Would like to report that I finally had time to try stick welding for the first time today. Ran 4 3/32 J422 rods on 1/8 plate at 60 amps on the ESAB 242i. Got the rod stuck many times but did get some 1/4 inch wide beads that did not look too bad near the end of the session. Used these rods because they came with my first (Amazon special) welder. Will probably never use them again. Thank you for your teachings, which have greatly helped me get started with welding. Am planning to get some 6010, 6013, and 7018 for further practice.
Glad to hear that. Once you get a feel for smooth consistent travel speed and letting the rod melt off like a crayon on a hot pan, stick welding becomes a lot easier. Once you can master a simple 4-5inch long bead on flat plate that’s straight and consistent a whole world of making stuff opens up 😀.
Before I could weld, I welded compactor arms for a well known garbage truck manufacturer. You didn't have to be good, you just had to be able to withstand the heat of pouring 15 lbs of dual shield into the water retention pond sized cavity in the arm to the packer shaft. In 110° weather under a high tin roof for shade. You could do 1 a day. I did 10 of them and went to find other work. (Not many stayed a month before moving on. Too brutal. You could drink 3 gallons of water in a shift and not pee once you sweated so profusely.)
@beyondmiddleagedman7240 I know the feeling. I worked for a barge repair company for a few weeks, some time back. The working conditions were living hell. Everything was in a dry dock, so steel all around soaking up the July sun and staying hot all night. Climbing down inside a wet, dirty barge hull with almost no light and little air circulation, and trying to balance on the steel beams while welding was no fun, let me tell you. Having to wear a hood, jacket, hard hat, and gloves turned the job into a torture chamber. The only thing I can compare it to is the inside of a house attic in the summer. Of course the boss was sure to let me know he wanted my "best quality" welds. I'll never forget my last day there, when I climbed out of that hell hole I had to sit for at least ten minutes dripping sweat while struggling to keep from passing out. Never went back.
Wow, that sounds like a challenge 😱. Everything about that sounds like it wasn’t fun. Glad to hear you moved on pretty quick. Always wondered how a company like that could keep people around long enough to build anything lol.
Hi, I bought a regular 3350 awhile back based on the reviews on the first video, and so far I like it. The headgear is quite comfortable, it doesn't seem too heavy, and I like the simple easy to use dials. I thought about the Miller, but the lack of a grind button, and the fact that they were way more expensive at my local welding supply shop, I went with the 3350-4 the one with the stars design. Very happy with it, I set it to shade 10, and dialed in the sensitivity, and like you said, I've hardly touched it since. I set the delay longer, and even used it to watch the solar eclipse here back in April. I cranked it up to about shade 13, and that worked quite well :) The sensitivity is so good, it turns dark on even the slightest spark from using a wire wheel if I forget to switch to grind mode.
Glad to hear you like it. They seem to be very reliable and my primary one has survived 7 or so years without failure. If you ever notice it starting to act a bit weird, change the battery. Mine will do weird things like stay dark for too long, pop out of dark mode, be more reactive to light sources, etc when the battery is low. More than once I thought it was broke only to fix it 100% with a new battery lol.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg I just went out to the garage and looked at cartridge again. It looks like the green LED under the test button that flashes slowly to let you know you're in grind mode should change color to red if the battery is low? I think if you hit the test button it should light up red if the battery is getting low, or does yours start acting up even before the LED turns red?
I have a lower end Lincoln hood (under $100), I don't remember the model number and am too lazy to go get it. It's an ok hood for a hobbyist like me. I added an Energizer adjustable LED light to it. I just Velcro'ed it onto the top of the hood, which allows me to remove it easily if I want to. It works great, and its angle is adjustable. It helps this old guy see better. Just thought I'd throw that out there if it helps anyone.
I think I have the same one. It was like $49 or something at HD about 5 years ago. Bought it in a emergency working on the road. I honestly prefer it to my $300 Miller. It’s not only lighter weight but it doesn’t have the same annoying things that my miler has. For an example that cheap Lincoln just works without messing around with stuff. Pull it out of the truck and start welding, nothing to turn on no batteries to replace, buttons to remember to press, just strike and arc. On the Miller if you don’t remember to press the reset button it will flash you every single time. It it sits around in a truck for a few months the battery is guaranteed to be dead and I guarantee it will have a dead battery at 2am in the middle of east bum-fuck. I personally prefer a high quality gold lens fix shade to any autodark lens for most things.
You definitely did. The color while welding with it is unreal and its sensors seem to work so well. They definitely did a good job on designing it, and for bench tig work it’s what I have grown to favor.
Even the cheap harbor freight hood is far better today than years ago. I use one of them for random jobs because it’s so light it doesn’t hurt my neck.
Greg i own the esab for about 1 year , i like it but its so sensitive even at the lowest i would like it even lower , i like my hood to go clear as soon as i stop welding. Maybe you didnt saw my comment on your first video of the esab , you dont need any tool to replace the front lens. The thing that lock the lens , where the screw is , you push on it from the outside and the lens pop off by itself. The one on the right is fixed but the one under the grind button is the one you have to push. Give it a try let me know it takes like 15 seconds to replace the lens
Great tip on the lens. I thought you might be able to do that but I was afraid to try it. I need to read the manual for once since apparently it mentions what you said about the lens change lol.
after the first video on these I bought the Std 3350. I've been using a Speedglas 9000 for several years but started learning tig and with only 2 sensors it kept flashing me. The Lincoln is a little heavier but I love it.
Tig tends to be real tough on 2 sensor hoods to pickup, especially below 50 amps. You end up setting the sensitivity sky high and then it’s overly sensitive with everything else. The fact the 3350 can be setup with settings where you like it, and then you can just weld a bunch of stuff with assorted processes without readjusting settings is why it’s so good. Nothings worse than getting flashed. Even though the UV is still blocked in the light shade, the bright light still sucks. It’s also hard to focus when you’re worried it’s going to go light again lol.
I believe the ESAB shape is meant to allow overhead welding without catching sparks. I bought an Infinity several years ago to replace my old digital elite. I loved the size, and the fact you never seemed to need to remove it while doing fabrication. I always liked X-mode for working outside too. The thing that shelved the infinity was weight on my neck. EVERY time i used it i got a neck ache. It has been replaced with an Optrel Crystal 2.0 The optrel is amazing.
Making mistakes with Greg.. Back in the day all we had was old school fixed shade hoods and we used Jackson and Lincoln large view fixed shade hoods. Neck stayed sore. Now I have 3 of the auto darkening one, two different models of YESWELDER hoods, one Matco tools (I think it's made by Lincoln) hood and a Lincoln large view fixed shade hood. The Matco tools hood cost the most out of the 4 of them and it was going light, dark, light, dark the other day. I switched to my older YESWELDER hood and no problems at all.
I almost hate to admit my top of the line Yeswelder cartridge is my favorite to weld with. The headgear is iffy, so I replaced it with Radnor headgear.
I have a Hobart hood where to change the battery, you remove the front flace plate to get access to the cartridge which has a rubber gasket holding the cartridge. You then pop the cartridge from the rubber gasket to get access to the battery compartment in the cartridge. The problem I had is the rubber gasket over time got brittle and that and after repeated flexing to remove the cartridge, the gasket split at a corner. If the Miller has the same design, I would consider that as a minus compared to the ESAB which has a separate battery compartment where you don't have to remove the cartridge to change the battery.
