Flowering time

I'm growing my first auto - I received a freebie from Attitude with my last order - Dinafem Cheese XXL Auto and the growth is amazing. I've been growing for more years than I want to admit, so I know when it's time to harvest. Considering autos flower no matter what the light schedule, when the breeder says 80 days of flowering, when do you start counting? With regular strains I start counting when pistils first appear (I know some people count from the flip) and it comes out close to the time the breeder claims - although I always check the trichs.

Don't go by the times with auto's, my auto took 100 days or so, advertised as 68 to 75 days, it was a trans siberian got 2.6 ounces 1 plant under 180 watts, pretty crap yield but it's good smoke

When I shop for autos on herbies head shop, the breeders say 80 days 'from seed to harvest', not 80 days of flowering.
The latter is how they gauge photoperiod strains.
The other point I wanted to make is that it's dependent on the conditions.
I bought two seeds of the same auto strain, and planted one indoors and one outdoors at the same time.
I harvested the outdoor one today, about 10 days after the recommended time. It probably could have done with a few more days.
But the indoor one? I foolishly used seedling mix potting soil, and it was starved of nitrogen.
It didn't stunt and flower anyway, it stayed in seedling stage.
A couple of weeks ago I dug it up and changed the soil, and it is starting to veg out now, not a pistil on it yet - long after the outdoor specimen began flowering.

Thank you - that's exactly what I wanted to know.