking BCC (basal cell carcinomas) and other skin melanomas. Basically, the skin cancers that result in a horrible death - so don't be a fool.