I've also been welding today. With the Geminis, they're great. I'm using 2.0mm rods on 2.6mm wall material 20NB pipe at 55A.

From what I remember, I didn't mind the Satincraft. Some people on here don't like them. I also don't mind the Ferrocraft XP, had some good results with them. But Geminis are good in all positions and cheap so I'll stick with them. They leave a good bead behind too.

The helmet I use is the Miller Digital Elite. If you import it from the US it's about $350. Almost double that locally. If I broke it, I'd order another straight away. The features it has makes it perfect for me. I.e. it never fails to darken, works outside in sunlight (where I do most of my welding), has heaps of adjustments and has four sensors so it triggers reliably.

Everyone's got their favourite brand/model. Some of the Speedglas ones go upwards of $1k. Some of the cheaper ones, well personally from what I've read are not worth the $.

Good helmets cost a lot, but welding/metalwork is an expensive hobby. Eyes are fairly important too.

To put it in perspective, I bought a tig torch and assorted peripherals a couple of months ago and it cost me over $500. On top of the blue American machine they're attached to, I don't even want to think about it.

Another thing this forum is good for is if you want feedback on your welds, you can post pics and the experts will give you tips. For me, it's all about angles and arc length. A few degrees, a few millimetres makes a world of difference and are the main factors between success and failure. Amps are important too, but I can deal with a relatively wide range. E.g. a few months ago I started a new weld and straight away noticed it was much hotter but I finished the ~100mm run anyway, just moving faster and on the verge of blowing through. Afterwards I noticed I'd bumped the dial when moving the machine and it had gone from ~70A to over 90A. Luckily it was a fillet in 3.0mm so it was more forgiving than some joins.

Some tips (that I keep repeating):

- to make it easier to restart rods, I used to use a piece of scrap that I'd clamp next to the weld. It works great, just scratch along the scrap, slag gets knocked off and while still hot transfer to the job.
- I got bored of always moving the scrap so picked up another tip off the forum - use a cheap file and just scratch the old rod on it to knock off the slag. Then every single restart is as easy as a brand new rod.
- A piece of 90mm PVC pipe cut to length with a screw cap glued on the end makes a great airtight container for rods. Fits a 5kg box or a 2.5kg box no problem. You can write what the rods are with a permanent marker. I've got about half a dozen of them in the shed.
- clean the job. It makes it easier. Flap wheels on a grinder work best for me. Most of the time I don't do this on the duragal/supagal I weld but you can tell when it affects the weld characteristics.
- don't breathe in zinc fumes.
- use your brain. When something goes wrong, ask yourself why and you'll continually improve.

All tips off this forum, not mine.