Vanguard - Welding Lens
Vanguard - Welding Lens
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One lens for
the whole day.
Stick in the morning. TIG after lunch. Grinding in between. The Vanguard covers all of it without you pulling a lens out of the frame.
Shade 5 through 13 on a button. Grind mode drops it to a 3 so you can chase a weld with a wheel and never flip up. Lock it where you like it and it stays there.
It sets its own power on and off. There's nothing to switch and nothing to plug in.
- Shade
- 5–13Plus grind at 3.
- Size
- 2″ × 4¼″Standard cartridge.
- Power
- SolarNothing to plug in.
Two arcs,
through the same lens
Filler rod feeding in, the puddle staying tight, and the finished bead trailing behind it. Almost no smoke to look through on this one — you can follow the edge of the puddle the whole way.
Same lens, different day. Heavy smoke, hot puddle, slag rolling off behind the rod. At the end the arc stops and you can watch the lens drop back to clear.
Both shot straight through the lens on a phone. No filter, no color grade. Worth saying plainly: a phone sensor blows out an arc far worse than your eye does, so the real thing reads sharper than either of these.
Five buttons.
That’s the whole thing.
All of it lives on the strip across the top of the lens, inside the hood where you can reach it with a glove on.
Steps through 5, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13. A green light shows the one you're on, then goes out.
Drops the lens to a shade 3 so you can grind without flipping the hood up. It won't darken on an arc in this mode.
Press and hold SHADE to lock the number you're on, so it can't get knocked off in the truck or on the rack.
How long it stays dark after the arc stops — short is 0.2 seconds, long is 0.6. Run long on hot work so the glow doesn't catch you.
Low or high, for how easily it triggers. Turn it up for low-amp TIG, down if a neighbor's arc keeps setting it off.
The numbers
- Type
- Variable-shade auto-darkening filter
- Dark shade
- 5 and 9–13
- Grind mode
- Shade 3
- Clear shade
- 3
- Viewing area
- 97 × 37 mm
- Cartridge size
- 108 × 50.8 × 5 mm (2″ × 4¼″)
- Power
- Solar — fully automatic on/off
- Arc sensors
- 2
- Sensitivity
- Low / high
- Delay
- 0.2 s / 0.6 s
- TIG rating
- Down to 5 A
- Runs
- Stick · MIG/MAG · TIG · plasma arc · carbon arc
- Does not run
- Laser welding or cutting
- Operating range
- 23°F to 131°F
- Storage range
- −4°F to 158°F
- Marked
- ANSI Z87.1 · CSA Z94.3
- Warranty
- 1 year
What it won’t do
Same deal as the other one. Better you hear it here than at the bench.
It’s more to get wrong
Five settings means five things to have set badly. If you weld the same job at the same amps every day and never touch a dial, you're paying $61 for range you won't use. The Frontline does that job.
Arc work only
Stick, MIG, MAG, TIG, plasma and carbon arc. It is not for laser welding or laser cutting. Grind mode is for grinding — it will not darken on an arc while it's in there.
It doesn’t like the cold
Rated down to 23°F. Below that the switching slows, and slow switching is the thing you feel in your eyes. It isn't the lens for an unheated shop in a hard freeze.
Drops straight
into your Phantom
Same 2″ × 4¼″ cartridge every standard hood takes. It sits in the Phantom's flip frame with no tools, no adapter and no trimming.
The control strip ends up along the top edge, inside the hood, where you can thumb it without taking the hood off your face.
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.
Vanguard
$110.99 · Variable shadeYour day moves. Different processes, different amps, grinding in between — and you want the hood to keep up instead of you swapping lenses.
- Shade 5–13 on a button
- Grind mode and shade lock
- Triggers down to 5 A on TIG
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
Straight answers
Does it need batteries?
No. It's solar — it charges off shop light, arc light and daylight, and there's nothing for you to plug in or swap out. If it's been shut in a dark toolbox for a while, sit it in strong light before you strike an arc.
What shade should I run?
That's the point of this one — you don't have to decide up front. Start around a 10 or 11 for general stick work and move it until your puddle looks right. If you find you never change it, the Frontline would have done the job for less.
Is it good for TIG?
It's rated to trigger down to 5 amps, which is the part that matters on TIG — low current is where a lens either catches the arc or doesn't. Turn sensitivity to high when you're down there.
Can I grind with it on?
Yes. Grind mode holds the lens at a shade 3 so you can see what you're doing without flipping the hood up. Just remember to take it back out of grind mode before you strike an arc — it won't darken while it's in there.
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.
What if the electronics fail?
The filter still blocks UV and IR at the level of a shade 13 even if the switching stops working. You'd notice it's stuck and stop using it — but a failure doesn't leave your eyes unprotected.
How long does it last?
The maker recommends three years of use and no more than five, depending on how hard you run it and how it's stored. Inspect it regularly and replace it if it's cracked, pitted or scratched. The clear cover lenses in front and behind are consumables — swap those whenever they get bad enough to hurt your view.
How do I clean it?
A clean lint-free cloth or tissue. Don't put it in water and don't use solvents. If it's flickering or not darkening, nine times out of ten the sensors are covered in spatter — wipe them first before you assume it's broken.
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 Vanguard 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