The esab is definitely the easiest to change the batteries. The miller doesn’t have much of a gasket to worry about, it’s hard plastic, so you won’t run into the issue you had. The Lincoln has a gasket like you described, but if it survived on my work hood for 7+ years I would say it’s pretty durable.
I have the esab a60 screen and I want to tell you that... 1- It is not necessary to remove the interior screw to change the front protective plastic 2- I have had the screen since it came on the market and I have not changed the batteries yet. 3- I use it in industrial welding and if you take care of it it is very durable using it with both electrode, mig mag and tig, apart from that I have had the a50 and it lasted 3 years until I changed it on a whim 4- So that the front protective plastics last , I clean it before using it with anti-spatter spray 5- The stock harness is not good at all and that is why it is advisable to replace it with the sentinel a50 harness.
I went with the Miller Digital Elite based on your previous comparison of these three (though I got the 4X one that just came out a few weeks ago, not the 2.0). The Elite's optics and functionality are essentially the same as the Infinity, just with a smaller viewing area. I liked that it was a bit lighter and that it had actual latches for the front lens cover. I also like that the cartridge and such load from the front on the Millers. I personally have been leaving mine on X-Mode and keeping the sensitivity fairly low. Using that combo, it doesn't darken when I grind, and I can work in the sun or in bright light without false triggers.
Honestly the weight savings is probably worth it to run the smaller lens. Good tip on the x mode and low sensitivity. I know the xmode works great outdoors, which is tough for many helmets to handle. Nothings worse than having an auto darkening helmet that stays far outdoors lol.
Thanks Greg that was a great follow-up. The only thing I would like to see is how set the hood up. I cant get it to stay up and flick down like you see everyone else do. If i can it wont go all the way down so light gets in, at the bottom so you still have push it down all the way. And thats a pain with tig.
The grind button on the right is probably because you put the welding implement down, press button and then pick up grinder. Not the usual, start grinding or welding and remember you're in the wrong mode.
At time 9:50 you mentioned the possibility of an external grind button on the Miller Infinity hood. However - The Miller Digital Elite hood model 288924, (Black only) has an External Grind button. The resting shade minimal shade goes down to 2.5 and is adjustable from 8.5 to 12.5 in .5 increments in both the Weld mode and what they call X-mode. Grind mode has a tiny internal Red LED that blinks to warn you that it is in grind mode. The Miller system has what they call ClearLight 2.0 technology, and I just recently saw that some hoods now have ClearLight 4.0 tech. The Digital Infinity does not have an External Grind Button, but it does have a larger viewing area. I have the original Infinity Hood, and my new Elite is far superior.
Interesting, I wonder why miller didn’t put the button on the infinity. They are the only hood I am aware of on the higher end side without it. You are correct, (and I was completely unaware of it) miller has released a 4x lens now. What it appears to be is a 1/1/1/1 optical clarity lens, where is all of the 2.0 lenses had something like 1/1/1/2. I might have to get ahold of the lens and see if it’s better. Miller has a very serviceable blue tint, it doesn’t appear as though their new 4x changed that at all. It’s probably just clearer. Honestly for a general purpose hood I don’t think the clear light 2.0 has any real issues. It works so good and vision is more than great.
I have been told by both Lincoln and Miller tech support, that they cannot put External Grind Buttons on hoods with Graphics. I can see their point, and perhaps Plain Black hoods without graphics don’t sell as well as those with graphics. I absolutely love Lincoln’s Steam Punk and Miller’s Military Honor, and it would be cool to have graphics, but given the choice between plain black with external button vs graphics without it, I will take the External Grind button for multiple reasons. One thing for sure is the Miller Hoods take a Lot of fiddling and that is my main issue with them.
I paid $60 (Canadian dollar) on a used Lincoln 3350 (first gen) including shipping to my house, including bunch of spare lens. it’s amazing helmet. Very happy with it, especially the price lol
Out of those three, ive only used the esab a60 at work, the lens getting easily scratched is definitely annoying. Im pretty happy with it, the air filter/ fresh air belt also works well, but when im welding inside aluminium tankers i have the mask connected to a hose that brings in fresh air from outside. For tacking and other lightweight stuff I use a fixed shade lens mask from Würth, its super light and has a ridiculously good field of view and perfect clarity. I wouldn't want to be the one paying for them though, good thing employer buys the gear for us!
The fixed shades are hard to beat for weight. That esab is probably the closest to overall weight /neck strain of a fixed shade of any large viewing area auto darkening hood out there. It balances so nice and the weight seems non existent.
Great review!! The Lincoln has a rebate now for $75 So it brings the price down to $255. I think that's a great deal!! I do trust Greg and I am gonna buy the Lincoln one. Can you please post your settings for the Lincoln you prefer? Thank you so much!!
I run a shade 11, sensitivity at half, and delay at 1/3. When you get it set and it seems to work that is pretty much setup. I virtually never screw with settings on the hood. I will go to a shade 12 when welding over 200amp, but otherwise I keep it at 11.
I always wonder what I'm missing with the higher priced hoods. I'm a semi-professional welder and I use the Hobart Inventor, 4 sensor, $100. I've use that for at least 2 years with no issues and no flashes. I went with 4 sensors because I weld a lot under cars in cramped spaces and a 2-sensor will fail you badly. I recently bought a really, really cheap hood because I wanted to try a flip front like ICWeld uses. It's a JHTII $49 with a fixed 11 or auto 11 shade. It comes with a bright rechargable light and a bunch of other stuff. It works great in the day. Sometimes in the dark the 11 auto shade won't lighten after you welded. I like the flip front so my old eyes can really see to grind, without grabbing a clear shield. That's my 4 ha'pennies. I welded with a regular pipeliner helmet and a fixed glass for decades. I have no experience with a $400 helmet. One very important thing for me is to be able to get my 3m respirator under the mask. My friend bought one at Harbor Freight and the respirator wouldn't fit at all under it.
So here are my thoughts. The higher end hoods have better color clarity (mainly the esab and the Lincoln). For stick and mig it’s not a big deal, for tig it makes a big difference especially with stainless steel. They also have wider viewing areas which is nice when using it as a grinding hood. Besides the clarity/color they tend to flat out work. In one day I might tig weld below 20amps, stick weld at 200, and spray arc at 250+ amps. The Lincoln Viking (and the others) will handle that without issue and only adjusting the shade darkness. Cheap hoods you generally have to constantly adjust the settings to get it to work properly. High quality welds can be done with cheap hoods, but you will be fighting cheap hoods to get them to work in obscured view/confined spaces. That’s the biggest positive to me, not getting flashed and not screwing with settings
I wonder if you could add a piece above the lens on the ESAB to keep it from scratching so much. It just needs to protrude 1/4". I'm not sure if it'll knock off the balance of the hood. Aesthetically the ESAB is so nice
Something probably could be done to keep the lens in better shape. I have a feeling at some point they might mold something into the hood itself to help. Fortunately the lenses aren’t super expensive, but they sure do get scratched fast lol.
