iPad Pro Refurb 2022 iPad pro w/ 350 cycles vs. New 2022 iPad Pro ?

[OSXphoto]

I am eyeballing a 2022 model iPad Pro 12.9". I ordered a refurb which shows 350 battery charging cycles and barely 85% health. Another store has a new unit in stock for a good price. However this unit has had up to two years of shelf time (although it could also be 6 months).
Which battery is likely to last the longest?

 

[OSXphoto]

Today I took delivery of the 2022 iPad Pro. It came with iOS 16.0 installed.
The battery was totally dead.
I suppose this means that this unit has had two years of shelf life.
I am hesitant to accept this device, because the battery life may have deteriorated considerably during 1 - 1.5 years empty on shelf.

Opinions?

 

[FreakinEurekan]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It's an old iPad. Battery overall life will be impacted by that, but to what degree is anybody's guess.

If the price is right, keep it. If it's not, return it.

 

[dmccombs]

Cant you power it up, do a basic install and check the battery health? Even if it's an ipad where ipados doesn't do Battery Health I think you can load an app Coconut, that will show battery health.

If after doing these things the battery health looks bad, you can do a iPad Reset (wipe), and return the ipad just as it is now. I don't see a downside to doing this.

If the battery is good, then of course you could do a full install/restore of your apps, data, etc.

 

[OSXphoto]

Cant you power it up, do a basic install and check the battery health? Even if it's an ipad where ipados doesn't do Battery Health I think you can load an app Coconut, that will show battery health.

If after doing these things the battery health looks bad, you can do a iPad Reset (wipe), and return the ipad just as it is now. I don't see a downside to doing this.

If the battery is good, then of course you could do a full install/restore of your apps, data, etc.

Yes certainly. I have been monitoring various devices for years using coconut battery.

I charged the new unit to 100% and coconut battery reads 99,2% battery health at 10684 mAh. Sounds reasonably good, but I'm not so confident how reliable a time stamped health number will prove to be in the long run.
I am not a battery expert but I am aware of battery wear due overcharging (80-100%) and also to leaving the battery in the depleted (0-20%) zone, especially long term like in this case. Factory new Apple gear always comes with charged batteries. Unbox and switch on.

I might let the battery percentage drop to 20% and recharge to 100% and then see what CB lists for battery health.

I also did a full restore of apps.

I have a second 2022 iPad Pro at hand (same config except 256GB storage vs 1TB).
Health is 86% at 344 cycles.

I will try a test in which both units run the same 4K YouTube video at high brightness. See what differences I get.

For now I think I'll keep this unit.

 

[OSXphoto]

Deleted

Hi @snipr125, I understand where you're coming from. And I agree that newer software releases sometimes break the vividness of older units.

you mentioned if ipadOS 18 is out and available on old iPads, we don't necessarily need to upgrade. I agree for older iPads. However this is a 2022 model which cannot be called old. It has an M2 chip, just like the "new" M2 iPad Air 2024.
Upgrading my 2015 iPad Air 2 to iPados 15 was a disputable decision. So I will be more careful next time. But this M2 iPad will see a couple more iPadOS updates, probably at least up to iPadOS 22 if we ever get to that count.

 

[OSXphoto]

I will try a test in which both units run the same 4K YouTube video at high brightness. See what differences I get.

So after one hour of playing the same YouTube video i get 82% charge left on the unit. The refurb 344 cycles unit has 76% left. So at least it’s doing a little better.

 

[OSXphoto]

Decided to keep this unit.