testing a welding helmet

[JointTech]

I swear my helmet isnt as good as it used to be.
I have a solar powered autodarkening helmet. I dont use it very often.
I no that in the past I had no second thought of looking at the arc while welding.
yesterday I welded something and it seemed way brighter than normal. Almost enough to hurt my eyes. Now it wasnt completely off because I have on many occasions forgotten to switch from grinding setting to darkening and I get the green dot in the eye for the next 15 minutes. Its not that bad now... Just doesnt seem as good as it was.
My sensitivity is almost all the way up. I always use the darkest setting on the side of the helmet and on the insdie control knob. sensitivity is set just enough to not go off when i look towards a lamp.
cig lighter does make it darken but it seems to undarken faster than it used to when ive tested it with a lighter in the past.
again all this is subjective. I dont weld often and just started so dont have much experiance.
anything I can do or test?