Hi Greg, Why don't all the welders who want to, get together and create the helmet that might suite the majority of us. I think most are made in China anyway and in my opinion are not designed by their creators or welders for them to wear. it's all about gimmicks. Anyway good luck and keep it lit. Cheers Phil
I always found it weird how certain things wind up overlooked. Finding a completely polished product is pretty hard to find. Case in point, the. 5k+ miller dynasty I own has some things in its software that just feel unfinished. You wouldn’t expect to see that with what they charge yet it’s there. The more welding hoods move to computer controls the worse it will be for a while lol.
I have a Miller and the ESAB. I must have the intermediate Miller head gear because it doesn't like to stay put. Hence why I picked up the ESAB. I'm tempted to try out a 3M Speedglas, but it's hard to justify as not much of my prototyping requires welding. I have replaced my ESAB head gear once. ESAB needs to resolve that. IMO the grind button should be on top right about where their logo is. You're pressing down on the head gear, and you have better spacial orientation. There is something about the side of the head that people just don't have the same muscle memory for. One thing all these manufactures should include. A battery disconnect switch. Pisses me off to smoke $10-15 worth of batteries in a hood that spent more time hanging than welding. Pulling batteries is a PITA. I swear if one more company adds Bluetooth and an fing app to a product...
Miller swapped head gear for a while on all their hoods and people complained so much they went back to the one I have (maybe 1-1.5 years of the “new one”). The one on the miller hood is solid, I have no reason to believe it won’t last long. The 3m speed glass is an industry standard and if anything it’s known to last forever. 3 guys I work with all use speed glasses and they have no reliability issues. Not to surprised you had an issue with the head gear, it seems like the internal design will have issues. It will be interesting to see if the replacement one they are sending will have any changes. I doubt it but you never know. 100% agree on the blutooth control of the ADV Lincoln. After the video went live I realized the ADV is selling for less money than the standard at many places lol. Give me the standard any day.
Have the esab a60, agree with problem of putting it face down, thats a annoying aspect, when you put it face down it also rocks, further scratching the cover, on my second day of use it rocked over on a hot tig filler end,. the pain. by the way you dont need to remove the screw to change front cover, I just rechecked the manual, you just press the retention button on the outside and take it off, the screw on thing is just a reinforcement backing behind that button, so that you dont break the button when you go all silver back gorilla on it. the head gear is junk it also get skewed most of the time as only one side has a stopper. I am told the a50 headgear was better. I am left handed so like the grind button position, muhahaha. I use this primarily for tig with a cheater lens and a back shroud. prefer to use a chinese hitbox & old jackson adf hood for more dirtier flux core or stick, some times a old pipeliner ( generic chinese ) scoop with adf.
I knew a lefty would like the grind button lol. Great tip on the lens, I should read a manual once in a while 😅. I thought you might be able to pull it out without the screw but I was afraid to break something lol.
@@Saleen35000 A50 headgear is firmer plastic and three adjustable straps on the top along with the back ratchet and the front sweat band. also has a esab logo on it. A60 headgear has one less strap, no esab logo, maybe third party outsourced. easiest way to see the difference is freeze frame at 7:57 on the following review video ( some english guy, dont know him) th-cam.com/video/3APEI79fqLk/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=AJGWelding
Great comparison Greg thanks.I have one question I just ordered a Miller lpr-100 respirator and I read a few reviews on it and one review said it would not fit under the Miller infinity but fit well under the Lincoln was wondering your take on this and if it would fit under the Esab I looking into a new helmet. And thanks again Dave.
I have the ESAB 50 and the 60. I love both, except for the lack of protection for the plastic cover and that the front of the helmet is a bit too wide. I don’t mind the scratching of the cover because I only weld indoors, no dirty garbage trucks. But the width has caught me a few times. I like the adjustments of the cartridge, but that kind of thing is personal preference. I don’t know why you have to use a screw to replace the clovers. I don’t. The first couple of times you have to replace them, it’s a bit awkward, but then it’s pretty easy.
For indoor bench work the a60 is definitely the best of the 3 for vision. And its interface is better than the Lincoln ADV. it definitely has a real wide width in comparison to the other two. To me the balance of it is the most surprising, it feels way lighter than what the specs would suggest.
I have the optrel panoramaxx crystal 2.0 and i regret buying because it is not suitable for wearing eyeglasses since it has a nose contour inside that scraches your glasses everytime you fold it up. So i'm here deciding what is the best hood that is nice while wearing eyeglasses
Thanks for sharing that info. I had not thought of that and it could make a huge issue for a lot of people looking at that hood. I can tell you the 3 hoods in that video work good with eye glasses. They all adjust out fairly far from your face as well so you can make them fit while giving enough air space so your glasses don’t fog up easily.
3350's simply the best hood, in terms of surviving the roughest conditions. least the previous models without bluetooth/flashlight. seen few miller infinites fail. lincolns only fail when they eat batteries(often as you said). in the absolute worse conditions(namely cold or wet) nothing will beat a fixed lense. personally taller beats wider. as in tight spots you can turn your head side to side slightly, but often looking up/down is limited with hood hitting your chest/obstacles, esp trying to get comfortable on your back doing overhead. you can also adjust how far down your hood tilts and cheat in awful positions. the Tefuawe drop ins should be looked at. Dropped into a cheap $15 harbor freight hood it is simply the best hood for the $. Clarity and color is better than lincoln & miller. incredible undarkened state and tig clarity.
Thanks for the tips. You bring up a lot of good things for people to think about, especially the taller viewing screen for tight spots. As far as reliability, I haven’t tested the esab and miller in the cold, but the standard Lincoln 3350 (my main hood) has survived welding in -16 degrees many times without missing a beat. That’s saying something, a lot of electronics start failing at those kind of temps.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Thanks for the recommendation how long is the extension cord you use the 10 gauge one for 120V ? What about for 250V 8 gauge is ok for 25 feet long?
I have the normal 3350 and I love it except that I can't seem to keep it on my head.. Need to crank down the strap way tighter than I think I should or it'll just slip off. Wearing a beanie just seems to make it worse. Any tips for adjusting it correctly to get a secure fit?
So I do have a couple ideas. For me I am lucky because I have a knob on the back of my head that sort of hooks the rear headgear pad. However when wearing a welding cap it holds will still do exactly what you describe. What I found with the 3350 is it tends to be fairly heavy and the weight torques the back headgear pad up. If I adjust the headgear so the hood is closer to my face it has far less leverage to try to tip off my head. The downside to this is you will be more prone to fog the screen. You also want to make sure that the top strap is adjusted so the whole headgear sits down on your head and not just ontop. The sweat band should be at eyebrow level or just above. I too tend to crank it down pretty decent, but moving it closer seems to make a big difference. I will say the esab hood or many cheap lightweight ones stay on with less pressure due to less weight.
The best thing I have found is invisible glass in the aerosol can and paper towels designed for cleaning glass. That combo doesn’t scratch the lens and gets it as clean as you’re going to get it 😀👍
So if your a color blind welder do you think that the lense color difference between the ESAB and Miller would make a difference. Clarity of the puddle to me is the most important. I just don't see what a person with normal color vision sees.
