I saw that too Jeff. It's only right that they stop selling poorly designed products. Purchasers have no idea that they have a finite life span and will have to be repaired at high cost or thrown away after a number of years. I don't agree that it is entirely dependent on timely replacement of the 9 volt battery. Mine have not been allowed to have a dead battery yet the lithium has gone bad. The shelf life of a lithium battery is something like 7 years so even with no load on it that's about all you can expect. That means that your butt set is only good for 7 years. From the serial number on mine it was manufactured in 2002 so it's right on schedule.

-Hal

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