Blue Tooth battery life???

[joshwest]

I recentley picked up a Brand New iMac G5 20" and was wanting to stream line it with the BT Keyboard and Mouse, but i was curious what was the battery life with regular use?

 

[finalcoolman]

Keyboard lasts a looong time, like half a year. The mouse is a different story though, like about a month or two depending on how you use it. From what I understabd the Energizer Lithium batteries (the ones that come with the mouse originally) last the absolute longest however thay also are pricey.

 

[ohcrap]

I don't have the keyboard, just the mouse. Going on 3 months now without a single change in the battery life meter. I'm told that when the meter begins to move, it moves fast, but 3 months and counting without any movement so I'm very happy with it.

 

[joshwest]

I know how apple likes to streamline all their products BUT i wish they would adapt some sort of charger for the mouse and keyboard, so you wouldnt have to replace the battery so often. Maybe they are adapting that to the Mighty Mouse BT and maybe a Mighty Keyboard is in the works

 

[anterior]

yeah.. my BT keyboard is going on a year now. The mouse batteries only lasted a couple of weeks at best. The biggest dissapointment w/ my new iMac and the BT mouse was that.. most of the time, the batteries just died quickly w/ no warning... hopefully not in the middle of something important. Then, when you replace the batteries... the iMac wouldn't recognize (see) the mouse until I rebooted the machine. Since i didn't know the keyboard shortcuts... I always had to do a hard reboot. Frustrating.

-B

 

[mackster17]

I have the BT mouse and am very impressed with the battery life, I've had it about 4 months now with no movement on the charge bar. However I always turn it off when i'm not using it so that helps and isn't too much hassle to do.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

yeah.. my BT keyboard is going on a year now. The mouse batteries only lasted a couple of weeks at best. The biggest dissapointment w/ my new iMac and the BT mouse was that.. most of the time, the batteries just died quickly w/ no warning... hopefully not in the middle of something important. Then, when you replace the batteries... the iMac wouldn't recognize (see) the mouse until I rebooted the machine. Since i didn't know the keyboard shortcuts... I always had to do a hard reboot. Frustrating.

-B

Thanks for the tip. I have the low battery light coming on after just under a month. Was going to wait it out, but now I won't.

 

[AstrosFan]

Then, when you replace the batteries... the iMac wouldn't recognize (see) the mouse until I rebooted the machine. Since i didn't know the keyboard shortcuts... I always had to do a hard reboot. Frustrating.

To answer the original question, I have gotten ~4 months on non-rechargeable batteries in the mouse & keyboard (probably average 1-2 hours use/day). One habit I have gotten into is turning the mouse off - I'm not sure if this has extended battery life or not.
I personally find the wireless capability to be quite nice & would definitely recommend getting it. I have since changed to rechargeable batteries & feel like there's really no downside.

For anterior, I keep a cheap corded mouse in my desk drawer - if I ever run into the scenario where the iMac doesn't recognize the BT mouse, just pop in the USB mouse & set up the BT mouse again. It prevents you from having to reboot & lose what you're doing.

Good luck!