Welding Tips and Tricks

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Sounds like a nice hood and headgear, I have the e684 and like it except it doesn't accept a standard cheater lens. I do only TIG welding, maybe a follow up there with your impressions, 5 sensors should be good.

Yup. Will definitely follow up.

Thanks for the demo Oscar. After you've used it for a bit, can you report back as to any back light entering the hood or will the new style head gear help reduce that?

The shell is the same as other Optrel's. The headgear has nothing to do with blocking out light from entering from the rear of the hood.

Good stuff! Thanks for sharing that. I do have to remind myself at least once or twice each month that my Viking is plenty good enough and that I don't really need the Crystal 2.0. But it does seem to get harder each time

Oscar wrote:The shell is the same as other Optrel's. The headgear has nothing to do with blocking out light from entering from the rear of the hood.

I was only thinking that since there is so much more material in the head gear, that voids would be filled and keep light from creeping by.

BillE.Dee wrote:

Oscar wrote:The shell is the same as other Optrel's. The headgear has nothing to do with blocking out light from entering from the rear of the hood.

I was only thinking that since there is so much more material in the head gear, that voids would be filled and keep light from creeping by.

Unfortunately no. A cloth draped over the back of your head, like a hoodie is still the best way, IMO. If you notice in the video, my crystal 2.0 has the velcro strips on the top and "sideburns". That is where the hoodie from my welding jacket secures onto, and it works awesome. Blocks out 99% of all light from entering.

What a s**t show of a control setup. The knobs are made for children's fingers. Fire whoever thought the controls should be blocked by the headgear. Looks like you may have to pull the head gear to get the charging cable inserted and they couldn't even afford a USB-C port? WTF??? I got excited when I saw this helmet come out. Not now! The Germans are laughing their a*s off at the Swiss right now.

Yes it could have been better in that respect.

Good for you. Free helmet in exchange for honest review. Pays to be a prolific poster wink, wink.

That headgear looks fragile. Does it feel fragile? Seems like all the little pokey bits would snap off in short order. What is your perception? Maybe after you've used it for 40 hours or so we could hear back?

These high end auto-dark helmets are probably great if you weld every single day, but I just can't bring myself to spend again and again for these on an every couple year basis. I have yet to see one live for >3 years. For those of us who will never wear one out by use, it leaves a bad taste after being burned several times before. I am not so sure they don't fail more often due to lack of use vs lots of use.

The product page says the battery is good for 300-500 charge cycles. Which means, after that time, the thing will be a boat anchor and the shade lens is probably 90% of the cost of the thing.

The feature set sure seems nice, but they sure are proud of those helmets. If it came with a 5 year warranty, I might be interested. But at 2 years, not so much.

BugHunter wrote:These high end auto-dark helmets are probably great if you weld every single day, but I just can't bring myself to spend again and again for these on an every couple year basis. I have yet to see one live for >3 years. For those of us who will never wear one out by use, it leaves a bad taste after being burned several times before. I am not so sure they don't fail more often due to lack of use vs lots of use.

The product page says the battery is good for 300-500 charge cycles. Which means, after that time, the thing will be a boat anchor and the shade lens is probably 90% of the cost of the thing.

The feature set sure seems nice, but they sure are proud of those helmets. If it came with a 5 year warranty, I might be interested. But at 2 years, not so much.

I feel the same way, Buggy. But I actually somewhat unknowingly started using a good system a few years ago. I use my nice, expensive, shiny, and mostly clean-lensed 3350 for all of my TIG work when I benefit from the great clarity, and grab my $50 cheapy AD hood from the hardware store that I've had for probably 10 years to do any MIG or stick welding. Has proven itself to be a good system to keep my nice hood running and well maintained.

How long have you had the 3350 Tony?

Probably around 2.5 years ago I bought the first 3350 that is still my primary hood. I do see your point, though. Time will tell. But it's been zero issues so far. Only battery and lens replacements when needed. I did upgrade the headgear as well, though.