That is actually a super interesting question. I had to think of it quite a bit and my thought is that the difference is not that significant. The clarity of the 3 hoods in the video are close as far as detail level. Because I am not color blind I can’t say for sure, but I don’t believe it would be a huge difference.
Haha you for once have been deemed more important than us rightys lol. Must be weird to see things that work better for you, the whole world is geared around righties.
I want to get one and the price is sky high 💀. There is a new speed glass g5-02 I want to try but it’s 800$ 😮. I will have to see if there is a way to get one of them for “testing” purposes.
So did you get dust and smoke in under the A60 front cover? There is an extra scratch resistant version of the front cover , also in blue . That tightener is bad design , it should have been don with small metal springs! I guess if you have more that one welding machine you also got more helmets- One thing is the price for the helmet , other is availability and price for the spare parts. 6 month may not tell me so much , I rather here how many "hood" hours you put down.
I was unaware of the different shield that’s scratch resistant. That might actually help a lot. It seems to hold up fine to sparks and debris, it’s setting it down on the face that is guaranteed to scratch it. When the new esab headgear shows up I am going to see if anything is different. The way it’s designed is a bit puzzling since the outward force on the levers seems to be absolutely minimal despite nothing being broken. Makes me wonder if something is just off with that part and it’s a fluke. It actually stays on my head without the ratchet locking in, but it’s still not right lol.
As far as the battery life goes, the plain 3350 seems to be good. Yes it might be less than the Miller Infinity, but it uses one battery instead of two like the Miller, so it's not really an issue for me.
The 3350 (non adv) seems to last 2-3 months for me. The adv has lasted 6months but it probably has 1/10th the use as my normal 3350 had. You are right, the actually battery cost isn’t really more since it’s 1 vs 2.
@@summerforever6736 My head isn't huge but there is a lot of adjustment left on it. The headgear is pretty comfortable too, night and day difference with the old cheap Harbor Fright one I had before.
@@summerforever6736 I don't have a huge head, but there's still plenty of adjustment left on it. The headgear is quite comfortable, and night & day difference between the old Harbor Fright vulcan I was using before.
Does anyone know if you can buy large cheater lenses? As apertures are getting larger on welding helmets it seems cheater lenses just stay the same size.
That’s a great question and I did a ton of digging. The only one I could find was a generic one on Amazon. Miller, and Lincoln don’t appear to offer wide cheater lenses. That is kind of odd, I am not sure why they would not offer bigger options.
@@Lou-eyenot very well though. I will never trust a cheap helmet. My eyes are much too important. You really don’t know how well the IR and UV filtering is. Not worth the chance.
On may speedglas 9100 xxi (color lens) grinding buton is on rigt side to. And its pain to push.😢 And lock up relist is adjustuble on rigt nob and faling speed on the left nob. 😅 Its standard on speedglas 9100 series and newer 😊😊
I wonder why they went with the right side button on that too. The Esabs button is huge and easy to find which is good. I just find it odd they put it on the right side.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg The concept of the button on the left also seems more sensible to me, especially for right-handed people, because I always remember to turn on the grinding mode after I turn on the grinder (that's why I prefer the 9100 FX version with a separately lowered welding filter and a completely transparent grinding cover 😋). In my speedglass, I have no problem finding the button because it's on the edge of the display outside, but to press it properly, the whole mask turns on my head. 🤬🤬🤬 Tragedy
I went from a cheap Chinese hood to the Lincoln and noticed right away how much more lightweight and balanced it felt on my head, haha. Also not a fan of how narrow the Lincoln screen is compared even my old cheap one. I think all the name brands are overpriced for what you get. That fact that it's even possible for a $300+ helmet to *ever* flash you is just stupid. With that said, they do work a lot better than the cheap ones which use similar low-tech not-great circuits except with all no-name/fake electronic parts that don't meet their specs or fail (talk about getting flashed all the time, blah).
The 40$ harbor freight I have is like a potato chip to the Lincoln, and the weight does make a difference. The main benefit to the higher end ones is they tend to flat out work better. I had to weld an exhaust system on a car a few months ago and I used the 40$ HF one. I couldn’t get my head close enough to get the sensors to pick up the arc properly. My 7 year old Lincoln would have handled that no issue. For flat bench work the cheaper ones work great.
lol it’s true. I had to weld in some stops for a garbage truck compactor and I am not joking, they were everywhere. Imagine throwing a bag of rice in the back of a garbage truck, every grain was a maggot lol. No way would I set my hood down with the head gear touching anything lol.
It's kind of disgusting how expensive these hoods are and yet they have the chinty little plastic bits in the headgear and such. They have to have less than $50 of actual cost in these things. For now I'm sticking with my cheap HF hood.
I am not sure how expensive the cartridges are to make but it is unfortunate how expensive they are as a package. The good thing is many of the modern hoods are not bad at all. I even have a 40$ HF, it works great for many jobs, and is actually light enough that it’s more comfortable for some jobs too.
I own the the Miller Digital infinity and the Esab and they both are great , no issues. And Greg the one off welding in a maggot filled dump truck is really a non issue for helmet use. The real issue is sunlight entering from the side and screwing up the view.
Would like to report that I finally had time to try stick welding for the first time today. Ran 4 3/32 J422 rods on 1/8 plate at 60 amps on the ESAB 242i. Got the rod stuck many times but did get some 1/4 inch wide beads that did not look too bad near the end of the session. Used these rods because they came with my first (Amazon special) welder. Will probably never use them again. Thank you for your teachings, which have greatly helped me get started with welding. Am planning to get some 6010, 6013, and 7018 for further practice.
Glad to hear that. Once you get a feel for smooth consistent travel speed and letting the rod melt off like a crayon on a hot pan, stick welding becomes a lot easier. Once you can master a simple 4-5inch long bead on flat plate that’s straight and consistent a whole world of making stuff opens up 😀.
Great follow up video.
Before I could weld, I welded compactor arms for a well known garbage truck manufacturer. You didn't have to be good, you just had to be able to withstand the heat of pouring 15 lbs of dual shield into the water retention pond sized cavity in the arm to the packer shaft. In 110° weather under a high tin roof for shade. You could do 1 a day. I did 10 of them and went to find other work. (Not many stayed a month before moving on. Too brutal. You could drink 3 gallons of water in a shift and not pee once you sweated so profusely.)
@beyondmiddleagedman7240
I know the feeling. I worked for a barge repair company for a few weeks, some time back. The working conditions were living hell. Everything was in a dry dock, so steel all around soaking up the July sun and staying hot all night. Climbing down inside a wet, dirty barge hull with almost no light and little air circulation, and trying to balance on the steel beams while welding was no fun, let me tell you. Having to wear a hood, jacket, hard hat, and gloves turned the job into a torture chamber. The only thing I can compare it to is the inside of a house attic in the summer. Of course the boss was sure to let me know he wanted my "best quality" welds. I'll never forget my last day there, when I climbed out of that hell hole I had to sit for at least ten minutes dripping sweat while struggling to keep from passing out. Never went back.
