Optrel vegaview 2.5

[daleyd]

That's not a good point Kent. I go through loads of fab shops on a weekly basis and the lids given/bought for the guys are predominantly speedglas. Sometimes other brands pop up but the fact remains in this country the helmet market is heavily dominated by speedglas and it's certainly not hobby users creating that domination.

Though I'm not a welder I go to all sorts of industries and factories, including foundries, fab shops, factory maintenance welding bays, chemical plants, steelworks the list is pretty endless and as Richard says, in the majority of these places there are is at least 1 speedglass kicking around.

 

[Chris Stevens]

I have a Speedglas probably about 12 years old, and still works perfectly. If I were looking for another helmet now, the new Speedglas 9100XXi would have to be at the top of the list, as it has the largest viewing area, side windows, very good optically and controls not hung on the outside of the shell: http://www.rapidwelding.com/dynamic/DisplayItem.aspx?c=3M-501826

In terms of professional users favouring cheap helmets, I find that hard to believe, as cheap gear tends to fail pretty quickly when used industrially, and the cost of replacements very quickly becomes greater than buying quality gear in the first place. My old Speedglas for instance cost around £200, and has given me 12 years trouble free use. How many cheapies would I have had to buy over those 12 years?

 

[Kent]

That's not a good point Kent. I go through loads of fab shops on a weekly basis and the lids given/bought for the guys are predominantly speedglas. Sometimes other brands pop up but the fact remains in this country the helmet market is heavily dominated by speedglas and it's certainly not hobby users creating that domination.

If you remember I spoke of centrally piped shielding gasses still only seen that in one place

Richard these are of course a particular kind of shop
If you only visited aerospace shops or only visited wrought iron places or mass producers of roof racks. Exhausts. Clothing racks etc you would have biased view
I bet speedglass don't oversell sub £100 lids and the stocks of local welding suppliers shelves demonstrate this very well

 

[Richard.]

If you remember I spoke of centrally piped shielding gasses still only seen that in one place

Richard these are of course a particular kind of shop
If you only visited aerospace shops or only visited wrought iron places or mass producers of roof racks. Exhausts. Clothing racks etc you would have biased view
I bet speedglass don't oversell sub £100 lids and the stocks of local welding suppliers shelves demonstrate this very well

I don't have a biased view and there are better lids out there than speedglas IMO. But the fact remains they are the market leader in the uk certainly. I walk into a variety of work shops where ever I can. 8/10 the guys on the floor have speedglas lids. The other 2/10 it's often another quality brand. I cannot remember the last time I saw guys using cheap lids on a shop floor. A lot of mig/mma welders chose speedglas because of its reputation with the 3m ad flow kits also. Again that is the most dominant air system throughout workshops also.

 

[Kent]

Though I'm not a welder I go to all sorts of industries and factories, including foundries, fab shops, factory maintenance welding bays, chemical plants, steelworks the list is pretty endless and as Richard says, in the majority of these places there are is at least 1 speedglass kicking around.

At least one speedglass. That many eh? I am not knocking high cost lids or saying nobody should bother and certainly haven't got helmet envy but one swallow doesn't make a summer
I visit four different shops regularly in very different markets there is I think one speedglass worn and it's a filter one
Around here the three most popular cars are range rover land rover and Japanese pickup. I can't think of many small hatchbacks but I
know that's not representing the rest of the nation
I am of course the owner of a fabrication company

 

[Kent]

I don't have a biased view and there are better lids out there than speedglas IMO. But the fact remains they are the market leader in the uk certainly. I walk into a variety of work shops where ever I can. 8/10 the guys on the floor have speedglas lids. The other 2/10 it's often another quality brand. I cannot remember the last time I saw guys using cheap lids on a shop floor. A lot of mig/mma welders chose speedglas because of its reputation with the 3m ad flow kits also. Again that is the most dominant air system throughout workshops also.

Represented by stocks held at BOC depos? welding suppliers round Lancashire? No sorry but this class of visors just isn't the mass choice
That's just how it is I will drive past about five depos before I reach the speedglass dealer or indeed the highest end stuff

 

[Richard.]

Kent I'm not making it up. Speedglas 3m has a bigger welding helmet market share than any other brand. I don't need the graphs and charts in front of me to see that. The very few small business you know around your local area don't make up a **** in the ocean when talking on a national scale. Matt1978 is the best bloke on here to put us right I'd imagine as he will travel up and down the country in and out of end users every day. He will know what is predominantly used.

