Best Welding Helmets 2021 – Auto Darkening Picks & Reviews

The Viking 3350 series is Lincoln Electric’s top line auto darkening hood and is our choice as the best welding helmet overall. Lincoln says it designed these welding helmets to offer a blend of comfort, versatility and premium optics. Vision through the lens is as good as it gets on these helmets, with a 1/1/1/1 optical clarity rating and real-world colors. Most welders who buy this helmet are very happy with the optical quality as well as the variable shade levels from 5-13.

The design is optimized to distribute weight across the helmet to improve balance and make it feel lighter. Some users complain that the knob to tighten the headgear won’t stay tight, meaning it slips off sometimes when bending over. This auto darkening helmet has an adapter to fit onto a hard hat.

The 3350 series comes in colorful styles ranging from racing stripes to robot heads and skull designs. The 1.2-pound weight isn’t the lightest helmet on the market, but the big viewing area means more glass and that adds weight. Everything comes with a cost. Lincoln Electric is one of the most highly-regarded welding equipment companies in the business, a favorite of professional welders. View all our Lincoln welding helmet top picks here.

If you are looking for a better viewport, the Yeswelder 302C is the best welding helmet with a panoramic view. This design has a single large forward-facing viewport and two on the side. It provides a wide-angle view with a nearly 180-degree view angle with nothing in the way. Nearly 15 square inches of viewport is a lot of area to see what’s going on. This helmet features 1/1/1/1 optical quality for less eye fatigue.

Yeswelder included 6 light sensors, so the auto dark system is never shadowed. It also features true color technology for a more realistic view. This is a practical, compact design with enough curvature to deflect impact, but the Yeswelder 302C Auto Darkening Welding Helmet doesn’t look unconventional.

This helmet comes with headgear that users say is comfortable but not durable. Several owners recommend using Lincoln or Jackson replacement headgear, with some calling the Yeswelder 302C Auto Darkening Welding Helmet perfect with this change. It’s still cost-effective even after this extra expense.

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And you can put your savings into replacement headgear, making a great helmet.

Hobart has long been a major player in the welding industry. Products like the Inventor welding helmet have a lot to do with that. The controls for the auto-dark feature use dials, which are easier to use than buttons when wearing gloves.

The helmet shell, while somewhat thin, is made of polyamide nylon. This material offers light weight for its degree of protection from collision, debris, slag and sparks. The headgear offers adjustments on the top as well as the rear. That’s another feature that adds some weight, but improves comfort and balance.

The Hobart Inventor does weigh slightly more than other helmets in its class. That’s a result of the big 9.3-inch viewport and the magnifying “cheater lens” inside the hood. However, weight really isn’t a big factor because it’s well-balanced.

Hobart and Jackson are probably the most-used auto darkening welding helmets in professional shops. Comfort is the biggest reason for that. Hobart’s sales volume and the fact the Inventor only comes in black account for great value at a price suitable for hobbyists.

The Antra AH6-260 is an entry-level welding helmet that offers some unusual features for its class. It has variable shade levels from 5-13. Although the 17-ounce weight is a plus, it means the plastic on the hood is too thin for industrial use.

Getting knocked around and banging it on things when you’re wearing it will wear it out pretty quickly. The thin material also means that overhead welding isn’t an option in this helmet, because molten slag can burn through.

It’s got solar charging for the batteries and has been certified to auto-darken and protect with MIG, TIG, plasma or arc. The filter glass is designed to protect from UV and IR whether it’s powered up or not.

Several users have reported co-workers buying these helmets to replace the headgear in their expensive helmets. The AH6-260 features solar power along with the batteries.

Adjustable delay and sensitivity controls are unusual in this price range. One thoughtful design feature is an adjustable lower limit so when the hood is lowered it sits in the same spot every time.

See all our top budget welding helmets here.

One very impressive feature of the ADF 9100 XXi is reduced green appearance when viewing your work through the glass. The idea is that natural colors make it easier to see your work and manage the welding puddle. This is an expensive welding helmet aimed at professionals, however, a minor complaint from some welders is that the headgear keeps coming loose.

Powered by lithium batteries, the ADF 9100 has a grinding mode button designed to work with gloves. With adjustable shade from levels 5-13, the button lightens the glass so you can take care of other chores. The glass darkens again when you strike an arc to go back to work. When you stop welding, the optics lighten up to shade 3 darkness. The 9100XXi option offers two preset modes that give you a quick selection for memorized sets of darkness settings.

The Grab and Go feature activates the 3M Speedglas helmet at its most recent setting and shuts off the glass automatically to save batteries. Exhaust vents for your breath and side windows are among the professional features of this helmet that make it more comfortable to work in for a long time.

Jackson Safety welding helmets are a common sight in fabrication shops. They’re famous for the headgear setup inside, which Jackson Safety calls HaloX. Welders who prefer other brands often buy Jackson headgear to replace what’s in the helmet they’ve got.

This is a heavy helmet at 2 pounds, which could add up to a pain in the neck if you need to weld for hours at a time. Some welders report getting sparks or sunburn above the collar from lack of coverage. Between that issue and the inability to fit a respirator inside this close-fitting helmet, this helmet might be better for smaller welders.

The Insight 46131 offers high-quality optics for its price range. Owners frequently praise the auto-darkening technology on this helmet as the best they’ve seen. Many love the digital shade controls, which indicate your shade level with just a quick glance.

See all the best Jackson welding helmets here.

ASAB’s Sentinel A50 is an attempt to redefine the traditional welding helmet. The futuristic “space warrior” look actually serves a valid purpose. It’s streamlined to allow close work like welding inside cars, cabinets and machinery.

The curved shape is also intended to improve head coverage. The curved lens is designed for good peripheral vision to avoid collisions. However, many owners report that in-close welding can result in warping damage to the lens. As a piece that’s not standardized across the industry, replacements are costly. Some users complain of glare and “fisheye” effects through this viewport.

One place where ESAB seems to have hit a home run is with the 5-point headgear. This design features a basket shape that fits over the top of the head like many hard hats use. The 5-point headgear allows shifting the weight of the helmet in different directions for difficult welding situations like lying on your side.

The ESAB A50 isn’t all looks, either. One nice high-technology feature is a phone-like color touch screen for the shade and sensitivity settings.

With 13.4 square inches of viewing area, the Digital Infinity is one of Miller’s top of the line helmets. You can’t buy a bigger viewport than this one, giving you the ability to see clearly when you have to fit into a tight spot and can only see the work at an angle. Miller’s ClearLight Technology provides high-definition true color optics with a clarity rating of 1/1/1/2.

This helmet comes with four separate levels of shade range.

• Welding mode offers variable shade from 8-13.
• Cutting mode provides lens shade levels from 5 to 8.
• Grind mode is shade level 3.

X Mode eliminates triggering in bright sunlight. A low-amperage welding process like TIG welding can impact variable shade filters the opposite way and the filter goes clear while you’re still welding. X mode uses electromagnetic sensors to detect the welding arc instead of using light sensors, which eliminates these triggering problems.

With the InfoTrack timing record program, a help menu and Miller’s 3-year warranty, the Digital Infinity is one of the finest helmets available in its price range. View more Miller helmets here.