For one, you don't have to worry about flipping a lens up and down anymore. Anyone who has ever used a normal hood realizes flipping of the lens is a pain in the neck.

A regular helmet is fine if you have no other alternatives. However, a good auto helmet will allow much better and much more accurate welds.

The autodarkening helmet is so good, you may never go back to the old hood.

I, for example am, constantly lost my starting position with a regular helmet when I had to flip my lens. Anyone else with a non-automatic helmet should easily relate to this.

You can partially see your work in the daylight, which isn't too bad.

A flip down helmet and an autodarkening welding helmet are as different as night and day -- the auto helmet is heaps faster and easier to use.

You can find the solar panel at the top or bottom of the helmet. This panel will detect when you strike your arc, and will automatically activate the lens.

You simply won't have to keep flipping the lens down anymore.

The helmets come equipped with a shade setting, which allows the lens to darken from shade 8 to shade 13. This allows me to be able to weld at varying power levels.

The old "Ned Kelly's" (as we call them in Australia) required you to change lenses for each job. You could find adjustable settings on the inside. Most helmets have a variety of settings. Mine, being an older cheap welding helmet, is limited in this sense.

For example, I can only adjust my "sensitivity" from low to high, and my "delay time" from slow to fast. Whether for mig welding, tig welding, stick welding, or arc welding, an autodarkening welding helmet can be used for just about any job.

For more detailed information you can visit this site http://www.learn-how-to-weld.com/auto-darkening-welding-helmets.html for a closer look at an autodarkening welding helmet.