Harbor Freight budget Welding Helmet, is it WORTH it?

Thanks for showing the side-by-side videos. That was very helpful.

just picked up the helmet for 99.00 today back Friday days till monday..can't beat that ..can't wait to try it out...Peace

man, I've gone through so many hoods over the years.. I've gotten to the point where I just dropped 350 on a speedglas. If you weld twice a year, the HF stuff is ok, but if you do anything semi often and need to rely on it,.. just buy the good stuff. buy once cry once.

DUDE! I just bought that same hood two weeks ago. (The blue flames) What an amazing improvement over my old hood! The old hood was about 10-12myears old and was WELL used! Burned a lot of wire & filler with that thing! It was purchased at a welding shop and was 3 or 4 times what I paid for the blue flame hood. It got so damn dark I could barely see and my welds were suffering. I think the flash hoods have a life span and that's just IT. Use them like we do and we end up wearing them out. The Blue Flame works flipping awesome! I can actually seeeeee what I am doing! I do not use my welding hood for grinding either, extra wear and tear it doesn't need. You should get a new Blue flame and compare the two new hoods and do a follow up vid. You haven't bought new gloves because those do not have holes yet LMAO

I have had my HF welding hood for years, just remember to turn it off to the grinding mode when you are done welding, your batteries will last longer. It should turn off on it's own but most don't.

Just an FYI that I found on a Harbor Freight welding helmet. I luv HF and their tools. Helps an old man keep his shop stocked! Bought a HF welding helmet that I could not use because it was too dark. Had it too long to return, but talked to the Manager anyway. He had the same problem. Said someone told him to look for any 'protective' film left on the lenses. I did and there was a green plastic protective lens covering on the 'inside' of the outside lens. You have to take the lens completely out and peel it off. Have not had time to see if it makes a difference, but who knows?? ;)

I work in Manufacturing as a MIG welder. The Vulcan helmet is the best bang for your buck you can get. Esab Savage is just as good for around 150.

A smaller viewer window is gonna let in less UV light and actually protect the eyes better

Just F.Y.I. you can replace the lense on the chep one. There's a reason they sell replacement sets. They're meant to be changed out ever so often as the plastic protective lense loses clarity.

Awesome video! Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

My blue flame helmet finally but the dust. This review has perfect timing.

The best bang for the buck hood youll ever get is a fibre metal sugar scoop and toss an arcone s240 lens in it. I have a speedglas 9100xxi that work bought for me its really nice but heavy on the neck after 8hrs. I use the sugar scoop 99% of the time, chopped a bit off the bottom so it doesnt slam into my collar bone and riveted a bit of leather on it to keep those wonderful 6010 splatters from burning my beard and going down my shirt when doing overhead.

when its new it work great, you cant compare the new stuff to the old 3y stuff, wait until that vulcan is 3y and see how the battery hold up and if you can change the batteries, because some of them you cant.

i love my fixed lens from HF!! but my auto Lincoln Electric helps as well. for longer welds i like the fixed #10

I used the vulcan helment for 3 years even when i worked at GE aviation and eavry one had them fancy expensive helments , but i did change for the lincoln viking 3350 i think its the best helment there is , its 300 buks but the largest viweing area and its blue tint , but for 140 the vulcan is a realy good helment for the price, i still work with it at home.

first hood is scratched bad... they make protective covers for them... buff out the scratches and install protective cover. now with that said yea, the tech does get better over the years.

I have also seen some reviews on those two welding lids but I seen some of the other welders recommend the panoramic welding visor apparently it gives you a better view when you weld can you deliberate on that

Thanks - I'll check it out!

I have the even older version of the cheap auto dark hf. I keep it as a spare but half the time it doesn’t darken and blinds me. Can’t see a way to change battery. Looks like yours could use new plastics! The Vulcan looks alright, I ended up buying a yeswelder helmet and I love it, so clear and it’s not all green

Ooh man so classy! I might have to look into upgrading mine 🤔