A good welding helmet will make your welding experience safer and more effective. With a reliable welding helmet on, you have sufficient protection and you can focus entirely on welding without taking home any injuries.
As a welder, knowing the type of welding processes you'll be spending the most time on enables you to look for helmet features that will be highly practical for your specific use. When you decide to go with an established name like ESAB, you can be assured your helmet packs the most recent innovations.
Read on to learn more about the Sentinel A50 welding helmet.
Who Should Buy the ESAB Sentinel A50 Welding Helmet
Whether you're a weekend warrior looking to weld as a hobby or a professional looking for a reliable tool, the ESAB will not disappoint.
If your budget is not too tight, this helmet is definitely for you. It offers top-of-the-line features and is built to withstand high-volume work. Its superb clarity ensures you get the most fun out of your activity and you can see the welding arc and puddle. Whether it's TIG, MIG, or stick, this helmet is designed to keep you safe before, during, and after work.
If you want to veer away from the classic, clunky welding helmet and opt for something more aesthetic, this helmet is right up your alley.
Quick Specs
- Streamlined shell design made with high-impact-resistance nylon
- Trademarked Halo headgear with five infinitely adjustable points
- Low-profile central pivot providing maximum head clearance
- Spherical front cover lens
- Four independent arc sensors
- Easy-access external mode controls
- 1/1/1/2 optical clarity
- 1/25,000 reaction time
- Digital touch screen control panels with eight different memory settings
- Externally activated grind mode control
- Weighs 1.4 lb
- ANSI Z87.1-certified
- 9.27-sq. in. viewing area
- Powered by a combination of lithium batteries (any brand) and solar energy cells
- 3-year warranty
Top Features of the Welding Helmet Sentinel A50
1. Lightweight and streamlined shell design
ESAB designed Sentinel A50's shell with lightweight, heavy-duty, elastic, and impact-resistant nylon. The streamlined shell design has a fit that's neither too big nor too small, accounting for a broad spectrum of head sizes.
The surface minimizes any extrusions so that you can weld safely in tight spaces, such as an automotive chassis, without worrying about anything catching on to your helmet. If you're a Halo Wars fan, you'll surely love this helmet's space warrior-esque design.
2. Hypervisible LCD control panel
Other helmet models sport standard analog buttons, which you can adjust manually to the desired setting. While some may prefer these, it can give space for subtle errors that may have you working longer.
Sentinel A50 offers a full-color LCD touch screen panel comparable to a smartphone's screen for users who want a more interactive interface for settings. The premium display offers enhanced clarity, giving you more confidence that you're correctly adjusting the sensitivity, delay, or shade number setting even when you're operating in low-light environments.
The intuitive controls and easy-to-use functions erase any guesswork from using this innovative technology. The LCD screen might be difficult to use if you're wearing thick welding gloves, but the helmet does offer external buttons for changing to grind mode. It also has saved memory settings so that you don't have to depend on the LCD panel entirely.
3. Auto-darkening filter
Opposite the auto-darkening feature is the fixed, passive-shade welding helmet filter lens that only has one shade setting, usually shade number 10. Fixed shade settings are suitable for welders who will only be using a particular work process or metal type.
If your work takes you from MIG to stick and involves various metals such as aluminum, steel, and iron, a helmet with an auto-darkening feature is a must-have. A welding process like TIG requires a higher shade setting to protect against its brighter arc, which could burn out your retinas over time. Modern helmets use sensitive arc sensors to activate auto-darkening by sensing a signal from the welding arc.
Sentinel offers a high-optical-class auto-darkening feature with a brighter view and accurate color definition. With a variable shade setting from shade number 5 to 13, you have the flexibility to take on any work without worrying about your eyes. The lowest shade number 5 is designed for grind mode so that you can grind off excess weld without removing your helmet and switching to grinding goggles. The four built-in and independent arc sensors strategically placed in the helmet ensure you can weld at any angle and still be protected with your desired shade setting.
