Optrel Crystal 2.0 Auto Darkening Welding Helmet

Tried this helmet for the first time today, stick welding. Extremely impressed.

The most impressive thing about it, is that somehow I can see quite clearly all the surrounding weld area, ie, where I need to go next... but the arc is still a comfortable, non intense brightness... and the surrounding area just looks like I am wearing sunglasses while looking at it. I was doing a vertical up weld, about a foot high. As I approached the top, I could see over the plate, and saw outside of the shed, I saw green paddocks, yellow buildings, brown fences, green shipping containers, red paint on some random metal, all about 100 m away... all while also seeing the immediate weld area, puddle, and what the arc was doing and where I am going to next. It was quite impressive.

The other thing is, I bought a non PAPR version of this hood, so wore a respirator while doing so. The helmet did not seem to rest or get obstructed by the respirator (a 3M one), it did not fog up either.

The headgear, while seemingly simple, seemed to fit my head nicely for a change... and it felt rather light and I did not really notice it.

Another thing was that the clear state of the helmet is very good, Although the viewing area is not large, it felt natural walking around with the helmet down, its like wearing very light shade sunglasses.

Another thing cool about it, is the auto shade adjustment. It can automatically adjust the shade for you, so some sort of arc which you would normally use a shade 10 for, it adjusts it to shade 10. If that arc then lowers ( via foot pedal or arc length ) to something you would normally use a shade 8 for, it adjusts the shade to a shade 8. But you can also adjust the offset by +/- 2 shades and it will follow it accordingly. This all happens seemingly instantly and intrusively.

Additionally it has a 'twilight' feature, where after welding has stopped, it slowly comes back to shade 2, instead of instantly, so that you avoid that instant brightness of the glowing red metal and it avoids that shock to your eyes of darkness to daylight.

It was only my first time using it today, but it is pretty damn impressive so far.