Mickey Feldman wrote:

Forgive me if this is a well hashed topic - I'm really just looking
for more opinions from people in the trenches. (And I only drop into
RCM about once a year it seems...)

It seemed to me that since there is a finite amount of time that an
auto-darkening helmet takes to respond, that cumulatively this
epxosure could in fact be harmful (0.001 second times 2000 arc strikes
in a work day, or whatever....)

This guy, who should know a whole lot more about it than a novice
amatuer welder like myself would, thinks otherwise:

http://www.asashop.org/autoinc/jan2002/collision.cfm

Anyone care to give me their 2 cents before I run out and buy one of
these things? And if they are really comparable to sliced bread, is
there a favorite model?

Thanks,

Mickey

All of the auto-dark welding helmets provide UV and IR filtering at all
times so there is no risk of eye damage even on the occasions that you
block the sensor and they don't darken. You'll be blinking for a few
minutes, but no UV or IR gets through.

Pete C.