Antra AH6-260-0000 Solar Power Auto Darkening Welding Helmet Wide Shade Range 4/5-9/9-13 with Grinding 6+1 Extra lens covers Stable for TIG MIG MMA Plasma

For the money it's hard to beat. I've been using auto shade helmets for well over ten years and love them. I needed a new one as I am living in a different country to where my old one currently resides.This helmet addresses all of the problems I had with the previous one.1) It has adjustable lower limit when dropping the helmet. So the helmet falls to the same place every time. The old one had no stop.2) It has adjustable sensitivity. The old one was fixed and only had shade adjustment.3) It has a grinder mode. Working outdoors with the old one the Sun was often enough to trigger the auto darkening. I can disable it on this one.4) The helmet tightening system is better. It uses an o-ring to provide far better tension adjustment. When the helmet has a stop it's not so critical but without a stop and the adjustment slipping, it was a PITA.I never had issues with the old helmets two sensor system or it's lack of light on delay. If these are important to you I can't comment.It comes with spare protective lens covers for the outside and one for the inside.The solar feature works. I removed the batteries completely and the helmet still functions. There is a difference in the solar voltage compared to the battery voltage which affects the sensitivity. Mine is more sensitive on straight solar than with the batteries fitted. If the manufacturer added a simple Zener clamp (3.6Volt) and series diode to isolate the battery, the performance on battery and solar would be identical. The only time this is an issue is that the sensitivity and darkness scales shift due to varying voltage confusing the user. This can easily be corrected in future revisions and is not a problem if you are aware of it.The helmet is very light. It's not going to be industrial rated as it's made of thin plastic. Good for ease of use but not so good for heavy industrial applications. If your goal is to use this in the workplace you are better off with a different unit.For the exact same reason, it is not recommended to weld overhead. Any hot slag can easily melt and go through the helmet onto the user.I gave it four stars because of it's inability to be used for overhead welding. If this is not an issue to you, then it would be a five star helmet.Since I do the occasional overhead weld this means either another helmet for that or put protective barriers on the mask when doing so.It's a good enough helmet to let this go for my situation. Yours may be a deal breaker.Given the price point I would highly recommend this helmet, if you can live with the limitations. If you can't then no price is low enough.

I have used this helmet regularly since January 2017. When first purchased, I had no issues whatsoever. Overall, I've been very pleased with this purchase, especially for the price!!However, for the last 1.5 months of use up to today the helmet stops triggering. I've reset the battery, and gone through all necessary troubleshooting steps, but the lens will sometimes not darken at all or will shut off in the middle of welding. The workaround I've found is turning the dial to the "Grind" function and turning it back to whatever darkness level I was using. This "resets" it each time and it triggers properly, but I cannot get it to stay consistently working. It always goes back to not working properly.It is very aggravating to strike an arc and blind myself, or worse, get blinded mid-weld because the helmet will not darken. I am hoping the seller will consider sending a replacement for the faulty device, as I do enjoy the helmet... but it is proving to be unreliable.

Good helmet for the price. Band is comfortable. Sensitivity and delay both work well, and the darkening range is great. I also like that you can shut off the darkening for grinding. I mostly MIG weld in a farm shop environment, so the 9-13 setting works well for me. I am able to see where I am going and the weld puddle clearly. Also I wear glasses and this helmet is comfy with them. Very satisfied. One last item, is the front plastic lens is a standard size so that if you want to put a 1.25 or whatever power lens in place of the original it is as easy as going to the local welders, purchasing the power you want and installing.

EDIT: OK, I've gone the opposite direction, and gone from 1 star, to 5. I think I just happened to get a bad mask on my first order, I ordered another and sent back the bad one... then liked it so much that I ordered another. So I now have two of these and compared to every other mask I've tried, I really, really like them. If the switch breaks again, I'll update... but as I said, I think it must have been a one off issue, because I didn't read any other reports of switch issues. I was never able to get in contact with the manufacturer, so I just returned it via Amazon.I've tried a mask from Harbor Freight (returned), and two others from Amazon (also returned)... So what makes this mask so appealing compared to the others I've tried? The resting clarity. By that I mean that when the mask isn't auto darkened, it's shade or, the amount of light it allows through is MUCH greater than other masks. You can actually see what you are doing in normal lighting conditions. When you start welding, the reaction of the mask is instant, and it shields your eyes. The drawback of this, is that if you don't turn on the mask, or don't adjust it dark enough, it can be too bright. It's UV shielded regardless, so it's not potentially damaging, but, if you don't darken it enough, it will make you see spots for a bit. So, start darker and lighten as needed.This mask also gives you a greater range of adjustment, so if you only need a little shielding (plasma cutting for example), you can easily adjust it, so you still have much better vision than with most other masks.The icing on the cake? They give you probably 6 or 8 extra replacement covers. Sure it's plain looking... but no other mask remotely near this price point, gives you the clarity and features this one does.***OLD review below:The Good: Love the clarity, it comes with a lot of extra lens covers. When it's not dimmed, you can see much more clearly... it's default state is a much less dark shade than most other masks. When it was working, it seemed to react well to welds, but not to overhead lights. There is a sticker on the inside of the helmet, telling you the part numbers on amazon for replacement lenses, etc. Nice.The Bad: The head band is small. I've got a rather large head, and it fits on the very largest setting. There is not bad on the back of the headband, it can be a bit uncomfortable.It physically broke within the first 1hr of use. The switch on the side of the helmet seems to have broken internally. There is a scraping/grinding sound when it rotates, it no longer "clicks" to turn off, and the helmet works erratically now. We were in no way abusive with it... it just broke. Strange. Mask is useless now.Not sure how to get in touch with the manufacturer.

First hood. Works awesome! I have bros with $400+ hoods who are impressed with the performance and features of this helmet. Bought the black one and put my own snazzy lil paint job on there.