Jakedaawg wrote:Good for you. Free helmet in exchange for honest review. Pays to be a prolific poster wink, wink.

That headgear looks fragile. Does it feel fragile? Seems like all the little pokey bits would snap off in short order. What is your perception? Maybe after you've used it for 40 hours or so we could hear back?

It feels fragile, but I don't think it is. The padding is just held on by tiny velcro pads, but unless you're yanking it off with a lot of force while it is still tightened, it's a non-issue.

I think I've used it for perhaps 20 hours or so.

Is it my go-to welding helmet? Yes.
Do I love the larger view? Yes
Do I love the grind button and LED indicator positioning? Yes
Do I use it for plasma cutting? No. I'd have to wrestle with to get to the controls, and it's just not worth the time when I can just grab my e684 and adjust it down to shade 5/6 a lot faster. The inaccessible controls are the ONLY downside to this, IMO. If they were on the outside, it would literally be perfect. The tack function is awesome, but I never use it because I don't want to mess with the controls. I just leave it at "N" for the Auto-Pilot shade level and it works great for welding pretty much anything.

Oscar wrote:

Jakedaawg wrote:Good for you. Free helmet in exchange for honest review. Pays to be a prolific poster wink, wink.

That headgear looks fragile. Does it feel fragile? Seems like all the little pokey bits would snap off in short order. What is your perception? Maybe after you've used it for 40 hours or so we could hear back?

It feels fragile, but I don't think it is. The padding is just held on by tiny velcro pads, but unless you're yanking it off with a lot of force while it is still tightened, it's a non-issue.

I think I've used it for perhaps 20 hours or so.

Is it my go-to welding helmet? Yes.
Do I love the larger view? Yes
Do I love the grind button and LED indicator positioning? Yes
Do I use it for plasma cutting? No. I'd have to wrestle with to get to the controls, and it's just not worth the time when I can just grab my e684 and adjust it down to shade 5/6 a lot faster. The inaccessible controls are the ONLY downside to this, IMO. If they were on the outside, it would literally be perfect. The tack function is awesome, but I never use it because I don't want to mess with the controls. I just leave it at "N" for the Auto-Pilot shade level and it works great for welding pretty much anything.

Absolutely agree !
Mu 2 years old Panaromaxx 2,5 started blinding me during welding. Welding OK and then suddenly becomes very bright.
Battery was charged, no blinking of low battery led.
Made decision to buy new helmet. Looked aldo tp Speedglas G5 , but this does not have grinder function.
Then made call to local Panaromax dealer and they had it in place, cost 598 EUR. Drove there and bought it.
At the same time three things in my mind:
this is impulse buy,
I need good mask.
I only have on pair of eyes

Charged it up and today made some welds.
Nice, really happy about my purchase. Much more clearer view than before and blueish weld color feels better than green.
My eyesight is not perfect, therefore I need to have all support what I can get
( had eye surgery and multifocal lens implant )
And again, it was very noticeablke difference between old and new CLT Panaromaxx

Nice present for myself !

All the Best !

Andrus

The Main thing holding me back from buying one of this is the fact you can't replace the battery.
Their own manual says 300 to 500 Charge cycles Thats 2 to 4 years depending on use.

Another negative is they use MicroUSB which is a pretty fragile connector, I'd expect USB C (Infact Fronius Branded version of this hood uses USC C)

The last crazy thing I discovered when doing research for this hood, was you can't even buy a replaceable ADF filter cartridge,
When your battery dies you have to buy a complete replacement.

I came across a fair few people who complain about this between the 1 to 3 year mark.

For Example MorFab Industries on YouTube starting using Optrel Panoramaxx CLT

i dont see why some welding helmet companies try and reinvent the wheel. button batteries last a couple years and cost only $10 to replace. hard to reach little adjustment knobs is also a terrible idea.