Poll of the Day > The battery life on the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller is bonkers.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I had been plugging it in after each session, as I'm used to doing so with the PS4 controllers abysmal battery life, and even the Xbone controller I leave plugged in if I'm using it to watch Netflix or something so it doesn't drain the battery.

But I decided I would test out the pro controller. Been playing Ys 8 the last week, and I'm about 34 hours into it. Haven't charged the controller once, and the battery life indicates it's around half? It's probably slightly lower, but I'd be surprised if I don't hit 60 hours of play time before it needs to be charged. Which is at least 10x what I get from the PS4 controller, and probably close to 3x what I get from the Xbone controller.

It's pretty neat.
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I don't think I charged my Pro Controller for the entire duration of my Mario Odyssey playthrough and after like 50 hours of playtime, it still had like 20% battery left. That battery life is pretty insane.
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I can only assume it has newer low power Bluetooth tech
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BT and rumble uses up a lot of power which is why I just don't unplug my DS4 anymore.

the reason the DS4 has like, 6 hour battery life, is because the touchpad is 100% always active.

it's not the light, nor is it the rumble btw, because the light is just a normal low power LED. those do not use very much battery, not enough that it would cause a significant drain on the battery. remember, the x1 controller also has an LED in it, and it lasts considerably longer.

it's the touchpad.
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likehelly posted...

the reason the DS4 has like, 6 hour battery life, is because the touchpad is 100% always active.

it's not the light, nor is it the rumble btw, because the light is just a normal low power LED. those do not use very much battery, not enough that it would cause a significant drain on the battery. remember, the x1 controller also has an LED in it, and it lasts considerably longer.

it's the touchpad.

And about 2 games used it, other than a glorified select button.

Killzone: Shadow Fall and inFamous Second Son.

DS3 had such good battery life, still use it for PC games now and then and never have to charge it
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My steam controller lasts a year and a half of gaming on 2 AA batteries.

What's wrong with the Nintendo Switch controllers?
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I do like the pro controllers battery life. But all the controllers seem to save battery pretty well. I was playing the switch while out this week. Even when I switch's battery life got down to like 20%, the controllers were over 75% at least. Which makes sense because it you have the switch in the docking station, the controllers should still be able to last for a decent amount of time.
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The WiiU Pro controller would get like 80 hours off of a single charge, and I could count on my fingers the number of times I've changed a Wavebird's batteries. Wiimotes are another story, and I find they horribly drain batteries even when they aren't in use, but those aside, Nintendo's controllers have generally been pretty good for battery life.

SinisterSlay posted...

My steam controller lasts a year and a half of gaming on 2 AA batteries.

What's wrong with the Nintendo Switch controllers?

If you aren't subjecting them to particularly high discharge rates, non-rechargeable batteries tend to last longer than rechargeable ones, especially in the case of lithium ion (which are used because they're small and lightweight; they're actually pretty bad as far as raw capacity goes).
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TheWorstPoster posted...

likehelly posted...

the reason the DS4 has like, 6 hour battery life, is because the touchpad is 100% always active.

it's not the light, nor is it the rumble btw, because the light is just a normal low power LED. those do not use very much battery, not enough that it would cause a significant drain on the battery. remember, the x1 controller also has an LED in it, and it lasts considerably longer.

it's the touchpad.

And about 2 games used it, other than a glorified select button.

Killzone: Shadow Fall and inFamous Second Son.

Witcher 3 utilizes touchpad functionality as well.

The switch pro pad is pretty great for battery, the wii u pad was even better. Too bad the switch itself doesn't last very long without a charge.

Archgoat posted...

Witcher 3 utilizes touchpad functionality as well.

If you're not playing Witcher 3 on PC, you're doing it wrong.

Witcher 2 saves are carried over into 3, and Witcher 1 saves are carried over into 2, as well as the entire series being far more coherent in plotline anyway with all three games.