In my opinion a hood is a consumable. It will melt, get burned, take abuse etc. A huntsman(my personal choice) cost $20 to $30 bucks. So I just replace it when needed.
I say this because in the world of auto-dark lenses, you get what you pay for. And in order to get a great auto lens you will most likely need to get a 4"x5" view area hood.
I have tried a few auto lenses in the $200 range such as Miller, Hobart, Xulux. Everyone eventually developed glitches, wouldn't charge anymore(solar) and eventually stopped working. I decided to try one last time and buy a more expensive unit, the Jackson NexGen. It has not glitched, or cut out, or failed me once. I really like it because it has no knobs sticking out to get bumped or damaged. The batteries lasted me 6 months with a lot of welding. It also has 4 sensors instead of 2 which is nice if part of your view gets cut off like in a tight place it won't switch to the light state. You can find them new on e-bay for about $280 with a helmet I believe.
Another lense I heard was good but have not tried is the Huntsman 1105VXL 4X4 it also has 4 sensors. They are probably both equal in performance, I just like the touch pad and digital readout on the NexGen.
Good Luck