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The team at AWS (the guys who represent the Speedglas brand in Australia) allowed us here at Welding Helmets Online to trial the Speedglas 9100 FX Air. After trialling this legend of the industry, we very quickly understood why we see this helmet being used by so many professional welders. Below in our Speedglas 9100 FX Air Review we’ll break it down for you and take you through what you get in the box, what’s required to set it up, our product review and any negatives that we discovered when using this product. But first, what’s in the box? When you open up the Speedglas 9100 FX Air the box includes: The Speedglas 9100 FX Air Welding Helmet complete with the 9100XXi auto-darkening welding lens with internal and external cover lenses (installed). Adflo Powered Air Purifying Respirator complete with spark arrestor, pre-filter, particle filter and Adflo quick charge battery (installed). Self-adjusting breathing air tube. Two replacement outside cover lenses. Speedglas branded carry bag to protect and transport the helmet. Instruction manual What’s Required Before You Start Welding? After pulling the Speedglas FX Air PAPR out of the box, all you need to do is connect one end of the breathing tube to the helmet and the other end to the Adflo respirator, pull out the plastic safety strip between the battery and the connection and you’re ready to weld. You can literally be welding in less than a minute if you, like us, hate waiting. Spoiler Alert: obviously you should read the instruction manual etc before you use the helmet and respirator. But, if you’re amped and just want to get welding ASAP, then it’s ready when you are. Speedglas 9100 FX Air Product Review As soon as you wear this kit for the first time you know you’re wearing a helmet that has been carefully designed with all of a welder’s needs in mind. The first thing that struck me was the vision. You can literally see all around you with 180 degree vision thanks to the Speedglas windows on the side of the helmet. The lens is enormous and the True View that they talk about in all the Speedglas marketing, needs to be seen to be believed. We’ve used earlier version Speedglas welding helmets and the vision is so good that it would be difficult to go back to any of the older series helmets compared to this new optical experience. If you haven’t looked through one of these helmets yet, do yourself a favour. You can tell they spent time on the comfort factor on this unit because even though you’re wearing over a kilo and a half on your head and another kilo and a half on your back you can barely notice the weight due to the balance and clever distribution of weight that they use through a thick belt positioned over your bum and the head harness. With all the talk about the link between cancer and welding fume it makes sense to protect your lungs with one of these combined helmet/respirators. But the difference in comfort that we experienced from having air supplied in the helmet was over and above what I was expecting. All the talk is about the protection factor, which is obviously more important, but given you can’t ‘experience’ a protection factor, the comfort upgrade alone feels worth the extra investment. Normally extra safety features are annoying but necessary, but this safety feature makes the overall welding experience much more comfortable. We put this welding lens through its paces and couldn’t fault its performance. It really isn’t a surprise that you see them at so many sites across Australia. Speedglas 9100 FX Air Issues and Faults After trialling this unit over a week, we really couldn’t find many downsides. It is a slightly larger welding helmet, which is absolutely fine for most welding but if you’re going to be welding in positions where your head is going to be in really confined spaces, there’s a chance you may have to look at other smaller welding helmets. All in all, the worst part was having to give it back and go back to a non-true-view welding lens. Obviously a week isn’t really a long enough trial period to assess long-term durability – speaking to welders out on site who have used this product the feedback is really positive. One company mentioned they had experienced an issue with one unit but the product was replaced under warranty in less than a week and the new unit worked perfectly. The 9100 FX Air is covered by a 3 year warranty on the lens and from welder feedback the product support from the AWS team is brilliant. Thanks to the team at AWS for letting us trial a unit. View The Speedglas 9100 FX Air Here. About the Author: Welding Helmets Online is Australia's most comprehensive online Welding Helmet Shop. We stock the best brands all backed by our best price promise. Buy spare parts and helmets with free delivery to anywhere in Australia for orders over $150.

