Many people have asked me, which one is the best, “Welding helmet or Goggles?”
Startup welders find a hard time choosing between a welding helmet and goggles. These two have their own positives and shortcomings as well. A helmet is more secure when compared to goggles, while goggles are lighter and won’t weigh you down as you work for over a long period of time.
Summary of Contents
Features Details: Welding Helmet vs Goggles
Features |
Welding Helmet |
Goggles |
| Visibility: | not very clear | clear |
| Reliability: | depends | depends |
| Differentiation: | protective headgear | protective eye gears |
| Protection: | covers your eyes, face, and neck | cover your eyes |
| Security: | More Secure | Lesser |
All in all, you need to put on protective eyewear when welding for fun at home or for commercial purposes. Also, it doesn’t matter if it’s TIG or MIG welding. During welding, you need to protect yourself from UV light, flash burn, heat, and sparks from welding. Failure to do so may cause you to damage your skin from sunburn or lead to an arc eye. That’s why the helmet was invented and professionals use them or goggles on a day-to-day basis.
The work of the welding helmets and goggles is to offer protection from intense light, hot debris, and weld splatter. Usually, protective welding eye equipment is bought together with welding gloves, fire-resistant jackets, earplugs, cuff-less pants, and rubber-soled safety shoes. If you are stuck between choosing a welding helmet or goggle, take a look at some of their differences and choose the one you think is good for you.
Differentiation
To begin with, a welding helmet is a protective headgear that is worn to protect a welder’s eyes, face, and neck from Ultraviolet light, flash burn, and sparks. In most cases, welding helmets are put on during arc welding. On the other hand, welding goggles are a kind of protective eye gears that secures the eye socket from particulates, chemicals, and water. The one thing that they have in common is that they cover the eyes during welding.
Protection
If you want eye protective equipment that will secure your eyes and face from dangerous sparks, sunburn, IR light, and UV light, then, a helmet is the most ideal for you. A helmet covers your eyes, face, and neck. This is not the case with goggles as they simply cover your eyes and leave the other part of the face and neck open. This can be dangerous to your skin as you can develop skin cancer and if the goggles don’t cover your eyes well, you might as well suffer from your cornea being inflamed.
Visibility
The reason some people prefer goggles over helmets is that most of the helmets are not very clear and seeing through them can be a problem. A good number of goggles are very clear and you can see through easily. This is usually the case with people who wear glasses. At the moment, some helmet brands have evolved and allowed the lens to be changed to suit the user. Consider going for these if you want a very visible helmet.
Reliability
Although Goggles are clear, it depends on the type of lens that you use. Goggles suitable for you might not be ideal for someone else. So, if you want very reliable eye protective gear, welding helmets should just be fine with you. Look for the best welding helmet and change the lens to suit your needs. Also, depending on the type of welding, you can decide to choose either a welding helmet or goggles.
Conclusion
Generally, a welding helmet is more secure and reliable to use than goggles. Goggles may be clear but don’t offer the much-needed protection. Ensure that you acquire a quality helmet and protect your eyes from sparks, heat, UV light, and flash burn. These can lead to serious problems in the future if you don’t protect yourself in advance.
Still, have a question after reading this Welding Helmet vs Goggles? Comment below.
I’m glad you mention that a helmet is ideal to protect your face from the UV lights. My dad has started welding as a hobby, and he needs some equipment. I will recommend him getting a helmet instead of goggles for better protection.