The cheap helmets still have to meet the same safety standards as the pricey ones. The more expensive helmets are definitely better for more often use. A grind feature, on most helmets, is useful so you can use it for grinding or cutting metal and not have it darken.

Helmets and safety gear are quicker and cheaper than an ER visit.

Main thing is under the car it's just not bright enough to get all into proper position without a little frustration. It can be compounded with say an E350 Van that I can only get four feet off the ground.

This will work.

Need some easy outs. I will pick a pack up today.

If eyesight is worth less than $100 you can just skip the helmet altogether.

As mentioned:
Post Before vs. After pics of your eyeballs for the internet.
Or have someone else do it.
Because you won't be able to .

I started doing some welding this year using an old helmet and know I got burned a little bit.

Helmets hold the lens AND protect your face from IR burns. Same reason you cover your arms and hands. Forget what these clowns do on TV. If the helmet gets in the way, you can buy no. 10 lenses for simple welding goggles. They won't be auto dark but you can remove the auto dark lens ass'y from a helmet and put into a single lens goggle. I would suggest a non flammable head band and bandit's mask if you go w/o the helmet.

I use a small, bright as hell halogen when I can't see to start. I also keep a static helmet with me whenever and wherever I weld in case the auto dark stops working (they have). To weld with an static helmet as thousands of of weldors have done over time you need a sixth sense of perception in the total dark.

This is the type of soft lens that will take the auto dark lens ass'y:

http://www.gerbersupply.ca/images/Welding1589.jpg

Edit: Just found this, it's called a 'monkey mask:

https://www.weldingandwelder.com/images/mask.jpg

And I found this eBay link:

https://www.ebay.com/p/Protable-Leather-Welding-Solar-Auto-Darkening-Filter-Lens-Hood-Helmet-Mask/1592964569?iid=301279812273&chn=ps

Now that might go dead over time, but it's a simple leather mask with an auto dark lens already installed for 16 bucks shipped from china. It's your eyes....

There are models that range in price from 30 bucks to 10x that.

Our shop helmet would not self darken so I thought we needed a new lens. So then I took it up to the local welding supply place and he tested it and it worked. Then several more times it wouldn't darken and after another trip in the car it worked. We had been storing in on the bottom of the welding cart with the gloves and apron over top of it...no light getting to it. Finally figured it out it needs light to charge it up...even hanging a drop light in front of it will charge it up. Took me a good while to figure that one out.

How tight is this space?
You can't get some LED lanterns and magnetic lamps?

Your welcome :D

Don't do it man.

Back in my 20s, I spent 3 days blindfolded while my eyes heald from that exact activity. Man that was painful.

i have an auto darkening helmet but I don't trust it.
my eyes are too important and bob, I cant believe you would consider ruining your eyes.
get the mig gun close and go for it.

Stevie Wonder was a welding prodigy too...

It's kind of like frying up a pound of bacon in the nude....it can be done, but not reccomended at all.

I don’t know much about the helmets but I thought the darkening was to let you see but it’s the lens that actually protects your eyes whether or not it darkens. Similar to how a regular clear pane of glass will block out a lot of the sun’s radiation.

The default shade of the lens, shade no. 5, will protect the eyes against an accidental arc flash. Not intended to protect during any significant length of exposure. Lowest recommended shade is 9 with 10 being more common and up to 12 for TIG welding.

The speed of the lens is very important. I wore an HF helmet in welding school and I had floaters in my eyes as a result. I stepped up to a much faster (and more expensive) helmet and have had little problems since.

Regarding your comment about clear glass blocking radiation, it doesn't do much. Only if the glass gets hot can you assume some IR radiation is getting trapped. You wouldn't know about UV. (I think elsewhere I mentioned IR when I meant UV.)

I also have the static lens I mentioned which has more than a shade of 10, it has a mirrored coating a lot like an astronaut's outside helmet. That's as good as you're gonna get.

When welding on your back those little molten balls hit your chest and settle in that little crater at the base of your throat trying to burn through to your windpipe. Worse with a mask because you cant flick them out as fast. Scarf, turtleneck, masking tape whatever.
Maybe I just weld too cold but I hate burn through.

Ha ha! I used to use a plain old cotton do-rag on my head. Set them on fire many times. You can tell you head’s on fire when you see it reflected on the inside of the helmet lens. :D

A friend of mine used a cheap (HF) auto-darkening hood for a fairly intensive day of welding.

Next day he had spots in his vision and discomfort.

What he learned was that cheap hoods do not respond quick enough and allow a few milliseconds of UV exposure before going full dark.

The hood went straight in the trash and (happily) his vision recovered.

I finally figured out(after a quarter century) that if you have enough bright spotlights on the work, starting the arc is much easier than guessing.

Also, charge the helmet battery for a few minutes+ in full sun.

For repetitive all day welding do not use an auto helmet. They do not switch fast enough. They were mot allowed at the weld shop where I used to work...

Lost a perfectly good flannel shirt while cutting overhead one time.
Slag fell in my pocket, the fire-watch shot me with the dry chem extinguisher, and it was all over but the crying.
Good thing I was indestructible back then.

Iv taken a manual lens out and welded that way in super tight spots. Still sketchy with the slag flying around but better than nothing. Check this out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMyeVXuElkQ