Posted: 7/29/2025 11:46:48 PM EDT
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Ive been advised that some of the issues Ive been having with Al welding is the basic Miller lens I am using. Before I drop six bills on a helmet, I could use some suggestions. Thanks y'all. |
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Not a metal worker, but when I asked the guys that were what I should put on the preferred purchasing list, I seem to recall they said Miller for a basic/entry-level and Lincoln for better. I don’t recall models. I wanna say the cheap option was $100 and the better was $500. Really, though, this post is mostly a free bump, because I’ve never welded. I suck at sweating pipe, much less real stuff. I’d ask my FIL, but he’s more of a safety squint kind of guy. |
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While I can't claim the best and to be honest have not used any high end ones but I do have a lot of hours behind this one and it is cheap and chicom I know but has been a joy to use and just works great and easy to see with. LYG-M800H-A 
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If some of you put this much fervor into your community or church, instead of arguing with people voting for the same politician, the world would be a much better place. -Skg_Mre_Lght
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Originally Posted By neight: Do you get true color with it? I’m fifty, so I’m sure part of my problem is my eyes, but I can’t tell when the puddle is too hot with the miller elite I’m using now. If you are asking about the Esab Yes it has true color ETA I’m several years older than you |
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Originally Posted By OG1: While I can't claim the best and to be honest have not used any high end ones but I do have a lot of hours behind this one and it is cheap and chicom I know but has been a joy to use and just works great and easy to see with. LYG-M800H-A https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/289319/1000005401-3596960.jpg Don't buy this one from Yeswelder. I bought one, and the tightening knob stripped out the second time I used it. I bought a Lincoln headgear for it before I found out it doesn't work worth a shit for TIG. About the third time I got flashed, I hung it on the wall for good. I ended up with this one. I won't argue that it's the best, because I haven't tried them all, but it's damn good. Lincoln Electric K3034-4 VIKING 3350 Auto Darkening Welding Helmet https://www.ar15.com/forums/manageReply.html?a=quote&b=1&f=187&t=2806895&tl=Best-auto-darkening-helmet&r=114312107&page=1 |
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Originally Posted By ske714: Don't buy this one from Yeswelder. I bought one, and the tightening knob stripped out the second time I used it. I bought a Lincoln headgear for it before I found out it doesn't work worth a shit for TIG. About the third time I got flashed, I hung it on the wall for good. I ended up with this one. I won't argue that it's the best, because I haven't tried them all, but it's damn good. Lincoln Electric K3034-4 VIKING 3350 Auto Darkening Welding Helmet https://www.ar15.com/forums/manageReply.html?a=quote&b=1&f=187&t=2806895&tl=Best-auto-darkening-helmet&r=114312107&page=1 |
If some of you put this much fervor into your community or church, instead of arguing with people voting for the same politician, the world would be a much better place. -Skg_Mre_Lght
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Originally Posted By OG1: Not sure if I got lucky or you got the opposite lol but I love mine and it has yet to fail me and the headgear was one of the main reason I like it so much, it is really comfortable. Originally Posted By OG1: Originally Posted By ske714: Don't buy this one from Yeswelder. I bought one, and the tightening knob stripped out the second time I used it. I bought a Lincoln headgear for it before I found out it doesn't work worth a shit for TIG. About the third time I got flashed, I hung it on the wall for good. I ended up with this one. I won't argue that it's the best, because I haven't tried them all, but it's damn good. Lincoln Electric K3034-4 VIKING 3350 Auto Darkening Welding Helmet https://www.ar15.com/forums/manageReply.html?a=quote&b=1&f=187&t=2806895&tl=Best-auto-darkening-helmet&r=114312107&page=1 Do you TIG weld with it? |
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Originally Posted By ske714: Do you TIG weld with it? |
If some of you put this much fervor into your community or church, instead of arguing with people voting for the same politician, the world would be a much better place. -Skg_Mre_Lght
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Originally Posted By OG1: Yes sir, Not a high end unit but I love it too. Primeweld Tig225X, I use a CK slider instead of the pedal. Originally Posted By OG1: Originally Posted By ske714: Do you TIG weld with it? I was just curious if yours likes to un-darken in the middle of a weld like mine does. Not cool. |
9 lives - 9 pellets... Coincidence?
