"Do You Think The Software In My Welding Hat Needs Updating?"

  Yesterday, I put on my PPE for welding* and promptly flashed myself.  This isn't supposed to be possible, because it's an auto hat, and it has a low battery warning.  Well, I never saw the LED blink, but the battery did go dead, and thank Ghu I was tacking .124" strap together, so intensity & flux were low; it was very unlikely to have done any permanent damage.

The Culprit (cuz it's not MY fault I ran the battery down, er, wait-

  But I was annoyed.  I had just used the hat a few weeks ago, it functioned perfectly as always, and I did not see (notice?) the red 'Batt Lo' LED blink at the time. 

 But I haz a theory, to wit: I have the sensitivity turned up as high as is practical.  Any higher and just moving my head around can trigger the lens.  And I left it out of its black bag for weeks.  Between turning lights on and off and just moving around the dirty end of the shop, I probably triggered the lens (which draws current from the battery) many many times without realizing it.  Solution: put it back in the black bag when not in use, or put it in Grinding Mode so it won't trigger. 

(when it's in grinding mode, there's a blinking
LED to remind you not to weld-
wait, will that run the battery down too?
**sigh**)

 I'll bet it says something about storage in the manual, not that I ever read it, because I am a man's manly man, yes I am.  So I'll dig it out and read it after I post this.  Hey, at least I save manuals and I know right where it is.

 I do wonder why they don't have an on/off switch.  Oh wait, no I don't - because someone would forget to turn it on, and then expect the manufacturer to make them and their heirs and assigns wealthy for the next three generations because they got a few tiny pinholes drilled in their retina.  Silly me.  I sometimes forget I live in Litigatia.

 None of this idiocy on my part should be construed as a dig against that Viking lens.  In some ways (like color rendition, which doesn't matter much to me), it is better than looking through a 3M SpeedGlas™ lens.  It is just as fast.  The SpeedGlas™ lenses are also very nice tho.

 Both brands are crazy-fast, if adjusted well, you never see a hint of arc; the tiny park from a 9V battery is enough to darken the lens.  And you can adjust how long it stays dark if the arc extinguishes.

 Don't buy Chinese auto hats (hell, I wouldn't even trust the glass / shade in a passive hat from China) when it's your eyes on the line - ask me how I know this.  And the large lenses are oh so worth it.

 I am seeing batshit insane prices for these things right now.  The basic hat that came with the welder was really messing up my neck (IYKYK), so I picked up a Chinesium auto hat from HF for $40 and was worth less than that.  The next one was the Viking I have now.  I paid $240 but I'm not sure when.  I think I've  had it more than ten years not sure.  Anyway, the exact same model is $425 street price, or over $700 from The Welding Store (LOL).

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* In this, and since I started casually learning to weld around 1985 up to now, I have gone from casual (gloves and a mask) to ATGAT philosophy.  I've also gone from passive mask through Chinesium auto, to Viking/Lincoln auto.