By now, the Speedglas G5-01VC welding helmet has firmly planted itself as the best flip up welding helmet with PAPR respiratory in the world. You’ve either seen one of these somewhere or know someone who has one… either that or you must have retired! We've reviewed the G5-01VC helmet, so settle in for a long read amigos; there’s a lot to cover! Not into reading? To check out the new Speedglas G5-01VC click here! It’s been 12 years since 3M first launched the 9100 series of helmets, which was a revolutionary premium welding helmet range at the time – particularly due to the size of the lens and the unprecedented comfort and engineering of the helmet. We’d be lying if we said we weren’t all getting a little impatient waiting for their next new premium helmet range! Luckily, and in typical Speedglas fashion, they didn’t disappoint and it’s obvious what they’ve been working on for the past 12 years. Design Firstly, from a purely visual perspective (yes, some of us care what our hoods look like, not just how well they work!) the Speedglas G5-01VC looks like the modern, futuristic welding helmet you’d expect. It’s also worth noting that the helmet looks functionally very similar to the 9100XXi FX Air – no new bells and whistles with how the basic helmet appears, which is likely a case of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. It’s worth noting that given how popular the FX Air helmet has been, it would have been mad to completely reinvent the G5-01 rather than improve on a concept that works. Features Getting a closer look at the helmet, it’s clear that while similar in appearance, there are immediately some noticeable improvements that have been made. The helmet itself appears to be narrower (almost looks like a bit of a throwback to the 9002x series helmet if any of you are old enough to remember it). This is particularly interesting given some welders doing work in confined spaces have felt the 9002x helmet was more suitable for that kind of job purely given its narrower design – so that’s a big tick. Also, the flip-up component containing the lens (worth noting that the G5-01VC currently only comes with a flip up option) is easily detachable, making the helmet 35% lighter overall. This brings us to another good point; when you spend a considerable amount of your day grinding (as much as you may not always want to admit that), the full weight of the 9100XXi can get tiresome, despite the comfortable harness. This new removable flip up attachment will mean that you can easily change between grinding and welding, have a clear lens to grind with without a separate visor, and not have the weight of the whole helmet on your head all day. After reading through the manual, we found out the Speedglas G5-01 also comes with Bluetooth functionality, meaning that with the 3M Connected Equipment app you can get additional information and set/play with your lens settings through your phone. Probably of more interest to the younger welders out there, but a cool feature nonetheless (let’s be honest, everything needs to have Bluetooth these days, doesn’t it!?) One less obvious (but still pretty significant) feature in the G5 01 is how it allows welders to determine the direction of airflow inside the helmet. Some welders who first switch to a PAPR unit find it difficult to adjust to the constant stream of air that (depending on the size of your head) can blow into and dry out your eyes. The clever clogs at 3M have made it so that in the G5-01, you can determine the direction of airflow depending on your preference (and head size!), making this issue a thing of the past. Click here to buy a Speedglas G5-01VC Welding Helmet Lens technology “Get to the lens features” I hear you say. Until now, the newest progression in lens technology has been focused on “realistic/true/clear vision” – 3M Speedglas call it “TrueView” whereby their lenses allow more colours through the lens to better view your welds and have better control over your weld pool. Speedglas were early to the party with this technology, and their 9100XXi and 9002NC lenses both have this, so it was to be expected that the G5-01 would as well… …but this is where it gets interesting! 3M have clearly spent considerable time and money developing something the market hasn’t seen before. Based on real research with welders, 3M determined that different welders respond to different colour tones differently. So which colour did they go with?? You. Can. Choose. There it is. You’ll see in the pictures below that there are 3 options; natural (green), cool (blue) or warm (red). Believe me, this is a gamechanger in welder’s vision and will set the bar high for welding helmet manufacturers for the next few years. Summary Pros Slick, modern design Narrower than 9100XXi series; good for work in confined spaces Removable flip up attachment; lighter option when grinding Adjustable flow of air for those who sometimes get dry eyes in a PAPR Comes with Variable Colour Technology – you can choose between red, blue and green colour tones when welding. Offers a task light as an optional extra (although a bit pricey) Cons No free cover lenses like with the 9100XXi Adflo, but does come with a free G5-01 storage bag (which is a much better design of bag than the previous Adflo bags) Only available with Adflo, making this a heavy investment for apprentices and junior welders Doesn’t come as a unit with the standard battery - only heavy duty - meaning a little bit more weight on the belt Overall, this helmet is exactly what you would expect if you gave the company that invented auto darkening welding lenses 12 years to improve on an already great concept of a welding helmet. If you put “welder”, “boilermaker” or “fabricator” on your job description, we don’t need to tell you to buy this; you’re already planning on getting one. Click here to buy a new Speedglas G5 01VC welding helmet

There are literally thousands of different types of welding helmets available so what should you know before you dive in and select a welding helmet? By Price Even though price should never be the only consideration it’s a fact of life that your budget dictates what you can afford. In Australia, Auto Darkening Welding helmets can range anywhere from $80 - $2,500 depending on the features they can offer so there’s a wide range of options to choose from. Welding Helmets Online make it easy by giving you a “By Price” filter which allows you to filter all the helmets “By Price” so that you can discover what types of welding masks and features are available at different price levels. View our Welding Helmets here View our Welding Helmets with a PAPR here By Need Once you are comfortable with your budget and understand what’s available at each price point it’s time to understand exactly what you want and more importantly what you need based on your welding processes and applications. Welding Helmets Online again make it easy by breaking the welding shields down into key features and allowing the welder to