Magic Mouse Battery Life: 6 Weeks. Not Good.
I’ve had a Magic Mouse for a few months now, and while I generally like it, I may have happened upon one downside: poor battery life. After the last pair of AAs died, I made a note of the replacement date so I could track how long they lasted upon the next battery change. Well, I just swapped out a new pair, and the length of time: six weeks.
That doesn’t feel very long. In comparison, I changed the batteries on my Logitech mouse literally, once a year, or so infrequently I never thought to track how long they lasted.
It doesn’t seem I’m alone; there’s a MacRumors discussion thread concerning this very issue of short Magic Mouse battery life.
Anyhow, as an informal poll, I’d love to hear from other Apple Magic Mouse users if they’ve experienced similarly short battery life (and any fixes to try). I’m really curious to learn if one of the Magic Mouse’s tricks is making AAs disappear into thin air.
The batteries in my Magic Mouse last for about a month, but I just use rechargeables, so when the old ones die, I just pop in new ones while the old ones charge back up again.
Good suggestion to switch to rechargeable batteries; will pick some up this weekend.
I’m in the same boat as you. My second set of batteries is now down to 38% already. And I’m pretty good about turning my mouse off when I’m not using it. That touch surface must really eat batteries more than the average mouse.
It’s a problem, but honestly, I like the Magic Mouse so much more than any other mouse I’ve tried that I can’t get all that upset about it. Especially once I installed MagicPrefs. The gestures are just too good to pass up.
Definitely like the mouse as well and am not giving it up. Think I’ll go the
rechargeable route as am already feeling guilty tossing all these batteries.
I always hold out some hope that this is a genuine issue which Apple can
fix. But also, knowing how Apple is with these sorts of situations, they
won’t publicly acknowledge anything until they’ve collected a lot of
complaints and have a fix worked out, which could take a while. So
rechargeables it is.
Yeah, that is annoying about Apple. They’ll never admit to a problem unless they really have to.
A firmware fix could improve the situation, I guess. But I won’t hold my breath for it. Rechargeables do sound like a good option, especially since I will soon have two Magic Mice of my own (work and home), plus my girlfriend’s two (work and home). That’s a lot of batteries to replace every six weeks.
Yeah, the Bluetooth Mighty Mouse I bought years ago (and switched away from) ate batteries, too. And it wanted the expensive ones!
My noise-canceling headphones eat two AAA batteries a month, rechargeables sound like a good idea.
Test of a reply comment.
Ended up getting some rechargeable batteries over the weekend — Sanyo Eneloop. So far, so good.
I got 3 weeks from the original batteries supplied with the mouse, I purchased an Apple charger during this time, from the rechargeable ones I get only a week, looks like I will be changing batteries every 7 days, but the keyboard is still showing 100% on the original batteries now over 1 month old (strange)
7 days sounds really short for the Magic Mouse. I have also noticed rechargables last longer in the keyboard.
And at this date, the only trick for extending battery life on the Magic Mouse is turning it off.
I must admit I don’t turn the mouse off, and I only get 7 days from a charge although I use the mouse for about 8 hours a day, its the only issue I have with my new Mac, the rest is outstanding, I suppose it only takes a few seconds to change the batteries and they are on charge waiting, but I thought they would last longer on a charge than 7 days even with the extended use I give them
I use the Magic Mouse with a WIRED keyboard on a MacPro and NEVER turn it off — and the batteries last and last. We also have a Magic Mouse AND wireLESS keyboard on an iMac — and the batteries in the Magic Mouse seem to last only a few weeks or less. (Have gone to rechargeable, but this is only a workaround.) NOTE: the iMac wireless keyboard does not seem to have a battery problem — although the computer is only about a month old (since Christmas) — still on orig batts in keyboard; am on 3rd set in mouse already. I think something is wrong. Will probably call Apple Support.
Same as you– Magic Mouse w/ wired keyboard, Mac Pro 2010. However, I’ve replaced them twice since I got it (when it came out, August 2010), so about 2 1/2 months/set? I’ve only used alkalines, I use them for everything critical. Is this consistent with your experience, because I’ve 2 other usb-dongle style wireless mouses that as the OP I’ve only had to replace like once a year
Mine at home last 6 months+ and it was purchased shortly after the mouse’s release, I had to upgrade my G5 to do it too! However using a new iMac G5 at work and replacing batteries … well last install date was 02/22/11 and I will have to replace them in less than 2 days (getting the warning already)
What is going on with the discrepancy?!
~Andrea
[…] Batteries definitely last longer than the perpetually-hungry Magic Mouse. […]