This is a video comparing a budget yeswelder welding hood and a more expensive ESAB sentinel A50 hood. Yeswelder: amzn.to/3PDj999 Sentinel: amzn.to/3G8z7DD
Thanks for doing a nice calm and intelligent comparison of these two helmets. I'm not very impressed with my lowish priced helmet and I'm looking for something better. I think the difference in the optical quality of those two helmets, whilst welding, says it all. For newbie welders like me, I really need to be able to see what that TIG weld pool is doing, as clearly as possible, in order to learn what I'm doing!! Do you think it would be fair to say that it is actually the in-experienced welder that really does need the more expensive helmet whilst learning, whereas an experienced welder could 'make-do' with a poorer view? Regards Paul in NZ
The better you see the better you weld. The optics in the esab is WAY better than the yes. The esab is kinda budget friendly not cheep but the bang for the buck is good
I dont know what your price range is but the lincoln electric 2350 is a great helmet and it's only around $250. I used it to pass my 3g tig welding test.
@@charlesyoung8600 Hi Charles, Thanks for the advice. A couple of days after I watched the video I took the plunge and bought the ESAP helmet. Compared to my cheapo helmet it is 'night and day', much more clarity and in colour! It's like seeing the difference between a cheap rifle scope and a Zeiss scope in twilight conditions. In these cases you get what you pay for. Regards Paul
Just wanted to say congratulations on having the guts to talk in front of the camera!!! Its great watching and listening to professionals in their to give an honest answer without being disrespectful towards affordable products.
Omg I don't now wether to laugh cry or scream this one is lighter yet this one is heavier ,and I've been told the other one is in between cause my head is saturated ,,full of water ,so for thatt reason ,this visor might way a bit more cause that's what I've been told ,,oh yes at gun point ,,,errrrrrrrrr,I would be mad cause your one of those welders who the playing with there knows,,oh sorry dials what on earth
I'm also a Fabricator, and I use a Unimig rwx8000 about $250, it is a pretty good Lens, but I didn't like how complex it is to get the lens and frame out of the hood, so I use a Unimig Razor hood with the rwx8000 lens in it, (I already had the Razor hood, but I broke the original lens.) I had cheaper hoods in the past and Yes, when you are welding every day you kill them eventually.
I have that yes welder hood, it’s junk. It dims very inconsistently. It will dim and get stuck dark for 3-4 minutes sometimes then it won’t dim at all. It was a complete waste of money (not much) so don’t even bother. Buy one cry once.
Thanks for taking the time to produce and for sharing this video, your presentation was excellent, especially for not normally being in front of the camera. Well done you y
I have been a welder since 1976. I am 3 generations into a family of welders. My dad and grandfather were both factory welders, and I'm a structural welder. I have a YesWelder helmet I bought for my own personal use at home and I think there might be something wrong with your YesWelder. Mine is a lot clearer than what you're showing on your video.
@robotech there may be something wrong with that one. I have used other yes welder hoods and they were better than this one. Would you use a YesWelder hood for work?
@@jensendesign4920 No, we're not allowed to use anything that's not provided by the company due to liability reasons. Not even personal hand tools are allowed. But if we were, I'd have no problem using my own personal YesWelder. They're cheap to replace if they start to grow feet and go missing. It's much clearer than the older Miller I use at work.
RETIRED NOW AFTER 41 YEARS. DID A COMPARISON MANY YEARS AGO (30) AND FOUND THAT MY 3M SPEED GLASS WAS THE ONLY ONE WITH PERIPHERAL VISION. IT HAS SIDE WINDOWS SO YOU CAN SEE WHILE YOU'RE WELDING. IT WAS NOT CHEAP. OVER $400 30 YEARS AGO. IF YOU DO A LOT OF WELDING, HIGHLY RECOMMEND.
I have used Jackson Translight welding helmets for over twenty years and still have them. Great helmets, lightweight, great headgear that once set never needs adjusting again and the optics are good too. I recently bought a Parweld XR937H and it's OK. It's much heavier than the Translight, dials on the outside like the Yeswelder and has a large True Colour screen. The headgear is flimsy and needs regular adjustment. Not exactly happy with it but l manage to put up with it. The best test of a welding helmet, crawl under a car on a garage floor and weld a repair patch on. Many issues can quickly be identified.