filter the helmets “By Need”. So no matter if you need powered air, flip-up to grind, graphics, safety helmets, TIG helmets or large viewing areas, you can filter the helmet range to your exact specifications. View our Welding Masks here View our Welding Helmets with a Powered Air Respirator here By Welder Not all welding helmets are the same just as not all welders are the same. Some welders just want a welding helmet that does the basics because it will spend most of its time collecting dust in the garage. Then there are professional welders who will use their helmet every day and it will become the key to making sure they live a healthy life after they put the helmet down. No matter what your situation or skill level, Welding Helmets Online have a welding helmet built for you. Simply filter “By Welder” to discover the welding helmets we think are best for you. View our Welding Shields here View our Welding Helmets with a Welding Respirator here By Specifications Now you understand your budget and the welding helmets that suit your individual needs (by need & by welder) you can dig deeper into the specifications of the remaining helmets to arrive at your final decision. At Welding Helmets Online we don’t reproduce the specification list given to us by the manufacturers. Instead, we have created a unique “Welding Helmet Comparison Index” where we provide a consistent feature list for every welding helmet that lists the specifications in the same order and same measurements every time. Meaning that every welding mask can be compared side-by-side so you can see exactly where one welding helmet is stronger or weaker than another. With this diluted information without the marketing spin you have the power to make the right decision for you. View our Welding Helmets here View our Welding Helmets with a PAPR here By Brand, By Series, By Model Some welders swear by a welding helmet brand and will be loyal until the end of their days while other welders want whatever’s new and ground breaking at the time. All brands featured on this website are backed by us as being amongst the industries best. If you already know what welding helmet brand you are after you can use the “By Brand”, “By Series” and “By Model” filters to drill down to the welding helmet you think will be best for you. Like always at Welding Helmets Online we make selection easy and back it up with full service, our free delivery policy and our best price guarantee. View our Welding Helmet Range

Which welding helmet is best? How to choose a welding helmet? Which welding mask brand is best? These are some of the questions we most frequently get asked. So we have made it easy! We have analysed every welding helmet on the market and looked past all the marketing and sales hyperbole to create a unique welding helmet comparison index. Welding Helmet Information We have filtered all the welding helmet information and specifications down into what actually matters to the welder and then broken this information into a unique grid of welding helmet features. This grid also ensures every helmet is compared using the same language. For example many brands use the size of the welding filter to make it sound like their viewing area is larger than it really is. We instead make sure that every viewing area is judged only on the size of the area of the welding filter that you look through and every measurement is in millimetres in the same format every time: height by width. Use Our Welding Helmet Comparison Index By using this index the welder has a consistent measurement tool they can use to effectively and accurately and most importantly quickly understand the differences, strengths and weaknesses between different welding masks from different brands so they can find the helmet that’s right for them. Our custom and unique filtering tools also allow the welder to drill down to the masks that are worth comparing based on their individual needs, budget, skill level or preference for brand or model. Basically here at Welding Helmets Online we make selection easy and then back it up with first class support, the best prices backed by our Best Price Guarantee and our lightning fast Free Shipping Policy. So dive straight in and start using the key feature grid by navigating to our welding helmet section. Filter the products down into those that fit your requirements and then compare each helmet using our unique comparison index.

Welding Helmets Online has officially launched, meaning that no matter if you live in Sydney or Singleton, Melbourne or Mandurah, Perth or Port Augusta, Brisbane or Ballarat, or all the way up in Karratha – you now finally have easy online access to the best brands of welding helmets backed by our best price guarantee and our free delivery policy right around Australia. View our Welding Helmets here View our Welding Helmets with a PAPR here View our Welding Helmet Spare Parts here The story of Welding Helmets Online started because there was a complete lack of quality websites featuring welding helmets, PAPRs and welding helmet spare parts. Even if you could find the welding helmet, you couldn’t find the spare parts, or the information was wrong, or the person on the other end of the phone backing up the website didn’t know, and seemingly didn’t care. We believed that this was because welding helmets for most companies are just “add-on” products. They sell the welding helmets because they support the other products they sell like gas, consumables and welding machines. This means that if they are sold online, the welding helmets are hard to find and the information is incomplete or flat-out wrong. Welding helmets protect welders from harmful UV and IR radiation and importantly also have the potential to protect from welding fume, notably just reclassified as a cause of cancer. At Welding Helmets Online, our mission is to help welders keep their eyes and lungs healthy and safe, and we think welding helmets are more important than just another product in a catalogue. Welding helmets also have the potential to cost over $2,000 meaning that you want the right product and you don’t want to pay more than you need to. This is just one more reason why we have launched Welding Helmets Online. Welding Helmets Online exists so that all welders can have online access to the best welding helmet brands, organised and structured in a way that makes sense by those who understand welding helmets. Our custom built features make finding what you need easy and our unique welding helmet comparison index allows welders to compare welding masks on features that actually matter and are consistent across products and brands. We have taken the time to analyse every helmet and dig into the literature to expose the key areas for comparison so that you can be certain you’re choosing the right welding helmet for you. Finally an online store that understands and puts welding helmets and welding helmet spare parts first! View our welding helmets here View our spare parts here