Digital Elite Issues...

[super95awd]

I've been using my Digital Elite for about a year and a half now and it has been a great hood up until the last few weeks. I had recently been having some issues with eye fatigue and couldn't really pinpoint the problem until last night. I noticed that when the lens is darkened, it's very light on the left hand side as well as the upper and lower right hand corners. By light, I mean probably shade 5. Anybody else had this issue? I switched to my passive helmet for now, but it's just not going to cut it for what I normally do. This is all TIG by the way.

[Admin]

Is there a sharp line where the lens transitions from dark to light? If there is a slow transition to a lighter shade in the corner, this is a normal tendency of auto-darkening lenses. All auto-darkening lenses use liquid crystal displays as the darkening mechanism. Liquid crystal's shading will vary depending on what angle you are viewing it at. The lens continuously protects you from the UV/IR rays that cause burns whether the lens is dark or light, so you do not need to worry about protection with angle of view shade variation.

If there is a very crisp and distinct line between the light and dark, then it sounds like there is a crack in one of the pieces of glass in the lens. The lens should be replaced if that is the case and we warranty our lenses for two years from the date of purchase through any Miller Distributor. You would just need to bring your helmet and proof of purchase in to your distributor for the warranty claim. If you do not have your receipt, we will need to go off the serial number of the lens to determine the age and warranty coverage.

Hope that helps. - Eric Sommers

[HeliArc84]

Eric, I had the same thing happen to me. I contacted the salesman, and he said that it was probably cracked, and that it wouldn't be covered. I purchased the digital camo version, but I painted the shell shortly thereafter. I started another thread about this prob 2 weeks ago. PM me, and I would greatly appreciate some help in getting my hood fixed. [I Love the hood]

[super95awd]

Thanks for the reply.

I will say that it is not a super sharp line, but it is fairly distinct and was not like this when I first started using the hood. Also, up until when I finally noticed the issue, I found that I had to keep jumping up a shade higher than I normally ran to maintain comfort. In this period, I went from a shade 10 to 13, and eventually the 13 wasn't enough. I threw my passive hood on (shade 10), and it was darker than the Digital Elite at 13. I will contact Miller to see what they can do for me on warranty. In the mean time, I purchased a Speedglas 9100X locally because I couldn't live without a hood.

[TIGWELDMAN]

Just for the info. I've had my digital elite shield for less than a year now and I've had nothing but problems. I'm getting aluminum metal partical in through the gap on the bottom of the front cover plate so called seal( gap ) also I've never dropped my shield and it's cracking in 2 spots. But the biggest issue is that I've replaced the batteries 5 times. They seam to be draining over the weekend or when off and not in use. And yes I turn it off everytime that I've finished welding with it. Oh by the way my coworker has a performer series shield for 4 years and only changed his batteries once. My response is don't buy the digital elite buy the industrial or any analog shield.

[nfinch86]

Just for the info. I've had my digital elite shield for less than a year now and I've had nothing but problems. I'm getting aluminum metal partical in through the gap on the bottom of the front cover plate so called seal( gap ) also I've never dropped my shield and it's cracking in 2 spots. But the biggest issue is that I've replaced the batteries 5 times. They seam to be draining over the weekend or when off and not in use. And yes I turn it off everytime that I've finished welding with it. Oh by the way my coworker has a performer series shield for 4 years and only changed his batteries once. My response is don't buy the digital elite buy the industrial or any analog shield.

I also bought a Miller Performance Helmet 6 yrs. ago, & I changed the batteries for the first time last year !
I love it , it's my first ever auto- dark welding helmet, I would Never go back to the passive single shade helmet !

......Norm

[thenathiestnow]

Just for the info. I've had my digital elite shield for less than a year now and I've had nothing but problems. I'm getting aluminum metal partical in through the gap on the bottom of the front cover plate so called seal( gap ) also I've never dropped my shield and it's cracking in 2 spots. But the biggest issue is that I've replaced the batteries 5 times. They seam to be draining over the weekend or when off and not in use. And yes I turn it off everytime that I've finished welding with it. Oh by the way my coworker has a performer series shield for 4 years and only changed his batteries once. My response is don't buy the digital elite buy the industrial or any analog shield.

I recently bought a digital performance hood and i used it for three weeks doing some very serious welding. We were running 1/16'' dual shield around 350 amps and weld time was at least five hours a day, between clean up and moving the product. i liked it at first and had no problems at first but by week three I was feeling something odd in my eyes. I'm 25 and have perfect vision, but the hood was making me feel cross eyed. That is the only way i can describe it! i switched back to my speedglas and i had no issues. I really liked the head gear and everything about the hood but the eye issue was really bothering me. Someone at work told me that even some of the new 3m hoods ( like the 9100x) are also giving people who are used to the 9002x problems. I don't know if this helps anyone.

Anyone want to buy a month old digital performance hood?