When I first started welding my buddy gave me his old Yes Welder “Welding Helmet Pro 2.0” it was great to start with, and free to me. Now I run a Fiber Metal Honeywell sugar scoop with an auto darkening lens. I’d say it’s good value for the money
I must have gotten a rare early version of the El Cheapo special as the optics are pretty decent in mine, however I'm also wearing prescription glasses with safety specs over that. Functional but not brilliant. I've had it a few years off ebay; it was round about $45 at the time. Just replaced the battery last month, it's a weird chunky size 3V CR2450 that you probably won't have laying around, but the replacements were equally cheap, like 20 for $8. I will say that the exterior buttons have held up fairly well, though the sensitivity leaves something to be desired as the reaction time Really varies with each weld and the shade settings are a bit of a joke; they don't seem to have much variation between the dials on mine, it's more 'on/off' for darkening. Sometimes it will transition just moving around (I do all my work outside usually under a pop-up tent, so YMMV), and sometimes it takes ages to deactivate. It's functional for weekend warrior activity, but yes, if you're doing this in production, pony up for the right tools.
Snap, I have both, the sentinel and a 30 year old speediglass, horses and courses, I love the Esab for my daily work with Tig, at home I use my old Speedi’ for Mig
never understood the " need for a professional helmet " like everyone suggests lol, i own an esab sentinal, lincoln 3350, Two speedglas 9100 Adflo's and never use any of them lol. I weld xray quality pipe welds daily with stick or tig, pipeline / fab / turnaround etc.. my day to day helmet is a pipeliner with a $60 lense from pipelinerscloud, dont even know the name of it. these expensive ass hoods are completely overrated. Get yourself a decent lense, and a flip front so you can see when you grind. All a guy ever needs lol.
Its personal preference, for some an auto darkening simply can't be used, for those of us where it can be used, why would I want to fuck with a flip up lens when I can just throw my hood on and let it do all the work for me?
I work production 10 hr days,I would not weld without a auto,I have a miller digital elite, 3m G5-01Adflo and a 3m 9011xxi,the 3m are my favorite. I also have a cheaper auto I use at home that works fine for all home repairs.
Hmmm, being a production welder in a past life, I can see that as you age you need the better screen. I bought a fang dangled modern helmet, (a cheap helmet), but, being in the 70's age group, I constantly run off the line when welding, so, I would say blokes who are perhaps my age, and/or older, the more expensive helmet would work better, it would certainly work better for me if I were to purchase one.
the only thing I can say from experience is if you can't afford a good auto darkening hood just use a standard flip hood. It will give you a lot better view and might as well learn how to weld without acting like your hood controls your ability
I can personally say that yes working in a welding shop you go through helmets like crazy if you don’t buy good quality ones worked there Maby a year and went through two hoods on my third one and it’s a weldco hood if this one does hold up super well I will consider the esabs
I don’t understand why these welders nowadays need these lenses that turns off and turn on for you. Yes, it’s convenient but at the same time that millisecond of flash is doing damage to your eyes every time I will always use a flip down instead of this crap.
Trying to recover from a loss / fire to able to make a little extra income . Bought - what was called [ I forget ] and turned out to be a YES helmet , 1st job was a aluminum pontoon - directly on the bottom - so overhead , by the time I got the helmet adjusted [ never did ] enough to get in all the bad positions to do the job --- the head piece adjustment broke --- could not tighten enough - the main head band adjustment stripped . So will be trying to find a quality adjustable head piece and modify to fit ? The electronics worked , did not have a good opportunity to compare . Thanks
I'm a full time welder, got the same yeswelder hood from someone to test and I personally was impressed. I run a speedglas 9100xxi daily and to my eyes, the yeswelder hood had an image quality equal to the speedglas.
I didn't think the yeswelder hood was bad but the optics of my esab was better. My main thought was would you wear the yesweld hood all day and do you think it would hold up in a pro environment?
@@jensendesign4920 I tested it for about a day then gifted it off to a co worker, has actually held up perfectly so far. A year in. For the money, i think they're awesome but it comes down to taste, love the big viewing area too.