Wow, that sounds like a challenge 😱. Everything about that sounds like it wasn’t fun. Glad to hear you moved on pretty quick. Always wondered how a company like that could keep people around long enough to build anything lol.
I own an A50 and it's absolutely amazing.
Hi, I bought a regular 3350 awhile back based on the reviews on the first video, and so far I like it. The headgear is quite comfortable, it doesn't seem too heavy, and I like the simple easy to use dials. I thought about the Miller, but the lack of a grind button, and the fact that they were way more expensive at my local welding supply shop, I went with the 3350-4 the one with the stars design. Very happy with it, I set it to shade 10, and dialed in the sensitivity, and like you said, I've hardly touched it since. I set the delay longer, and even used it to watch the solar eclipse here back in April. I cranked it up to about shade 13, and that worked quite well :)
The sensitivity is so good, it turns dark on even the slightest spark from using a wire wheel if I forget to switch to grind mode.
Glad to hear you like it. They seem to be very reliable and my primary one has survived 7 or so years without failure. If you ever notice it starting to act a bit weird, change the battery. Mine will do weird things like stay dark for too long, pop out of dark mode, be more reactive to light sources, etc when the battery is low. More than once I thought it was broke only to fix it 100% with a new battery lol.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg I just went out to the garage and looked at cartridge again. It looks like the green LED under the test button that flashes slowly to let you know you're in grind mode should change color to red if the battery is low? I think if you hit the test button it should light up red if the battery is getting low, or does yours start acting up even before the LED turns red?
I have a lower end Lincoln hood (under $100), I don't remember the model number and am too lazy to go get it. It's an ok hood for a hobbyist like me. I added an Energizer adjustable LED light to it. I just Velcro'ed it onto the top of the hood, which allows me to remove it easily if I want to. It works great, and its angle is adjustable. It helps this old guy see better. Just thought I'd throw that out there if it helps anyone.
The Velcro light is a better way to go, great idea😀👍.
I think I have the same one. It was like $49 or something at HD about 5 years ago. Bought it in a emergency working on the road. I honestly prefer it to my $300 Miller. It’s not only lighter weight but it doesn’t have the same annoying things that my miler has. For an example that cheap Lincoln just works without messing around with stuff. Pull it out of the truck and start welding, nothing to turn on no batteries to replace, buttons to remember to press, just strike and arc. On the Miller if you don’t remember to press the reset button it will flash you every single time. It it sits around in a truck for a few months the battery is guaranteed to be dead and I guarantee it will have a dead battery at 2am in the middle of east bum-fuck. I personally prefer a high quality gold lens fix shade to any autodark lens for most things.
I have the esab and as I’m mostly a home hobbyist on my bench, it sounds like I chose wisely. I definitely like the screen and comfort.
You definitely did. The color while welding with it is unreal and its sensors seem to work so well. They definitely did a good job on designing it, and for bench tig work it’s what I have grown to favor.
I owned a cheap Harbor Freight Welding hood ! But its is solar! And with my cheaters! So far so good! Thanks for sharing! Greg! Appreciate it! 👌👍
Even the cheap harbor freight hood is far better today than years ago. I use one of them for random jobs because it’s so light it doesn’t hurt my neck.
Greg i own the esab for about 1 year , i like it but its so sensitive even at the lowest i would like it even lower , i like my hood to go clear as soon as i stop welding. Maybe you didnt saw my comment on your first video of the esab , you dont need any tool to replace the front lens. The thing that lock the lens , where the screw is , you push on it from the outside and the lens pop off by itself. The one on the right is fixed but the one under the grind button is the one you have to push. Give it a try let me know it takes like 15 seconds to replace the lens
Great tip on the lens. I thought you might be able to do that but I was afraid to try it. I need to read the manual for once since apparently it mentions what you said about the lens change lol.
after the first video on these I bought the Std 3350. I've been using a Speedglas 9000 for several years but started learning tig and with only 2 sensors it kept flashing me. The Lincoln is a little heavier but I love it.
Tig tends to be real tough on 2 sensor hoods to pickup, especially below 50 amps. You end up setting the sensitivity sky high and then it’s overly sensitive with everything else. The fact the 3350 can be setup with settings where you like it, and then you can just weld a bunch of stuff with assorted processes without readjusting settings is why it’s so good. Nothings worse than getting flashed. Even though the UV is still blocked in the light shade, the bright light still sucks. It’s also hard to focus when you’re worried it’s going to go light again lol.
I believe the ESAB shape is meant to allow overhead welding without catching sparks. I bought an Infinity several years ago to replace my old digital elite. I loved the size, and the fact you never seemed to need to remove it while doing fabrication. I always liked X-mode for working outside too. The thing that shelved the infinity was weight on my neck. EVERY time i used it i got a neck ache. It has been replaced with an Optrel Crystal 2.0 The optrel is amazing.
No doubt the infinity and miller are heavy on the neck. I will have to try a optrel out. I believe they also make some of fronius’s welding hoods too.
Making mistakes with Greg.. Back in the day all we had was old school fixed shade hoods and we used Jackson and Lincoln large view fixed shade hoods. Neck stayed sore. Now I have 3 of the auto darkening one, two different models of YESWELDER hoods, one Matco tools (I think it's made by Lincoln) hood and a Lincoln large view fixed shade hood. The Matco tools hood cost the most out of the 4 of them and it was going light, dark, light, dark the other day. I switched to my older YESWELDER hood and no problems at all.
I almost hate to admit my top of the line Yeswelder cartridge is my favorite to weld with. The headgear is iffy, so I replaced it with Radnor headgear.
I have a Hobart hood where to change the battery, you remove the front flace plate to get access to the cartridge which has a rubber gasket holding the cartridge. You then pop the cartridge from the rubber gasket to get access to the battery compartment in the cartridge. The problem I had is the rubber gasket over time got brittle and that and after repeated flexing to remove the cartridge, the gasket split at a corner. If the Miller has the same design, I would consider that as a minus compared to the ESAB which has a separate battery compartment where you don't have to remove the cartridge to change the battery.
The esab is definitely the easiest to change the batteries. The miller doesn’t have much of a gasket to worry about, it’s hard plastic, so you won’t run into the issue you had. The Lincoln has a gasket like you described, but if it survived on my work hood for 7+ years I would say it’s pretty durable.
I have the esab a60 screen and I want to tell you that... 1- It is not necessary to remove the interior screw to change the front protective plastic 2- I have had the screen since it came on the market and I have not changed the batteries yet. 3- I use it in industrial welding and if you take care of it it is very durable using it with both electrode, mig mag and tig, apart from that I have had the a50 and it lasted 3 years until I changed it on a whim 4- So that the front protective plastics last , I clean it before using it with anti-spatter spray 5- The stock harness is not good at all and that is why it is advisable to replace it with the sentinel a50 harness.
Thanks for the tips and the mentioning of the other headgear. The a60s definately seems less than durable.
I went with the Miller Digital Elite based on your previous comparison of these three (though I got the 4X one that just came out a few weeks ago, not the 2.0). The Elite's optics and functionality are essentially the same as the Infinity, just with a smaller viewing area. I liked that it was a bit lighter and that it had actual latches for the front lens cover. I also like that the cartridge and such load from the front on the Millers. I personally have been leaving mine on X-Mode and keeping the sensitivity fairly low. Using that combo, it doesn't darken when I grind, and I can work in the sun or in bright light without false triggers.
