Frontline - Welding Lens
Frontline - Welding Lens
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One shade.
The one you picked.
No dial to bump. No menu to scroll. Nothing to knock out of adjustment when you set the hood down on the truck bed.
The Frontline is a fixed-shade auto-darkening lens. It sits clear at shade 3 until the arc strikes, snaps to your shade, and goes clear again the moment you stop. Two solar cells and two arc sensors run it — there's no battery to change and nothing to plug in.
The only decision you make is the number — darker or lighter. The guide below sorts it.
- Shade
- 9 · 10 · 11 · 12Fixed. Clear at shade 3.
- Size
- 2″ × 4¼″Standard cartridge.
- Power
- SolarNo batteries, nothing to charge.
This is what it
looks like from the inside
A stick bead shot straight through a Frontline. No filter on it, no color grade. You're watching the puddle, the rod tip and the bead behind it — and at the end the arc stops and the lens drops back to clear.
Fair warning: a phone sensor blows out an arc a lot worse than your eye does. In person the edge of the puddle reads sharper than it does here.
Darker or lighter.
That’s the whole decision.
A darker lens cuts more light. A lighter one lets more through. Everything else about these four is identical — same lens, same build, same price.
You’re picking how much you want to see.
New to it? Go a shade darker than you think you need. You can always work down from there.
Every Frontline ships with the full shade chart printed in the box
The numbers
- Type
- Fixed-shade auto-darkening filter
- Dark shade
- 9, 10, 11 or 12 — you pick one
- Clear shade
- 3
- Cartridge size
- 2″ × 4¼″ standard
- Power
- Solar — no batteries, no charging
- Arc sensors
- 2
- Optical class
- 1/1/1/2
- Runs
- Stick · MIG/MAG · TIG above 20 A
- Does not run
- Laser · oxy-acetylene (gas)
- Operating range
- 23°F to 131°F
- Marked
- ANSI Z87.1 · CSA Z94.3 · CE
- Warranty
- 1 year
What it won’t do
Every lens has a limit. Better you hear ours now than find it at the bench.
It’s one shade
That’s the trade. You get a lens with nothing to bump and nothing to set — but the number you buy is the number you have. If your work swings all over the place, a fixed lens will fight you.
Hot TIG will flash you
It runs TIG down low and it runs it well — that’s what it’s built for. Turn the amps up and a fixed shade can’t keep ahead of it. If you live on the TIG machine, buy the Vanguard instead.
Arc work only
Stick, MIG, MAG and TIG. It is not for laser and it is not for gas. Pulse welding aluminum or stainless on runs over five minutes, keep the hood at least 18″ off the weld.
Drops straight
into your Phantom
Standard 2″ × 4¼″ cartridge. It sits in the Phantom’s flip frame the way the plate glass does — no tools, no adapter, no trimming.
Same goes for any hood built to take a standard 2″ × 4¼″ lens.
Keep a cover lens in front of it and one behind it. Those are consumables — they take the spatter so the filter doesn’t.
Which one is yours
They’re not a good one and a cheap one. They’re built for two different days.
Frontline
$49.99 · Fixed shadeYou run the same kind of work most days — stick, MIG, TIG down low — and you’d rather have one less thing on the hood to think about.
- Pick 9, 10, 11 or 12
- Nothing to set, nothing to bump
- Solar — no batteries
Vanguard
$110.99 · Variable shadeYour day moves. Stick in the morning, TIG after lunch, grinding in between — and you want the hood to keep up instead of you swapping lenses.
- Variable shade 5–13
- Grind mode and shade lock
- Takes hot TIG without flashing you
Straight answers
Does it need batteries?
No. It runs off two solar cells and charges off shop light, arc light and daylight. There’s nothing to replace and nothing to plug in. If it’s been sitting in a dark toolbox a while, leave it out in strong light for twenty minutes before you strike an arc.
Which shade should I get?
If you don’t have a reason to go either way, take the 10 — it’s what most guys run. Go lighter to a 9 if you struggle to see your puddle. Go to an 11 or 12 if you want more cut, or if you’re newer to the hood and want the safer end.
Will it work for TIG?
At lower amps, yes — it’s built for it. Run TIG hot and a fixed shade can flash you. If TIG is most of what you do, the Vanguard is the right lens.
Will it fit my hood?
If your hood takes a standard 2″ × 4¼″ lens, it fits. That includes every REPCO Phantom. It drops into the flip frame with no tools.
How long does it last?
The filter itself needs no maintenance beyond keeping it clean. What wears out are the clear cover lenses in front of it and behind it — those are consumables. Once they’re pitted or spattered enough that vision suffers, swap them. Don’t run the filter without them.
How do I clean it?
A clean dry cloth, or a soft cloth with pure alcohol. Don’t put it in water — it isn’t waterproof and it won’t work right afterwards. No solvents. Don’t drop it, and don’t set tools on top of it in the hood.
Will it work in the cold?
It’s rated 23°F to 131°F. Below that the switching slows down, so it’s not the lens for an unheated shop in a hard freeze.
What’s the warranty?
One year from the date you buy it, against defects in material and workmanship. It doesn’t cover a lens that’s been dropped, taken apart or misused.
It needs a hood
to live in
The Frontline drops into any Phantom. If you haven’t settled on one yet, they’re all here — every shell and every leather.
Look at the hoods