4. True-color display
The Sentinel A50 welding helmet comes fully packed with true-color lens technology, making sure you're getting a real and accurate color definition from the welding pool and arc. Helmets before only allowed specific wavelengths to pass through the filter lens, which resulted in a distorted lime green view from the lens that made it difficult for welders to make precise real-time adjustments to their work. With Sentinel's true-color technology, the filter lens allows wavelengths of all the visible colors to pass through the helmet filter.
5. Optical clarity
1/1/1/1 is the best optical rating clarity for welding helmets. The first number refers to the distortion, the second is for the blurriness, the third is for uniform shade, and the last is for shade consistency at an angle. Optical clarity determines how well one can pick out details even with the auto-darkening feature activated. Combined with the true-color technology, a welding helmet with high optical clarity will be formidable in viewing capabilities.
Sentinel A50 comes with a 1/1/1/2 rating, meaning it has a first-class rating in the first three categories with a second-class shade consistency. A lower shade consistency means you may experience different shade colors from time to time if you're not welding at a normal, face-straight angle. However, most welders won't have a problem except those working in automotive or other work environments with tight spaces. Still, a second-class rating is well within the radar for excellence, and the optical clarity of the Sentinel is still outstanding given its wide array of features.
6. Halo headgear
Comfort should be one of the foremost features to keep in mind when purchasing. All the nifty technological advances won't amount to much if you can't wear the helmet for more than an hour without feeling like your neck's going to snap in two. Its adjustability and weight mainly determine a helmet's comfort.
This unit comes with a trademarked Halo headgear with five infinitely adjustable points. The five contact points in the helmet are adjustable, so the helmet can be shifted around the head, which helps relieve pressure after long periods of continuous working. The low-profile central pivot also allows maximum head clearance so that the helmet won't feel so stuffy during work.
7. Up to 8 different memory settings
Having to adjust your sensitivity and delay settings, among other things, is a hindrance in starting your work as quickly as possible. Sentinel A50 can memorize up to eight different memory settings, so you automatically have what you need to start welding at the click of a button. Welders with various work processes will find this feature most convenient.
Other Considerable Features
• Magnifying lens-compatible
The ESAB Sentinel A50 welding helmet 0700000800 package comes with two magnifying lenses or a cheater lens that you can easily install in your helmet to access zooming abilities. This tool helps you focus on a particular part of the welding area so that you can make precise and subtle adjustments. A magnifying lens helps those with low or degrading vision and removes the need for double-checking and inspection, saving you both time and energy.
• Hard hat adapter-compatible
The ESAB 0700000800 Sentinel A50 welding helmet is compatible with hard hats; you remove the headgear and install the hard hat in the helmet's built-in slot. The A50 is best compatible with the ESAB hard hat (0700000052). This feature is handy in sites that require a hard hat, such as construction areas, for overhead hazard protection.
• Accessories
- A helmet bag for easy carrying and unit protection
- A headscarf to absorb your sweat and protect your hair from rain, wind, or cold
- Four outside cover lenses (two clear lenses and two yellow lenses) designed to protect you from sparks and radiation
- Two inside magnifying lenses
Disadvantages of the ESAB Sentinel A50 Welding Helmet
- The LCD screen is not very durable and drains battery life faster.
- The nylon shell material is easily scratched.
- The curved front lens costs a lot to replace.
Conclusion
The Sentinel A50 is an all-around premium welding helmet you can use for any welding work, providing you with industrial-level clarity, comfort, versatility, and durability. It comes with all the recent innovations modern welding helmets should have, such as auto-darkening and true color.
The LCD panel is also a nice touch that more techy operators or those working in low-light environments would highly appreciate. Halo Wars fans will absolutely love the aesthetics of the helmet, a unique shape compared to most clunky and traditional helmets.
If you're welding for fun, this helmet will surely be a treat for your projects, allowing you to work for hours without distraction or readjustment due to its capability to memorize up to eight different settings.
August 8, 2022