Honestly the weight savings is probably worth it to run the smaller lens. Good tip on the x mode and low sensitivity. I know the xmode works great outdoors, which is tough for many helmets to handle. Nothings worse than having an auto darkening helmet that stays far outdoors lol.
Thanks Greg that was a great follow-up. The only thing I would like to see is how set the hood up. I cant get it to stay up and flick down like you see everyone else do. If i can it wont go all the way down so light gets in, at the bottom so you still have push it down all the way. And thats a pain with tig.
I will have to do a video on that for sure.
The grind button on the right is probably because you put the welding implement down, press button and then pick up grinder. Not the usual, start grinding or welding and remember you're in the wrong mode.
At time 9:50 you mentioned the possibility of an external grind button on the Miller Infinity hood. However - The Miller Digital Elite hood model 288924, (Black only) has an External Grind button. The resting shade minimal shade goes down to 2.5 and is adjustable from 8.5 to 12.5 in .5 increments in both the Weld mode and what they call X-mode. Grind mode has a tiny internal Red LED that blinks to warn you that it is in grind mode.
The Miller system has what they call ClearLight 2.0 technology, and I just recently saw that some hoods now have ClearLight 4.0 tech.
The Digital Infinity does not have an External Grind Button, but it does have a larger viewing area.
I have the original Infinity Hood, and my new Elite is far superior.
Interesting, I wonder why miller didn’t put the button on the infinity. They are the only hood I am aware of on the higher end side without it. You are correct, (and I was completely unaware of it) miller has released a 4x lens now. What it appears to be is a 1/1/1/1 optical clarity lens, where is all of the 2.0 lenses had something like 1/1/1/2. I might have to get ahold of the lens and see if it’s better. Miller has a very serviceable blue tint, it doesn’t appear as though their new 4x changed that at all. It’s probably just clearer. Honestly for a general purpose hood I don’t think the clear light 2.0 has any real issues. It works so good and vision is more than great.
I have been told by both Lincoln and Miller tech support, that they cannot put External Grind Buttons on hoods with Graphics. I can see their point, and perhaps Plain Black hoods without graphics don’t sell as well as those with graphics. I absolutely love Lincoln’s Steam Punk and Miller’s Military Honor, and it would be cool to have graphics, but given the choice between plain black with external button vs graphics without it, I will take the External Grind button for multiple reasons.
One thing for sure is the Miller Hoods take a Lot of fiddling and that is my main issue with them.
I paid $60 (Canadian dollar) on a used Lincoln 3350 (first gen) including shipping to my house, including bunch of spare lens.
it’s amazing helmet. Very happy with it, especially the price lol
You can’t beat that 😱. That’s the way to go. Nothing is close at the 60$ price point lol.
Out of those three, ive only used the esab a60 at work, the lens getting easily scratched is definitely annoying. Im pretty happy with it, the air filter/ fresh air belt also works well, but when im welding inside aluminium tankers i have the mask connected to a hose that brings in fresh air from outside. For tacking and other lightweight stuff I use a fixed shade lens mask from Würth, its super light and has a ridiculously good field of view and perfect clarity.
I wouldn't want to be the one paying for them though, good thing employer buys the gear for us!
The fixed shades are hard to beat for weight. That esab is probably the closest to overall weight /neck strain of a fixed shade of any large viewing area auto darkening hood out there. It balances so nice and the weight seems non existent.
Thanks Greg.
No problem 😀👍
Great review!!
The Lincoln has a rebate now for $75
So it brings the price down to $255. I think that's a great deal!!
I do trust Greg and I am gonna buy the Lincoln one.
Can you please post your settings for the Lincoln you prefer?
Thank you so much!!
I run a shade 11, sensitivity at half, and delay at 1/3. When you get it set and it seems to work that is pretty much setup. I virtually never screw with settings on the hood. I will go to a shade 12 when welding over 200amp, but otherwise I keep it at 11.
Looks like ESAB has a $75 rebate now too.
I always wonder what I'm missing with the higher priced hoods. I'm a semi-professional welder and I use the Hobart Inventor, 4 sensor, $100. I've use that for at least 2 years with no issues and no flashes. I went with 4 sensors because I weld a lot under cars in cramped spaces and a 2-sensor will fail you badly. I recently bought a really, really cheap hood because I wanted to try a flip front like ICWeld uses. It's a JHTII $49 with a fixed 11 or auto 11 shade. It comes with a bright rechargable light and a bunch of other stuff. It works great in the day. Sometimes in the dark the 11 auto shade won't lighten after you welded. I like the flip front so my old eyes can really see to grind, without grabbing a clear shield. That's my 4 ha'pennies. I welded with a regular pipeliner helmet and a fixed glass for decades. I have no experience with a $400 helmet. One very important thing for me is to be able to get my 3m respirator under the mask. My friend bought one at Harbor Freight and the respirator wouldn't fit at all under it.
So here are my thoughts. The higher end hoods have better color clarity (mainly the esab and the Lincoln). For stick and mig it’s not a big deal, for tig it makes a big difference especially with stainless steel. They also have wider viewing areas which is nice when using it as a grinding hood. Besides the clarity/color they tend to flat out work. In one day I might tig weld below 20amps, stick weld at 200, and spray arc at 250+ amps. The Lincoln Viking (and the others) will handle that without issue and only adjusting the shade darkness. Cheap hoods you generally have to constantly adjust the settings to get it to work properly.
High quality welds can be done with cheap hoods, but you will be fighting cheap hoods to get them to work in obscured view/confined spaces. That’s the biggest positive to me, not getting flashed and not screwing with settings
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Thanks for the feedback.
never used those other hoods but my lincoln 3350 kicks ass
incredibly clear
It definitely is, you can literally see the heat affected zone colors while welding. Pretty amazing.
I wonder if you could add a piece above the lens on the ESAB to keep it from scratching so much. It just needs to protrude 1/4". I'm not sure if it'll knock off the balance of the hood. Aesthetically the ESAB is so nice
Something probably could be done to keep the lens in better shape. I have a feeling at some point they might mold something into the hood itself to help. Fortunately the lenses aren’t super expensive, but they sure do get scratched fast lol.
I love my a60
It’s definitely a sweet hood 😀👍
Hi Greg, Why don't all the welders who want to, get together and create the helmet that might suite the majority of us. I think most are made in China anyway and in my opinion are not designed by their creators or welders for them to wear. it's all about gimmicks. Anyway good luck and keep it lit. Cheers Phil
I always found it weird how certain things wind up overlooked. Finding a completely polished product is pretty hard to find. Case in point, the. 5k+ miller dynasty I own has some things in its software that just feel unfinished. You wouldn’t expect to see that with what they charge yet it’s there. The more welding hoods move to computer controls the worse it will be for a while lol.