I am just getting into welding as a new hobby so I am very interested in finding the best equipment for the price. Thank you for the very nice review. For casual welding it looks like the Yeswelder would be sufficient but I wondered about the ESAB A40. The reviews I have seen indicate that the A40 has good visibility similar to what you had noted for the A50. The cost of the A40 is about half the that of the A50 but about double the Yeswelder. I would be willing to spend a bit more to get an A40 with better visibility and quality. Do you have any feel for how the A40 visibility compares to the A50? Thanks!
I have not used the a40 but if you can swing the extra money I would go for the a40 esab is a professional welding company and their products are typically solid
Could you do a follow up with the bew vulcan premium helmet? It runs, $175 but with harbor freights 90 day return policy should cost you nothing. Id be curious. Thanks so nuch for the informative videos
Thank you. I just got that same yesweld helmet and it replaced a very similar helmet that I was having issues seeing thru adequately. I just weld occasionally in my shop at home so I couldn’t justify dropping almost $400 on something that largely is tucked away inside my welding rack. After watching your comparison I am curious as to whether or not I will get any improvement in my optics with this yesweld or not. I will be testing it out today and if it is as poor as the one it replaced it will be making a pilgrimage back to Amazon quickly. At that point I am just going to buy a real welding helmet and be done with it. Thanks again for letting us see your thought and a true to life head to head test. Appreciate your effort to be honest in your opinions.
In all honesty no helmet will make you weld better. Just find something that’s comfortable. That’s it. It’s all in the comfort. All these bells and whistles is just bullshit you don’t need. May be nice to have but not necessary. Pound rod, that’s how you get better.
Running a miller helmet right now, and it’s a pretty good cheap helmet in my opinion. It’s about $150 and for a hobbyist or someone who just welds a little bit, I’d say it’s great. I got it because I’m currently in school and that’s what they supply all the students with. Eyeing buying a speedglass or the a50 once I finish school up as I want to get into fabrication stuff.
What would the best settings for the yes helmet .help I got this helmet for my B D it will work for the back yard what little I do help Tom Conroe TX thank learned a lot
I'm not a professional, but I can say for certain, you only have one set of eyes. Like a good pair of sunglasses, I'm not sure I trust the quality control of the really cheap offerings.
the jackson 46131 has great visibility and only cost around 130-150 depending on where look. work at a production shop and weld everyday. never had any issues with it
Having owned literally the exact hoods this guy shows, I prefer the sentinel hands down, the lense in it is so much better, it sits so much closer to your eyes so there's less reflection from shop lights/ sun. only complaints being the proprietary lense covers being kinna expensive, and you can't adjust settings with gloves on, big pain in the ass if you weld alot. the massive lense cover on the yeswelder also warps very quickly and the headgear isnt very comfortable. My advice, if you make money behind a hood, buy something nice.
I have a Lincoln Viking 3350 and a newer Yeswelder hood. I thought the Yeswelder hood visibility was very good, and I know positively what mode it is in. The Lincoln headband is better, it has a broader sweet spot where you don’t get it going dark for no reason but don’t get flashed even with low power Tig. Clarity of both I thought was excellent. The Lincoln, I have to look to see the little blink to make sure I’m not in grind mode, and I’ve got to have good light to see the shade level setting down in the hood.
@@jensendesign4920 Yeah the Esab is a nice hood. The Lincoln is also slightly more clear than the Yeswelder, but I think surprisingly good considering the price. To me the biggest difference between Esab/Lincoln/3M and the cheaper Yeswelder, harbor freight type ones is when you wear it all day…
Those cheaper auto darkening hoods have bad optics. It's like looking through glass of muddy water IMO. I honestly don't even like the good ones. I am a union Boilermaker Local #455 and I weld high pressure boiler tubes in very tight spaces. And the light sensors usually get blocked off by something in my experience. Auto-darkening hoods are fine for a shop environment not so much for construction and welding in confined areas. Nothing beats a Huntsman 490P it's the best hood I have ever owned. I have been welding since 1993. I do own a 3M Speedglas 9002NC. It has the best optics in an auto-darkening hood I have ever used. But I haven't tried the ESAB A-50 Sentinel yet. But I still prefer the Huntsman 490P.
