YESWELDER LYG-L600A

The buying tip at the top of this hub is to read the optical class — the four digits on the cartridge — because 1/1/1/1 costs little more than 1/2/2/3 and the difference is distortion and uneven shade across the lens. Four helmets in the European half of this shelf do not publish an optical class at all. This one publishes 1/1/1/1, and it is the cheapest helmet here.

It also publishes the two other figures that matter and are usually missing: a switching time of 1/30,000 second, and the viewing area, 3.64 by 1.67 in. That area works out at about six square inches, which is small — the helmet alongside it from the same maker gives nearly two and a half times as much glass for not much more.

Two sensors rather than four is the real limit. Sensors are what see the arc, and a pair of them is enough in open air and not always enough when your hand or the work blocks the line of sight, which is the case the four-sensor helmets on this shelf are built for. And no trigger current is stated anywhere, which is the figure that decides whether the lens darkens at all on low-amp TIG. The shell is thickened PP, the power is solar plus a replaceable CR2450, and the markings are ANSI Z87.1 and CSA Z94.3.

Availability

Read on the day this page was built: $40 at the American Amazon shop.

Read from Keepa on the day this page was last revised; stock and price both move without notice.