I have a Miller and the ESAB. I must have the intermediate Miller head gear because it doesn't like to stay put. Hence why I picked up the ESAB. I'm tempted to try out a 3M Speedglas, but it's hard to justify as not much of my prototyping requires welding. I have replaced my ESAB head gear once. ESAB needs to resolve that. IMO the grind button should be on top right about where their logo is. You're pressing down on the head gear, and you have better spacial orientation. There is something about the side of the head that people just don't have the same muscle memory for.
One thing all these manufactures should include. A battery disconnect switch. Pisses me off to smoke $10-15 worth of batteries in a hood that spent more time hanging than welding. Pulling batteries is a PITA.
I swear if one more company adds Bluetooth and an fing app to a product...
Miller swapped head gear for a while on all their hoods and people complained so much they went back to the one I have (maybe 1-1.5 years of the “new one”). The one on the miller hood is solid, I have no reason to believe it won’t last long. The 3m speed glass is an industry standard and if anything it’s known to last forever. 3 guys I work with all use speed glasses and they have no reliability issues. Not to surprised you had an issue with the head gear, it seems like the internal design will have issues. It will be interesting to see if the replacement one they are sending will have any changes. I doubt it but you never know. 100% agree on the blutooth control of the ADV Lincoln. After the video went live I realized the ADV is selling for less money than the standard at many places lol. Give me the standard any day.
Greg, I have an ESAB A60 and it is toolless to replace the front shield. You put in the button on the right and it comes off.
I thought it might come off without a tool, but I was afraid to break it lol. I definitely need to read the directions more 😅.
Second viewer! Hotdog!. I have watched a lot of your videos and they help so much.
Glad to hear that 😀👍
Have the esab a60, agree with problem of putting it face down, thats a annoying aspect, when you put it face down it also rocks, further scratching the cover, on my second day of use it rocked over on a hot tig filler end,. the pain. by the way you dont need to remove the screw to change front cover, I just rechecked the manual, you just press the retention button on the outside and take it off, the screw on thing is just a reinforcement backing behind that button, so that you dont break the button when you go all silver back gorilla on it. the head gear is junk it also get skewed most of the time as only one side has a stopper. I am told the a50 headgear was better. I am left handed so like the grind button position, muhahaha. I use this primarily for tig with a cheater lens and a back shroud. prefer to use a chinese hitbox & old jackson adf hood for more dirtier flux core or stick, some times a old pipeliner ( generic chinese ) scoop with adf.
I have the A60 but never got an A50 , youre saying the a50 headgear is better , how different is it ?
I knew a lefty would like the grind button lol. Great tip on the lens, I should read a manual once in a while 😅. I thought you might be able to pull it out without the screw but I was afraid to break something lol.
@@Saleen35000 A50 headgear is firmer plastic and three adjustable straps on the top along with the back ratchet and the front sweat band. also has a esab logo on it. A60 headgear has one less strap, no esab logo, maybe third party outsourced. easiest way to see the difference is freeze frame at 7:57 on the following review video ( some english guy, dont know him) th-cam.com/video/3APEI79fqLk/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=AJGWelding
@@asjahan7748 I have to replace my headgear anytime soon cause the detent is weak , i think ill try a A50 headgear on my A60
Great comparison Greg thanks.I have one question I just ordered a Miller lpr-100 respirator and I read a few reviews on it and one review said it would not fit under the Miller infinity but fit well under the Lincoln was wondering your take on this and if it would fit under the Esab I looking into a new helmet. And thanks again Dave.
Thanks again
I've wondered if the headgear would be able to take from one & put in another ?
Some helmets can swap headgear, but many are proprietary. Within a brand probably yes but brand to brand probably not.
I have the ESAB 50 and the 60. I love both, except for the lack of protection for the plastic cover and that the front of the helmet is a bit too wide. I don’t mind the scratching of the cover because I only weld indoors, no dirty garbage trucks. But the width has caught me a few times. I like the adjustments of the cartridge, but that kind of thing is personal preference. I don’t know why you have to use a screw to replace the clovers. I don’t. The first couple of times you have to replace them, it’s a bit awkward, but then it’s pretty easy.
For indoor bench work the a60 is definitely the best of the 3 for vision. And its interface is better than the Lincoln ADV. it definitely has a real wide width in comparison to the other two. To me the balance of it is the most surprising, it feels way lighter than what the specs would suggest.
I have the optrel panoramaxx crystal 2.0 and i regret buying because it is not suitable for wearing eyeglasses since it has a nose contour inside that scraches your glasses everytime you fold it up. So i'm here deciding what is the best hood that is nice while wearing eyeglasses
Thanks for sharing that info. I had not thought of that and it could make a huge issue for a lot of people looking at that hood. I can tell you the 3 hoods in that video work good with eye glasses. They all adjust out fairly far from your face as well so you can make them fit while giving enough air space so your glasses don’t fog up easily.
You don’t have to remove the screw for the face shields on the sentinel there’s a button you click in the front
Yep, I found that out a while back…I was a idiot on that one 😀👍
3350's simply the best hood, in terms of surviving the roughest conditions. least the previous models without bluetooth/flashlight. seen few miller infinites fail. lincolns only fail when they eat batteries(often as you said). in the absolute worse conditions(namely cold or wet) nothing will beat a fixed lense.
personally taller beats wider. as in tight spots you can turn your head side to side slightly, but often looking up/down is limited with hood hitting your chest/obstacles, esp trying to get comfortable on your back doing overhead. you can also adjust how far down your hood tilts and cheat in awful positions.
the Tefuawe drop ins should be looked at. Dropped into a cheap $15 harbor freight hood it is simply the best hood for the $. Clarity and color is better than lincoln & miller. incredible undarkened state and tig clarity.
What model is that from HF?
@@summerforever6736 I'd like to know which one that is too.
Thanks for the tips. You bring up a lot of good things for people to think about, especially the taller viewing screen for tight spots. As far as reliability, I haven’t tested the esab and miller in the cold, but the standard Lincoln 3350 (my main hood) has survived welding in -16 degrees many times without missing a beat. That’s saying something, a lot of electronics start failing at those kind of temps.
HI Greg I have a question what gauge extension cord do you recommend to use with a 120V welder up to 120 welding Amp?
like 25 feet long .Thank you!!!
If I were you 100% go with a 10ga cord. Most 120v welders grossly overload a 20amp circuit and a 10ga would be smarter than 12. Thats what I use 👍
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Thank you!!!!!!!!
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Thanks for the recommendation how long is the extension cord you use the 10 gauge one for 120V ?
What about for 250V 8 gauge is ok for 25 feet long?
I have the normal 3350 and I love it except that I can't seem to keep it on my head.. Need to crank down the strap way tighter than I think I should or it'll just slip off. Wearing a beanie just seems to make it worse. Any tips for adjusting it correctly to get a secure fit?
So I do have a couple ideas. For me I am lucky because I have a knob on the back of my head that sort of hooks the rear headgear pad. However when wearing a welding cap it holds will still do exactly what you describe. What I found with the 3350 is it tends to be fairly heavy and the weight torques the back headgear pad up. If I adjust the headgear so the hood is closer to my face it has far less leverage to try to tip off my head. The downside to this is you will be more prone to fog the screen. You also want to make sure that the top strap is adjusted so the whole headgear sits down on your head and not just ontop. The sweat band should be at eyebrow level or just above.
