Welding Tips and Tricks

Whats going on guys! Got a question, I would REALLY appreciate your help with. My older brothers obsessed with Welding (My mom says he was born with protective glasses on LOL). For his birthday coming up, I wanted to get him a a helmet but I'm torn between these two designs. I want to choose the best one for him, any input from you guys would be awesome!

Helmet #1--> 
Helmet #2--> 

I appreciate the help guys!

Welcome to the forum! A helmet would be a fine gift, one your brother will appreciate. There's more to a helmet than the design, though: lens size, number of sensors, weight, fit and comfort of headgear, etc. Or did you consider those things already?

never ever give a guy tools for a present.

usually its never the right gear and ends up being throw out, which ends up being insulting to both parties.
something like a helmet, which has a lot of personal preference, is a really bad choice.
the $$$ is much better put aside for his dream helmet which only he will know.
strange as it may seam a voucher from the welding supply store is much more useful. unless you can get him to tell you what his dream helmet is and you can afford to get that.

I agree with tweake. As much as you want to buy the best gift for him, picking it for him is fraught with danger. A gift card from a reputable welding supplier with a mention to put it towards a sweet hood will be the best choice.

I’m Sorry but I disagree, gift cards and certificates while useful are very impersonal. My thought is this. Do a little research find out what he likes and make a decision based on that. If your afraid of getting him the wrong hood don’t be, I have a $500 speedglas helmet and I love it but there is nothing wrong with having a spare helmet, I have two other helmets and if my helmet stops working due to batteries I grab the others until I have a chance to get them. Or I let my buddies use them if they want to come over and help me out or want to watch me weld. One is a $20 shade 10 bucket and the other is an 8 year old autoshade no name. If he uses it great if not and keeps it as a spare he’ll appreciate it when he needs it. You can’t go wrong with speedglas helmets or miller. Both brands have several models ranging from $100 plus.

Graveyard wrote:I’m Sorry but I disagree, gift cards and certificates while useful are very impersonal. My thought is this. Do a little research find out what he likes and make a decision based on that. If your afraid of getting him the wrong hood don’t be, I have a $500 speedglas helmet and I love it but there is nothing wrong with having a spare helmet, I have two other helmets and if my helmet stops working due to batteries I grab the others until I have a chance to get them. Or I let my buddies use them if they want to come over and help me out or want to watch me weld. One is a $20 shade 10 bucket and the other is an 8 year old autoshade no name. If he uses it great if not and keeps it as a spare he’ll appreciate it when he needs it. You can’t go wrong with speedglas helmets or miller. Both brands have several models ranging from $100 plus.

quite true.
gift cards etc are somewhat impersonal.
to me i would like a gift i can actually use rather than sit on a shelf. eg something i don't already have.
and its cool to see someone use the gift you gave them.
its very hard to buy for someone if you don't know what they don't have, or everything tends to be very personal.
eg a welding geek probably already has spare helmets.

tweake wrote:

Graveyard wrote:I’m Sorry but I disagree, gift cards and certificates while useful are very impersonal. My thought is this. Do a little research find out what he likes and make a decision based on that. If your afraid of getting him the wrong hood don’t be, I have a $500 speedglas helmet and I love it but there is nothing wrong with having a spare helmet, I have two other helmets and if my helmet stops working due to batteries I grab the others until I have a chance to get them. Or I let my buddies use them if they want to come over and help me out or want to watch me weld. One is a $20 shade 10 bucket and the other is an 8 year old autoshade no name. If he uses it great if not and keeps it as a spare he’ll appreciate it when he needs it. You can’t go wrong with speedglas helmets or miller. Both brands have several models ranging from $100 plus.

quite true.
gift cards etc are somewhat impersonal.
to me i would like a gift i can actually use rather than sit on a shelf. eg something i don't already have.
and its cool to see someone use the gift you gave them.
its very hard to buy for someone if you don't know what they don't have, or everything tends to be very personal.
eg a welding geek probably already has spare helmets.

All good points. While the gift cards might be impersonal, nothing like getting a cheap welding helmet when you already have 2 or 3 top dollar ones. Or a 17 air cooled torch, when you already have 2 or 3 of them, or exclusively use a watercooled wp20.

I think a better gift would be either: consumables (tig rod, stick electrodes, roll of MIG wire, depending on what process is used), or a metal-fab tool. IE: if he uses tubing a lot for many constructions, but don't see a tubing notcher, that might make a good gift. If he only has an abrasive chop saw, even a cheap Evolution Rage2 $190 carbide chop saw would make a great gift. If he is working with thin sheet metal, a 3-in-1 shear-brake-roll machine would be nice. Of course it all depends what you want to spend too.

danJohn I'm going to go with those who are telling you to get him a gift card or even better than that perhaps cash with a note that says "this is for a welding helmet or other welding thing you want". I'm 72 now and can't count the number of items
of all kinds people have given me over the years that were the wrong one, or didn't fit, or weren't "exactly" what I wanted or needed. For years I would use whatever it was out of guilt, even though I may not have liked it. Finally I quit doing that and would just set it aside or throw it out. I've had a gift giver come in and look around trying to see whatever it was they gave me and if it wasn't in view get this look on their face. They never said anything but I knew what they were doing and knew they were hurt or disappointed because I wasn't using what they gave me.

The only exception to the above is if there is one specific "whatever" that you know he wants because he has mentioned it several times, and you know for sure he hasn't already gone out and bought it.

Add my vote to the "gift certificate or returnable/exchangabe shield from the LWS" column.

A welding hood is best bought by the person who’s going to wear it. Unless your gift receiver is willing to get you the exact product number they want, let them pick it out. Good or bad the decision is there’s and the results won’t tarnish the value of your generosity.