Ya for sure I would give out only the most generic info. But letting folks know your a new welder vs say someone that claims to weld for 10 years but really just been heating up metal for years with a accident waiting to happen kinda gets the advice a bit more tailored. Or if you work at a OSHA inspected shop someone might say hey make them pay for this such and such helmet it got the best filter and fan on the market but it is 5k+
This is a link to a cheap helmet Yes Welder 2.0 ha.. yeah you can guess where it is made but I brought it for a cheap helmet for someone to use if they came to my house and I was welding something and knew they might drop it or have in my truck to go weld on farm equipment and not worry about it going missing.
I actually really like it (non production use). Larger screen (they make larger ones and multi sided one) clear view (for the price point). Most folks new and old have been caught doing the safety squints while grinding but having a helmet on hand with a grind mode is really good for anyone but also for a beginner as it does make it easy to switch to grind and have a full face shield for when life happens and something smacks you in the face. Or that new guy who does not know which way to have the grinder wheel facing to not throw sparks in their face or next guy over station. The grind mode is a tiny bit darker then no hood think it is shade 4. But still clear view vs green. You will forget a time or two to turn it from grind to weld and flash yourself though but still better then an auto darken only and you take the grinder guard off to get some tight spot and the wheel explode on you with nothing but the good old safety squints. Tons of models out there but a true color view can be really helpful and maybe your shop teacher does not know they exist or does not know that his limited school budget can get a decent hobby level one for 50+ dollars vs 1k
Being in highschool or just a new welder yeah I would recommend a name brand welder to get a higher duty cycle machine that will last your lifetime but your talking pretty serious money. The low end harbor freight or other cheap machines can make a decent weld with lower duty cycle but decent enough for non production use and with new skills not like your welding life or death welds with it. But I would say you will see a big difference running a name brand Lincoln or what ever mig wire in a 80 dollar harbor freight machine vs what consumables they give with it. (Unless that changed a lot over the years) which truly some of their stuff is getting a bit higher end and sometimes more expensive then a name brand old trustworthy tool. As they got atleast 5 "sale prices" for each item in the store.