I too tend to crank it down pretty decent, but moving it closer seems to make a big difference. I will say the esab hood or many cheap lightweight ones stay on with less pressure due to less weight.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg I will try that ty!
Wait how do u clean the clear shields?
The best thing I have found is invisible glass in the aerosol can and paper towels designed for cleaning glass. That combo doesn’t scratch the lens and gets it as clean as you’re going to get it 😀👍
So if your a color blind welder do you think that the lense color difference between the ESAB and Miller would make a difference. Clarity of the puddle to me is the most important. I just don't see what a person with normal color vision sees.
That is actually a super interesting question. I had to think of it quite a bit and my thought is that the difference is not that significant. The clarity of the 3 hoods in the video are close as far as detail level. Because I am not color blind I can’t say for sure, but I don’t believe it would be a huge difference.
Love the complaint about the grind button on the right side of a60. Suffer ya righty!That’s just a minuscule view into the everyday life of a lefty.
Haha you for once have been deemed more important than us rightys lol. Must be weird to see things that work better for you, the whole world is geared around righties.
If you could test the optrel panoramaxx clt, would be great! Some day it is top notch but man, that's expensive!
I want to get one and the price is sky high 💀. There is a new speed glass g5-02 I want to try but it’s 800$ 😮. I will have to see if there is a way to get one of them for “testing” purposes.
So did you get dust and smoke in under the A60 front cover?
There is an extra scratch resistant version of the front cover , also in blue .
That tightener is bad design , it should have been don with small metal springs!
I guess if you have more that one welding machine you also got more helmets-
One thing is the price for the helmet , other is availability and price for the spare parts.
6 month may not tell me so much , I rather here how many "hood" hours you put down.
I was unaware of the different shield that’s scratch resistant. That might actually help a lot. It seems to hold up fine to sparks and debris, it’s setting it down on the face that is guaranteed to scratch it. When the new esab headgear shows up I am going to see if anything is different. The way it’s designed is a bit puzzling since the outward force on the levers seems to be absolutely minimal despite nothing being broken. Makes me wonder if something is just off with that part and it’s a fluke. It actually stays on my head without the ratchet locking in, but it’s still not right lol.
As far as the battery life goes, the plain 3350 seems to be good. Yes it might be less than the Miller Infinity, but it uses one battery instead of two like the Miller, so it's not really an issue for me.
Does it fit a big head?
Thanks
The 3350 (non adv) seems to last 2-3 months for me. The adv has lasted 6months but it probably has 1/10th the use as my normal 3350 had. You are right, the actually battery cost isn’t really more since it’s 1 vs 2.
@@summerforever6736 My head isn't huge but there is a lot of adjustment left on it. The headgear is pretty comfortable too, night and day difference with the old cheap Harbor Fright one I had before.
@@summerforever6736 I don't have a huge head, but there's still plenty of adjustment left on it. The headgear is quite comfortable, and night & day difference between the old Harbor Fright vulcan I was using before.
Does anyone know if you can buy large cheater lenses? As apertures are getting larger on welding helmets it seems cheater lenses just stay the same size.
That’s a great question and I did a ton of digging. The only one I could find was a generic one on Amazon. Miller, and Lincoln don’t appear to offer wide cheater lenses. That is kind of odd, I am not sure why they would not offer bigger options.
I've been getting by with a $54 HF welding hood.
I can't imagine just "getting by" when it comes to PPE.
Does everything the more expensive ones do.
@@WRDNK No auto shade is faster than light
@@Lou-eyenot very well though. I will never trust a cheap helmet. My eyes are much too important. You really don’t know how well the IR and UV filtering is. Not worth the chance.
@melgross ..well maybe I'll break down and get a better one then.
Has anyone used the radnors with the 3m lens?
On may speedglas 9100 xxi (color lens) grinding buton is on rigt side to. And its pain to push.😢 And lock up relist is adjustuble on rigt nob and faling speed on the left nob. 😅 Its standard on speedglas 9100 series and newer 😊😊
I wonder why they went with the right side button on that too. The Esabs button is huge and easy to find which is good. I just find it odd they put it on the right side.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg The concept of the button on the left also seems more sensible to me, especially for right-handed people, because I always remember to turn on the grinding mode after I turn on the grinder (that's why I prefer the 9100 FX version with a separately lowered welding filter and a completely transparent grinding cover 😋). In my speedglass, I have no problem finding the button because it's on the edge of the display outside, but to press it properly, the whole mask turns on my head. 🤬🤬🤬 Tragedy
Can we get an Optrel vs 3m vs Yes Welder (Amazon)
I reviewed a yes welder but haven’t done a optrel or 3m yet. They are on the list, but their higher end hoods are crazy expensive lol.
I never set a hood down screen down... then dust gets inside.
That’s the best way, the problem is in filthy environments it’s better to have the front filthy than the parts that touch your skin 😀👍
I went from a cheap Chinese hood to the Lincoln and noticed right away how much more lightweight and balanced it felt on my head, haha. Also not a fan of how narrow the Lincoln screen is compared even my old cheap one. I think all the name brands are overpriced for what you get. That fact that it's even possible for a $300+ helmet to *ever* flash you is just stupid. With that said, they do work a lot better than the cheap ones which use similar low-tech not-great circuits except with all no-name/fake electronic parts that don't meet their specs or fail (talk about getting flashed all the time, blah).
The 40$ harbor freight I have is like a potato chip to the Lincoln, and the weight does make a difference. The main benefit to the higher end ones is they tend to flat out work better. I had to weld an exhaust system on a car a few months ago and I used the 40$ HF one. I couldn’t get my head close enough to get the sensors to pick up the arc properly. My 7 year old Lincoln would have handled that no issue. For flat bench work the cheaper ones work great.
Any chance you could review the optrel panoramaxx clt
I want to try that hood but the cost is pretty astronomical. I might have to find a way to get ahold of one 😀
I've heard it's one of the best if not the best optically,
I currently have an esab Savage A50 Lux it has a pretty decent torch built in too.
Maggot story made me spit coffee 😂
lol it’s true. I had to weld in some stops for a garbage truck compactor and I am not joking, they were everywhere. Imagine throwing a bag of rice in the back of a garbage truck, every grain was a maggot lol. No way would I set my hood down with the head gear touching anything lol.
It's kind of disgusting how expensive these hoods are and yet they have the chinty little plastic bits in the headgear and such. They have to have less than $50 of actual cost in these things.
For now I'm sticking with my cheap HF hood.
I am not sure how expensive the cartridges are to make but it is unfortunate how expensive they are as a package. The good thing is many of the modern hoods are not bad at all. I even have a 40$ HF, it works great for many jobs, and is actually light enough that it’s more comfortable for some jobs too.
I own the the Miller Digital infinity and the Esab and they both are great , no issues. And Greg the one off welding in a maggot filled dump truck is really a non issue for helmet use. The real issue is sunlight entering from the side and screwing up the view.
Great point on the sunlight. That will obscure the quality of the vision on any hood.
Late stage capitalism. Even if the product is durable overall, they find something that'll need to be replaced throughout the life of the product.
That's just thermodynamics, bro. Entropy always wins.