 

[wheresmejumper]

my welds passed inspection on nuclear. Aircraft and more

what nuclear did you do

 

[Kent]

what nuclear did you do

Long time ago now near three decades
Mostly out work on Sellafield stuff
Fuel rod containers was one of the last jobs I had as PAYE
Done a little contract work after as my FIL was until recently one of the world's top turbine men
Nearly took it up again when talk turned into action on new UK plants but I am nearing 50 now
Just had to go to reasonable strength reading glasses. Bad shoulders play me up and figure it's a younger guys job who doesn't have kids to sort
The next ten years could be good though to say the least of it. Make hay!

 

[Chris Stevens]

Choosing a Speedglas over a cheapy for day in day out production work, seems to me the same as choosing a Fronious or Lorch welding set for production, rather than a £200 Ebay special. Cheapy does the same job, but not as well or for as long as the professional gear.

 

[Kent]

Kent I'm not making it up. Speedglas 3m has a bigger welding helmet market share than any other brand. I don't need the graphs and charts in front of me to see that. The very few small business you know around your local area don't make up a **** in the ocean when talking on a national scale. Matt1978 is the best bloke on here to put us right I'd imagine as he will travel up and down the country in and out of end users every day. He will know what is predominantly used.

We will just have to disagree.

 

[wheresmejumper]

Pipe,plate,open root,mig,xray?i dont meet many welders who have moved from critical nuclear pipe etc to the other end of the spectrum.

 

[Kent]

Choosing a Speedglas over a cheapy for day in day out production work, seems to me the same as choosing a Fronious or Lorch welding set for production, rather than a £200 Ebay special. Cheapy does the same job, but not as well or for as long as the professional gear.

Come off it a lorch mig starts at about 1300 and I don't know of any for 200
We are talking visors that auto darken from 50- 100 rather than 200 up
In fact I do bet there are more esab in the field than lorch that's a more fair comparison welder wise
Ewm don't even have a dealer within my 100 mile radius Miller and esab both have over a dozen I bet
This whole conversation is not about what's the best. I am not decrying the quality

 

[Kent]

Pipe,plate,open root,mig,xray?i dont meet many welders who have moved from critical nuclear pipe etc to the other end of the spectrum.

Well if I said I more than trebled my pay on leaving the whole industry to do other things
I have other skills sets outside the industry that are not all that relivent to this conversation outside of the fact of business ownership and running
I have spoke of this previously end of

 

[Chris Stevens]

Come off it a lorch mig starts at about 1300 and I don't know of any for 200
We are talking visors that auto darken from 50- 100 rather than 200 up
In fact I do bet there are more esab in the field than lorch that's a more fair comparison welder wise
Ewm don't even have a dealer within my 100 mile radius Miller and esab both have over a dozen I bet
This whole conversation is not about what's the best. I am not decrying the quality

I would guess there are certainly more ESAB being used for production work than Lorch, but wonder how many industrial producers choose to use cheap and cheerful welding sets over better quality ones? Car boot sale tools can be used to strip and rebuild an engine, and fine for a a one off job, but not sure anyone in the business of engine rebuilds would choose the boot sale tools?

 

[wheresmejumper]

Was it the gates at the entrance to sellafield you were making?

 

[Welderpaul]

Are we talking about welding screens or comparing appendage sizes here?

 

[Badger1bear]

Back to the original post.....

I have and still use an Optrel Satellite mask from about 10 or 12 years ago. I have a newer Optrel 680 that I use and I have their best one which is the Optrel E684 with filtered air which I also use. All of the helmets have external controls and not once have I hit the controls on the side and damaged them. They all have their battle scars so they have not been pampered. I work outside in all sorts of conditions, mud included. The clarity of the E684 is superb.

Badger

 

[Chris Stevens]

I have and still use an Optrel Satellite mask from about 10 or 12 years ago. I have a newer Optrel 680 that I use and I have their best one which is the Optrel E684 with filtered air which I also use. All of the helmets have external controls and not once have I hit the controls on the side and damaged them. They all have their battle scars so they have not been pampered. I work outside in all sorts of conditions, mud included. The clarity of the E684 is superb.

Badger[/QUOTE]

How do you find the small viewing area in comparison to helmets with more area?

 

[Richard.]

No one knows one another or what we did and didn't do in previous life's so insults are not gonna do anything but get another op's thread locked. I was quite enjoying the thread when it was on topic. Kent and I disagree on a lot of things and this is no different but I wouldn't insult the man by saying he hasn't done something when I don't know his past at all.