Dude that huntsman is the only hood I used until I got the esab. I started welding in 1988 and you are right the optics are better with a standard lens. You do big boy welding. 95% of what I do is fabrication in the shop so the esab works good for me.
Ive been using an older ArcOne vision helmet for about 7 years now and they have been pretty solid. They are very light compared to a miller or lincoln and i can wear it all day and not strain too much. One day maybe ill try something different and newer.
I am fairly new to welding, though self taught, and studying well. I can tell you that the field of view is rather important, for myself where I wear bi focal glasses. I have to look through the correct section of my glasses, which means tipping my head that way as well. I find this to be the biggest issue for me, along with the focal length of my glasses. A narrow lens would make it even harder to get my helmet adjusted to a workable height; hard now with my big welding lens, and very frustrating. I recommend a bigger lens if you wear bi focal glasses. I have spoken to my eye doc and they can make for me, a special pair of glasses, that let me use the entire lens for welding. I just need to let them know the focal length I want. Not good glasses for driving though lol
You are far sighted. I can tell by the fact that you take your glasses off. I am very near sighted. I can see very well up close, very close; too close for the welding helmet, sooo, special needs for welding glasses and helmet lens size.
@@markluxton3402 I need readers to work up close so the opposite of you. I can see how a large viewing area would be very important for you. Thank you for bringing this to my atention I would not have thought of this need
@@jensendesign4920 Yes, you are obviously far sighted. I am very near sighted; so much so, that in order to make glasses for me to see at distance, they have to make my close focus a bit farsighted. I take my glasses off to look at tiny things up close. I read books without my glasses on, up close lol Without my current glasses, I would need to be too close to the welding. With my current glasses I have to back away and have a tiny window to look through; another tiny window in the welding hood, is just wrong. Here's the thing though. If I can get a purpose made pair of glasses, just a single focus bent arms length, and larger diameter, then I can move my eyes instead of my head, be at a decent working distance, and then a smaller welding lens would not be an issue. I still like the idea of a larger lens in any case, because sometimes you get in spots where you can not turn your head straight toward what you are working on. I have a couple old used helmets that were given to me. They have the 2X4 and 4X4 lenses. It would be a good idea for me to at least get new regular lenses for them, as backup.
I'm a full time welder Fabricator I've got a 3m speed glass air fed mask and it's a great bit of kit but wearing all day all week it sure is heavy and I have a cheaper mask too similar to your yes welder mask. I find I use the lighter mask for tacking and general smaller welds but if I have a big job and alot of welding then the 3m is the way forward but each to there own I suppose, different horses for different courses and all that
Hobby (stick) welder. Targets: household repairs; 4’ floor squeegees; a roof rack for my Tesla because the factory rack wedges under the glass roof-mine grips the door frames. First hood ($46 Antra bought 2016) began flashing me-couldn’t see much after that. A basic Yeswelder allowed me to see again. I guess the Sentinel will enable me to see into the future? 😂 Thank you for posting.
The esab hood sucks. Eats batteries; lens melts and gets trashed super easy. Go for more traditional. 3M speedglas Miller digital elite Lincoln. Esab sentinel is overpriced garbage.
I’m just borrowing a friends welder but she needs her helmet so I bought a $32 auto darkening helmet from Amazon. I’d definitely buy something better if I buy my own welder but it was a good place to start for beginner practice! The clarity thing is very interesting. It makes me wonder what they’ve done differently. Anyway great video it was good to see the differences!
@@jensendesign4920 oh definitely. What I mean is from an electronics perspective I’m curious about the technological differences between the lenses. I wonder what specifically is different about the cheap and expensive lenses. I don’t expect anyone to have an answer I’m just wondering out loud.
@@jensendesign4920 makes me want to take them apart and look at em with a high powered microscope! Must be something like: the filter is an LCD. The LCD has crystals. The clearer LCD uses smaller crystals, and so offers a clearer image. And probably larger crystals are cheaper to manufacture or else the cheap lenses would have small crystals too. Idk!