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Originally Posted By tinysd: I have been using a Miller Digital Elite for years. I really want an Optrel, but never pull the trigger. Maybe this will be the year. lol That’s what I use no complaints. |
"A mass production economy can neither be created nor sustained
without a leveled population, one conditioned to mass habits, mass tastes, mass enthusiasms,
predictable mass behaviors." John Gatto
without a leveled population, one conditioned to mass habits, mass tastes, mass enthusiasms,
predictable mass behaviors." John Gatto
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Originally Posted By neight: Do you get true color with it? I’m fifty, so I’m sure part of my problem is my eyes, but I can’t tell when the puddle is too hot with the miller elite I’m using now. I’m 56. I put a magnifying lens in and try to have sunlight on the material. |
"A mass production economy can neither be created nor sustained
without a leveled population, one conditioned to mass habits, mass tastes, mass enthusiasms,
predictable mass behaviors." John Gatto
without a leveled population, one conditioned to mass habits, mass tastes, mass enthusiasms,
predictable mass behaviors." John Gatto
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Originally Posted By neight: The Elite is fine for mig and mild steel and stainless tig. Bronze even. But I have a real hard time with aluminum under that hood. I can’t get the heat cues sometimes and it runs away from me. My DE was given to me by a guy who welds aluminum all day. He used it for years. |
"A mass production economy can neither be created nor sustained
without a leveled population, one conditioned to mass habits, mass tastes, mass enthusiasms,
predictable mass behaviors." John Gatto
without a leveled population, one conditioned to mass habits, mass tastes, mass enthusiasms,
predictable mass behaviors." John Gatto
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Originally Posted By HELOBRAVO: I'm 56. I put a magnifying lens in and try to have sunlight on the material. |
If some of you put this much fervor into your community or church, instead of arguing with people voting for the same politician, the world would be a much better place. -Skg_Mre_Lght
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Originally Posted By OG1: Me too lol, I have the lens on my screen and wear readers and have a light I use. Originally Posted By OG1: Originally Posted By HELOBRAVO: I'm 56. I put a magnifying lens in and try to have sunlight on the material. Holy shit, this what its like to get old. Last year I started having to take my glasses off to weld. And found myself getting closer and closer. Dammit. I may be the odd one out for this, but I have a LOT of LED lights int the shop. I've found a top/rear hood helps block any back lighting from causing lighting problems better than a light on the helmet/hood. |
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Originally Posted By AFCarbon15: Holy shit, this what its like to get old. Last year I started having to take my glasses off to weld. And found myself getting closer and closer. Dammit. I may be the odd one out for this, but I have a LOT of LED lights int the shop. I've found a top/rear hood helps block any back lighting from causing lighting problems better than a light on the helmet/hood. |
If some of you put this much fervor into your community or church, instead of arguing with people voting for the same politician, the world would be a much better place. -Skg_Mre_Lght
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Originally Posted By AFCarbon15: Holy shit, this what its like to get old. Last year I started having to take my glasses off to weld. And found myself getting closer and closer. Dammit. I may be the odd one out for this, but I have a LOT of LED lights int the shop. I've found a top/rear hood helps block any back lighting from causing lighting problems better than a light on the helmet/hood. I bought one of these to cover the back of my helmet. Attached File It eliminates the glare from the overhead lights. I wear glasses with progressive lenses and it is a challenge at times. I used to be able to take them off, but not any longer. |
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Originally Posted By Piledriver2235: I won't recommend miller anymore. The last one I had malfunctioned and I got flash burned while stick welding, which caused corneal scarring and permanent light sensitivity that ended my welding career. Probably a one off, and freak accident, but fuck Miller  How did that work? The lenses protect you even when off. |
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Originally Posted By Boostinjdm: How did that work? The lenses protect you even when off. Originally Posted By Boostinjdm: Originally Posted By Piledriver2235: I won't recommend miller anymore. The last one I had malfunctioned and I got flash burned while stick welding, which caused corneal scarring and permanent light sensitivity that ended my welding career. Probably a one off, and freak accident, but fuck Miller How did that work? The lenses protect you even when off. He called Miller and they told him that I would be fine, and to continue using it. He printed out the paper from the manual that said it protected even if it doesn't go dark. I had already read that, but i said OK, just wanted to be sure because it didn't seem right. That day it went bright in the middle of a weld, I got flash burned bad in my right eye. I had welded for 20 years and it was my first time getting burnt. I got to enjoy my eyeball "skin" peeling. Went to doc in the morning, they gave me the drops to heal it. Then a stronger gel steroid medicine. It didn't heal right. I had vision distortion and light sensitivity that didn't go away. So they sent me to a specialist after initial treatments failed, she explained that what happened was since I had wore contacts for 30 years, my eyes had developed more blood vessels (called "neovascularization" IIRC) That allowed an infection to jump deeper in my eye where the normal medicine couldn't reach. Topo scans showed it caused scarring in a couple spots and made my cornea shaped like a deflated football. She said if I saw her first she would have given me iv antibiotics immediately because of that risk factor. The company had just sent me to urgent care, and then my regular eye doctor initially, like they do with everyone else. Im just unlucky I guess Edited to fix drunk spelling |
