[scorpian007]

Hi,
Just running my own battery tests on the Zen Micro and I thought I'd share my initial results on my first test. More tests are to come and will be posted as I get time to do them (maybe after exams are over

). I've also posted this on the Creative forums.

TEST 1:
-------
Battery was fully charged before running each test. Backlight was turned off, EQ was off, SVM was off, player was set to repeat all, volume level at 22. Player was playing continuously throughout this test with no interruption to the player at all. I've had my Zen Micro since the end of January and am using the battery that came with it.

Firmware: 1.10.02
Album: Camel - Rajaz
Bitrate: 128Kbit CBR
File Format: MP3
Time at 3 bars: 00:00:00
Time at 2 bars: 02:28:51
Time at 1 bars: 06:04:31
Time at 0 bars: 10:41:05
Time at low battery indicator: 12:30:25

After the first bar dropped off at 2:28:51, I didn't think the player would last more than 10 hours, but surprisingly the time at 2 bars and 1 bar was very long and it ended up playing much longer than I expected! (It was about 1-2am when the player completely stopped, I was so tired

). So looks like Creatives claims aren't dodgy at all when you have the same options set as I did.

I changed the firmware back to the original 1.02.05 because of the battery drain anomaly when in sleep mode with the firmware version 1.10.02. I haven't performed my second test yet but I'll be using the same settings as test ones with changed in these variables:

Test 2 (yet to be completed):
Firmware: 1.02.05
Album: Opeth - Damnation
Bitrate: 192Kbit CBR
File Format: MP3
Time at 3 bars: 00:00:00
Time at 2 bars: 00:00:00
Time at 1 bars: 00:00:00
Time at 0 bars: 00:00:00
Time at low battery indicator: 00:00:00

I'll keep you guys posted!

 

[rockit]

can u try it with the backlight on please? i think the majority of poeple use the backlight. thanks!

 

[gloco]

I'm sure the battery life will drop as you increase bit rates. Try using vbr, which most people do.

Thanks for taking the time to perform this test and sharing your results though!

 

[scorpian007]

Yep, I'll be trying it with different types of situations. I'll definately try VBR as a majority of my MP3s are in VBR. I'll also try it with 5 sec backlight and I'll see if I can measure the time while I'm using it in the real world (might be tricky though

)

 

[azncookiecutter]

Any updates on these tests? Very interested, as I am looking in acciuring one of these players.

 

[scorpian007]

"Soon", I've been using my player a lot lately and been working a lot since the Uni break started so I havent had much time. But I'll have them up soon-ish (next week hopefully).

 

[Tech2]

My test findings were much the same. Same settings using 128 CBR (ugh) and 192 CBR mp3s, my battery lasted 10-12 hours. The only difference was that I had set the volume at a more typical listening level.

 

[CaptainChet]

As a Zen Micro user, thanks for posting this. I'll look forward to your updates.

I'm running the 1.10.02 firmware. Should I upgrade to something else?

 

[pretzelb]

Thanks for sharing. I was worried when I first got my Micro because it seemed like the indicator went down quickly. I didn't test like you but I think the life is pretty good but the indicator makes you think it's shorter than it is. For example, I can get a lot of use when it's on it's last bar, which typically tells me that it's about to run out. I should test this too.