It isn't bad at all i dont think it is as durable as the esab but I could be wrong . I just review one of their welders and it worked better than I expected
The Yeswelder have 4 sensors and 1/10000 of a second reaction capabilities. The Sentinel A50 have as well 4 sensors, but 1/25000 of second reaction. This is very important because in some conditions you will get tiny flashes! As well is important to metion that for Yeswelder you cannot find spare parts maybe just lens, but for Sentinel A50 you have everything!
Сделал тест A60. Spot 100A / 0.1 sec. Снял видео на смартфон через маску. Потом замедлил кадры и увидел, что A60 медленно закрывается и видит начало вспышки. Сравнил с другой дешёвой и там вспышки отсутствует! Тест проходил при температуре +15 градусов Цельсия. Насколько критично это? Но сама маска очень понравилась, особенно управление. Картинка без бликов! Широкий обзор. Хорошая чувствительность. Минус - нельзя работать в респираторе 3M с большими стандартными фильтрами.
Had mine for almost 3 yrs now only one issue the head band swapped it out for the Lincoln Viking but other than that that's 80 bucks I def got more than my money's worth
I just got the Miller Digital Elite last week. Always used inexpensive hoods. People are lying to themselves ( I did) if they think the cheap helmets are even close to the $300+ helmets. Not even close. Thanks.
Made that mistake recently. Purchased a yeswelder hood. Ended up with so much eye strain the next day I couldn't work. Put on a miller and didn't happen again.
Thank you. I don't know anyone with an expensive hood to try out. I'll be saving up for a better good. The optics have been my biggest complaint this whole time. I can never seem to get it just right.
If you weld alot it is worth the money to get a decent hood. If you don't weld much you can get great optics with a non digital hood for not much money. I used a non digital hood for YEARS
the lidl, parkside helmet looks like the yes,but is better than both, it has a natural colours screen and dirt cheap, for me good, i also own a speedglas xx with adflo for cutting welding hazardous, material,inox material. was welding a lot with basic pipe welder helmet
I had an ESab Sentinel and I was so happy to have it and it held on for 4 years and then the ADF went bad and in those four years I got so many people to switch over to that welding helmet just by talking about it just by letting them look through it and I sent my ADF back just took me a bad one then I sent it back they sent me another bad one and I gave up on esab until they compensate me I was so let down I loved my sentinal
Pulled 10 "broken" hoods out today to see could any be brought back to life - 3M, Lincoln, Draper, Generic, blah blah - accumulated over the years. Of them all, only 1 - a Draper - was repairable - it was a €60 hood brand new. It came back to life, working fine - so my 2c is spend what you like, they all break - but the Draper mask was repairable.... so I now rate Draper, just because the others were mad spendy, it wasn't, but it still works despite abuse,.,and the others don't/
@@jensendesign4920 You must be just using them yourself - here a hood is (was) fair game for any number of men in the workshop/on sites/in vans - I.E "Nobody" ever broke one.. I must have bought dozens over the years. Dozens. If it was just me, I'd be like you - probably on mask 2, maybe 3. :-)
i have sentinel A50 and ------it fits awesome , ------feel super comfortable , ------u can see the colors clearly and thats make a huge difference when welding aluminium ------it always turns on properly (some cheaper helmets like to sometimes wont turn on for no reason) , ------have outside button for grind mode (there is a light inside that blinks but it isn't visible enough for me (yet still works fine , its just easy to get used not to look at it) ------PAPR (filtrated air system) one isnt super expensive ------PAPR filtration system is rly cheap in comparsion to other brands ----------the only one issue for me is that it is really close to your face at all the settings - meaning u need to be Voldemort to set it on closest to face position xD and the grinding mode light should be in different colour like blue so it won't blend in with everything else cheaper and rly rly good option is ESAB Savage A40 probably te best helmet for its price
i own the esab sentinel and found that the outer lens is too proud towards your work, its very convex and is exposed to heat a lot. I prefer my speedglads as the screen is recessed. the esab outer lens placement is its achilles heel, as well as the grind button doesnt give you a good indicator its on grind mode, the yellow blinking light only blinks every ten-fifteen seconds and its out of sight. needs to blink ever second and be more visible. you will get flashed
I truly like your video. I saw some videos on RU-vid with users of the YesWelder complaint that they got flashed using it. I hope you will do a follow-up video on the YesWelder so that we the viewer can know. Thank you for the honest review.