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I've put 6 years on a miller digital infinity. Huge clear view. Very good puddle visibility. Most field of view and clearest vision out of any hood I've ever looked through. So nice to be able to read a tape or see a square clear enough to use it with your hood down. Can't tell you enough about how clear it is when not welding or how great it looks while you are welding. Field of view really helps for welding in tight spaces. They sell them at most welding stores around here so you might be able to walk in and check one out. It has 4 memory settings you click though with one button. Weld,grind,cut, and x mode. X mode being specifically tailored to not being triggered by the sun which works awesome. So incredibly annoying to be outside welding kneeling on the hot ground or on a rickety ladder and the sun is causing your hood to flash or black out constantly. Each one of those settings you can choose a specific shade, sensitivity, and delay. I don't weld outside a ton so I use "weld" for flux core, hot mig, stick and "x mode" for tig. When I'm outside I just adjust x mode to whatever I'm doing. So switching from one welding process to the next, to using an oxy acetylene torch with a 8-9 shade, to using a grinder with no shade can be done with one button click each. Total adjustment for each setting so welding or cutting you can set the shade the delay and sensitivity exactly how you want it and it will remember it as you flip back and forth between cutting grinding welding whatever. To me it's a really nice hood and makes the job easier. Bad side it's about $500 and while the field of view is huge I wish the hood itself came down lower to protect from light coming up at you, came out farther up top to keep sparks from feeding down it, and came around more on the sides. It's not a huge deal. The biggest gripe by far is how heavy it is. It's a substantial piece. Real different from an old pipe liner that's for sure. It's not a huge deal and I think any red blooded man should be able to use it just fine without being bothered by it. Especially after you get used to it. But it's heavier than any hood I've ever compared it too. What I did about 3-4 years ago was I bought the cheapest lightest pipeliner I could with a flip front lens. Meaning the hood can stay down and the welding lens flips up to leave a clear lens in place. Then I got a $40 auto dark lens adapter and put it in. That pipeliner is without a doubt one of the lightest simplest hoods you can get. It's lighter with the auto dark lens thing than an old school hard plastic pipeliner with just a single fixed shade. Being that I can flip the auto dark lens up out of the way completely it's really nice if I'm going to spend a while grinding or wire wheeling something that I don't have to look through the tint of a auto dark lens. Which since it's a $40 Amazon adapter thing it isn't super clear. The auto dark thing works if you are inside with lights above you looking either straight forward or downward. Having a light pointed into the hood will cause it to darken. That means looking up at the lights or having a spot light on the ground pointed toward you. There are situations where the lighting will cause it to trigger when it shouldn't and you are blacked out when you don't want to be. It's not very clear when you're welding and can be hard to see what you're doing in some situations. Being a 2" wide glass the visibility is that of a 1960's pipeliner of course which sucks. But golly it's so freaking light it's awesome. And 80% of the time it works fine and is the easiest most comfortable option. So in a lot of situations I use the cheap light pipeliner because I don't need any of the extra features of the miller. It flips down smoother and is more comfortable for my neck and head after hours of use. But there are some situations where it flat won't work or I could just really use the extra visibility or customization of the miller. The cheap pipeliner also works to keep my big lens in the miller cleaner for longer. Thats about what I would recommend to anyone at this point. I think the combo works great. I'd contend that Digital Infinity is one of the best auto darkening helmets out there and it is augmented wonderfully by a $30 Amazon hood with a $40 lens adapter. |
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Originally Posted By neight:
This one? |
Stuff I learned from A-Team: 1)Always pity da fool 2)Carry wire cutters (you may need to defuse a bomb or start a car) 3)Never trust a crazy fool 4)Carry grenade launcher/machine guns in the van 5)Know how to weld 6)Love It When A Plan Comes Together
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Originally Posted By Dirtynails: I have been using an inexpensive Weldcote Supremeview and it is super clear. I spool gun and Tig aluminum hours on end depending on what the shop needs. I got the fancy weldcote clear view based on the recommendation of a few guys. Have had it since 2019 with zero complaints. It has 4 sensors and I’ve never had an issue with the sensors being blocked. Changed the batteries once a couple years ago and they’re still full bars. Replacements lens covers are about $5 for an inner and outer lens cover. Definitely would buy it again. Have used Lincoln helmets too, they were OK but I didn’t like the knob shade adjustment because it always got moved unintentionally. |
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I run fibermetal helmets or carbon fibermetal copy’s. I use both fixed and flip lens depending on the task. I prefer a cut down carbon sugar scoop with a drop in auto 2 x 4 over any of my big window, heavy ass Millers. Once you use a super light hood, you will never go back to a big window auto. Not for all day use anyway. https://shop.pipelinerscloud.com/collections/all-welding-hoods |
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Originally Posted By ScooterInVegas: I run fibermetal helmets or carbon fibermetal copy’s. I use both fixed and flip lens depending on the task. I prefer a cut down carbon sugar scoop with a drop in auto 2 x 4 over any of my big window, heavy ass Millers. Once you use a super light hood, you will never go back to a big window auto. Not for all day use anyway. https://shop.pipelinerscloud.com/collections/all-welding-hoods I had my pipeliner phase. I still have it set up with an old American Optics Weld Cool lens. I was a passive lens geek for a few years. The new auto stuff is amazing. |
Sisyphus had it easy.
