That's only sort of true OF (sorry to be picky) ... but following your logic, the odds of having a defective Ascent if one has never gotten one, is 1 in 10 ... the odds of getting 3 in a row if one has never gotten one before is, as you stated, 1 in 1000, however, once one has received 2 defective Ascents, the odds of the 3rd one being defective is still 1 in 10 if the defect rate is 10% (not saying that it is ... pretty sure its lower than that)I've already told you that many guys have reported seeing this. All 'read low'. It's the reason I abandoned my Pyrometers and went to the extra trouble of T/C gauges. I know that's not the answer you wanted, but it's the truth. That's how science works here I think.
As long as we're on sore subjects, in a "population" (I think the correct statistical term) where most of the customers are happy with their initial unit, what are the chances of one guy getting 3 defective ones in a row in a random draw? Very small. If say one it 10 is bad, the chance of 3 in a row is 1 in a thousand. Statistics says to look elsewhere......unless someone doesn't like you and is picking out 'special ' ones?
Anyway, perhaps a more enlightening question to ask might be "has anyone ever got what they think is an accurate reading on a vape with their IR thermometer?" So, let me ask it, has anyone? Any vape? Under what conditions.
I honestly think low temperature is not your problem, for sure no way 3 times in a row. I has to be somewhere else.
Good luck with it, but as the saying goes, "I think you're barking up the wrong tree" here.
OF
Gamblers fallacy ... your odds don't go up as you keep playing ... they are the exact same on every roll and all prior rolls have no impact on the current one ...
My Ascent just died, so I can't give hwl83 a comparison, but if it hadn't died I could have given him a comparison value, although not an accurate value (and thank you for your education on emissivity ... very enlightening as far as interpreting your readings)