Great job on the video. I am an old guy noob welder (small motorcycle hobbyist stuff) and just bought the YES helmet. It does seem to work OK. I'm sure the better helmet would be better as you pointed out but for me ATM the YES is working. Now if I could just get the welder set up properly like you I can get to work. Thanks.
@@jensendesign4920 How kind of you. I've been watching zillions of beginner MIG videos. I bought a second hand old HF 120V many years ago, with a CO2 bottle only now getting to use it. I've been practicing on 1/16 inch steel with .024 just trying to lay a bead because I need to weld a 1/16" diameter hole in a MC fuel tank. Don't worry, it's not had fuel in it for decades. I drilled many holes in the sheet metal thinking it would be easy to close up a small hole. Watching your video I think I need to turn the gas up a bit and hold the handle a little more upright. Can't get the consistent buzz without some popping and splatter and lots of inconsistent beads. I've been close a few times.
@Ken's Garage I am a big fan of using co2 I have a couple videos about co2 vs c25. Play with wire speed. If the gun is jumping in your hand turn it down. If the arc looks lazy try turning it up. Biggest thing for beginners is to slow down and main tain a constant distant. If this helps cool. If not let me know what it is doing and we will work o. It
@@KensGarage1 There's a lot of junk videos out there. Hope you're watching guys like Jody--he's one of the best and has years of videos to search through for the answers you need. Be sure the polarity is right for the wire you're using. I had a cheap MIG unit once and it just wouldn't work for me. I let a professional try to make it work--after messing with it for a while, he said that it's junk, get rid of it. So I did. Hope it's not the welder causing your issues.
@@wadepatton2433 Thanks Wade. It may very well be the welder. What welder did you end up buying? Link to Jody the welder video please (or is it this guy?).
If you are welding professional I would recommend esab it is a professional tool brand. The a50 is what I use but you might look at the a40. I haven't used the a40 but it seems like a good hood
Optrel Crystal 2.0, no clearer lens available, auto adjusts between processes, so go from MIG to TIG to Stick without touching a thing. And light as a feather. 😎✔
Appreciate the in depth comparison! Sadly, I own the exact yeswelder lid you reviewed (in my defense, it was cheap) but have also been eyeing the esab sentinel for about 2+ years. This review has shown me what I'm missing. Even being a weekend guy, the clarity difference is amazing. Great video!
It’s definitely worth the money to buy the Esab. I use to weld full time in a manufacturing factory and the weight and ease of use counts when every minute is accounted for.
I actually have both of thease helmets. The ESAB has been with me for about 7 years and it is definitely a tough durable helmet. The Yeswelder helmet works great in more weekend welder setup. Mine lasted about a year in a production setup. It doesn't work anymore.
@@jensendesign4920 I sure wish I could show you a picture of what I end up doing with paint. They have had decal packs that are pre-cut for the esab. Those are rather uneventful and not unique to the welder using the helmet. I am allergic to bees. So I put 2 decals of bees on the side after I I painted it yellow and pinstriped it. Once you put primer, paint, decals and clear on it they're pretty heavy but there is no doubt whom is under the hood.
@@jensendesign4920 I just got done painting 2 other helmets. I did one with a crimson base and black crackle overcoat. I cover them with multiple layers of clear and finish them with a high heat clear. I polish and I use them until they come apart. It all started 30 years ago when we all had the same type and color helmet. Same uniforms too. Couldn't tell a fella from another. Stickers and stuff make people stand out but nobody really went as far as painting the helmet. I started to do it in 1999... before I knew it people were asking me to do it for their helmet. Now there are companies that die cut wraps to look like the factory did it. Certainly not a custom deal. I can usually have one done in 3-5 colors in a couple days. About 12 hours of work. No paint booth, no heaters. Warm it, take it outside (Minnesota) spray it, bake it and do it all again. Rinse and Repeat... paint and additional products matter a lot. I am just a welder that has enjoyed the idea that if your gonna show up with a custom painted bad ass of a helmet you better be able and willing to do the job.