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Yes The super lights are nice. But for me really only when I’m set up for one thing alll day. I’m a singleton shop and have to move around too much all day and the constant flipping and lifting gets old. The new autos have amazing color and work in all the weird positions and make the switch from TIG to MIG all too easy. |
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Originally Posted By Morgan321: Have used Lincoln helmets too, they were OK but I didn’t like the knob shade adjustment because it always got moved unintentionally. Was it on the outside of the helmet? My 3350 has the knob inside by your right eyebrow. I don't know how it could get moved accidentally. |
9 lives - 9 pellets... Coincidence?
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My lens in my 3m speed glass bit the dust the left side is so distorted it’s not usable. I Changed the batteries and cleaned the cover lens. Still a no go. My miller classic is working ok. I like the weight and headgear of the speed glass. I looked up a replacement lens… wow! So I may retire it. Have a welding shop that my dad and I used to rebuild boat trailers. I inherited it after he passed. I don’t take big jobs anymore. Can’t see spending that kind of money. My old pipeliner and wide face fixed lens hoods don’t see much use since I went to the elect. Lens. Is there a replacement elect lens that would fit my speed glass that is not stupid expensive? Or a good lens that would fit my wide face? |
| I don’t have a direct answer to your question but have you tried contacting them for a warranty replacement? I called Miller directly on the phone and described the problems I was having with my old elite helmet. They sent me a new lens and cover lenses. The new lens works a whole lot better than the old one and leads me to believe I’ve been using a defective piece of equipment. I would try calling them directly and seeing if you can’t work out some kind of warranty replacement before you spent any money. |
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I got my speed glass at a pawn shop years ago for $40.00 . They had a 50% off all tools sign up. I asked if it included the welding hoods he said yes, make me an offer, no one even looks at those hoods…. The cover lens was all scratched up and dirty so 40 out the door stopped at the welding supply got new cover lens for it I was good to go! Picked up my miller classic at the same shop a few years ago. So my son could watch me and learn. |
| My lenses are green, Are the new lenses that much better? I am old guy and have been out of the industry for a while. Went to welding school in high school. Probably get back in my shop once I retire as a side hustle. Only doing hobby stuff right now. |
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Yes. The new lenses are far and away better. Like anything else the more you spend the more clarity and color you get. There are also more features you might find superfluous that come with the more expensive hoods. The replacement lens I got for my elite is so much better than what came in it a few years before. So even if you get a new inexpensive option, you will be surprised how much better you can see. Prolly wonder why you held onto what you were using so long. |
 I've had a few miller's over the years and I will say I'm no longer interested in buying another, and I'm a miller machine fanboy. Too many failures, even on spare helmets that get very light usage. I tried a firends infinity one day in my shop, and while it is better than the elite, it wasn't impressive enough to me to buy another miller. The Optrel is nice and very lightweight. I've read posts from guys over the years that say they have issues with theirs outdoors, but ive never experienced that. Clarity is good. The fancy headgear set sucks though. I prefer the cheapie one that it comes with. Overall, I like it. It's been a good hood. The speedglas is by far my favorite though. This is the model where you can choose between three colors for the lens at the push of a button. Tap it on the side and switch modes without lifting the hood for grind or weld. Field of view is great, I like the side lenses in the g5-03 hood, and it's really comfortable and lightweight. The clarity while welding is amazing. If I were buying another tomorrow, it would be another speedglas. |