[mehavey]

I have several old verniers (now comparatively a PITA, but what the heck...)

I also have an old Do-All digital from the early `80s which has been used/abused/BAT
compartment held on by tape -- and it still works fine (flashes screwy w/ the BAT starts dieing/-
but accurate even up to that point]

I have a semi-high dollar Starret digital which is great [has the 'wake' feature UncleNick speaks
of but doesn't seem to drain the battery]

And I have a Frankfort Arsenal which stays in the gunbox and goes everywhere/does
everything and gets subjected to freezing temps continually. THAT battery likes to rapidly die
off over a year of so [constant low temps and wake feature not real compatible?] but
in that case the screen contrast gradually dies off/not screwy. I just carry a couple extra [LR44?]
batteries in the gunbox. Given that, `works fine.