Esab SENTINEL A50 Auto Darkening Welding Helmet Review
The Esab SENTINEL A50 is a new top of the line welding helmet that boasts of a completely new design, high performance, and various automatic functionalities.
A highly advanced helmet, the Esab SENTINEL A50, is at the top of its class with the latest technology.
Sporting a large viewing port, a quality lens, colored touch screens, and more, the Esab is an embodiment of welding equipment that doesn’t sacrifice on form or comfort for performance.
Who is this Welding Helmet For?
The ESAB was built to offer protection to your face and eyes from spatter, sparks, and harmful radiation during the welding process.
The A50 mainly targets people in the welding business. However, it’s specifically tailored for the welders that do not want to compromise their safety while performing their tasks.
All the features, including the safety advancement on the Esab, are a technological improvement on what we have in traditional welding helmets.
Features and Benefits of Esab SENTINEL A50
Comfort
Whenever you are about to buy any equipment, you need to check several factors, and one of them is a comfort.
After all, it would serve no purpose to have a premium helmet if you don’t feel comfortable using it.
Here’s the thing, you’ll mostly be wearing a helmet for hours on end, meaning its weight and comfort level is paramount.
Fortunately, Esab A50 is designed with comfort in mind.
For starters, this unit is extremely lightweight, and at 1.4 pounds, it will not weigh you down.
The headgear is well designed with a sturdy shell that is further reinforced by a five-point HALO headgear.
The HALO headgear, alongside the sturdy shell makes the Esab highly comfortable and helps in preventing fatigue during welding.
The Esab A50 is highly adjustable, and according to the manufacturer, this helmet has up to half a million contact points with differing combinations.
Generally, that's five times what we see in the conventional welding helmets, and users can, therefore, shift the weight around to reduce pressure and endure all-day tasks.Lens
The most basic component of a lens is the size.
A wider lens will give you a bigger view and assist you in the welding process.
Esab comes with a good-sized view screen measuring 3.93" x 2.36" for optimal viewing space.
Visual on this helmet is further underlined by the curved lens design alongside the smooth anti-scratch finish.
Welders find the curved design on this helmet quite handy as it extends the viewing areas and allows users to see all around the working area.
True Color Lenses
The auto-darkening feature on this lens filters the earing brightness, allowing an even clearer visual.
Clarity
Beyond size, a second and crucial component of any welding lens is its clarity.
If you have welded before, you know that visual capacity is integral to any welding process, and so welders need to pay attention to the clarity of the lens.
Esab A50 meets the visual clarity with its 1/1/1/2 optical clarity.
So, regardless of the size or toughness of the job, Esab A50 will provide you with a clear view of the puddles.
Shade Settings
A majority of the auto-darkening welding helmets typically have a shade range of 9 to 13, which is acceptable most jobs. However, it's not ideal for lower TIG projects.
And this is where the Esab A50 comes in.
With a shade adjustability range of 5-13 ADF, the Esab will allow you to work even on the more complex TIG processes.
Better yet, the shade is easily adjustable, with the option of adding clear or amber lenses.
Esab is even made better regarding the switching of modes. Contrary to other helmets within its class, Esab A50 will allow you to adjust the grind mode through an external mode button.
Full-Color LCD Display
The LCD screen is yet another incredible feature on this helmet.
It’s one of the major reasons it makes the welding process on the Esab A50 so comfortable.
For instance, the LCD screen comes alongside with a touchscreen feature. The touchscreen will provide you with assistance when it comes to navigating the controls during welding.
Besides the touchscreen feature, Esab A50 comes with further control buttons inside the hood, and this makes the entire operation a lot easier and faster.
Consequently, you can save lots of time on this equipment, and most importantly, turn your welding process into a simplified task in multiple ways.
Settings Memory
As we had mentioned earlier, the Esab A50 is a sophisticated device, and it boasts of advanced technological features.
One of them is the settings memory.
See, welders, especially beginners, usually have a challenging time setting their welder. In most cases, you'll find that they get frustrated due to the repeated adjustments.
Gladly, Esab will allow you to customize your settings, and more importantly, make the correct adjustment only once.
This means that one you set your welder to certain settings, you will not need constantly readjusting when using the welder.
Instead, the Esab will automatically turn the preferred settings every time you turn it one.
Available Accessories
Accessories are what probably separate the premium product from the standard products.
Accessories usually come as an extra package to what you’ve already bought.
While the Esab comes with plenty of them, what really captured our attention is the bag. The bag on the Esab not only enhances portability but helps to keep the helmet safe.
Concern
A major concern that we had with the Esab A50 is probably the price.
The Esab A50 is on the higher end, but remember, like anything else, you get what you pay for.
This helmet is sturdily constructed, safe, and has plenty of desirable features.
In our opinion, or at least what we think, the Esab A 50 is a good value for your every dime.
