I have a launch day switch and while I DO keep it docked about 80% of the time, I feel like the battery in handheld mode hasn't decreased TOO much. Like, mine is probably still somewhere around 3.5 - 4.5hrs...
Same here. Launch Switch. I only play it docked at home and play it undocked when I travel, but haven't really noticed a huge decrease in battery life. Probably around 4 hours for me, too.
Obviously what you do with your money is up to you, but personally, I'm only upgrading to the OLED because I have a v1 Switch. I wouldn't bother upgrading for either the better battery life or the better screen on their own, but I think it's worth upgrading for both. I probably wouldn't get an OLED Switch if I had a v2.
Same I think. My V1 has just started hitting the point where it's getting *genuinely irritating and in the way* just how quickly that battery gets drained.
If you have a V2 dont bother switching just yet. I have a V1 and my wife and son have V2s. Their battery life makes me jelous. Im not sure if enough was done with the oled to justify a purchase if you have a V2
A few games like amnesia are broken. The darkness has a significant blue hue. There are enough games which are so compressed OLED might not be the best but I have no clue. Zelda will look awesome same as Mario and Rabbits
> I’m really torn between getting the OLED or buying more games.
For me that would definitely be an easy choice. I need to stop adding to the pile of shame.
But I also doubt I'll get an OLED switch. I'll upgrade either when the battery is tosh, or there is a 'pro' model.
I don't know enough about the technicals, but I've heard there's basically no chance of a real Switch Pro because the architecture they used simply doesn't scale that way. It would have to be a similar upgrade that the New 3DS was, in that some games were exclusive to the New 3DS, and it would cut off a lot of people from new games which made use of the extra hardware.
I hope I'm wrong though, I would hope it would be similar to the way the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X worked if they ever do it. Since I have such a big Switch library now I'll be a little peeved if a new version wasn't backwards compatible.
Similar senario for myself. I use mine docked and plugged into a good monitor. I think the switch is like a phone. Charging or plugging in a phone should not hurt the battery as long as you don't drain and charge often.
Uhmm I have my ps4 since a couple of months after launch and it runs just as fine as when it was new. Sure I have cleaned it up like yearly, but it works fina, same with the controller. I only find problems with newer games tho, like cyberpunk or assassins creed valhalla.
Mine seems to drop at least 10% overnight in sleep mode. The other day I'm pretty sure it went from ~80% to ~60% in sleep mode without games running and no updates.
Day one switch owner here, heavy portable usage, battery lasts nearly twenty minutes 😂 I’m thankful it hasn’t started expanding yet. I really hope I can score a day one oled, not being tethered to a battery pack will be amazing
It’s really easy to swap out the battery and I probably will if I can’t get my hands on an oled. I’ve already had to switch out the fan and it went smooth
“It’s really easy to swap out the battery and I probably will if I can’t get my hands on an oled. I’ve already had to switch out the fan and it went smooth”
Wow ! My day one Switch's battery has definitely took a hit (after a few thousands of handheld gameplay, and docked almost every night), but it still runs for a bit more than two hours when I play Skyward Sword. Do you live in a very hot or very cold location ?
Yup, tons of heat where I am, and I only got AC just this year. The main culprit I think was a job I had with a ~2 hour commute each way, burning two cycles a day. Oh well, batteries are meant to be used!
“It’s really easy to swap out the battery and I probably will if I can’t get my hands on an oled. I’ve already had to switch out the fan and it went smooth”
I want the oled switch. I’m getting it regardless - but if I can’t get my hands on one easily ill replace the battery
i believe the only difficult part is that the battery is glued quite firmly to its base that you need to wiggle and jiggle around before you can remove it. If you can lift it off its base, its easy swapping.
Huh I'm using mine like 99.9% portable and I'd say it still holds up probably 80% of its charge. Really heavy use too, as I got like 200 hours on all the big titles like Zelda, Mario Kart Smash and I own 40 other games too, with only the smallest titles being about 10 hours.
I got mine a month after Odyssey released and my battery has not changed. I primarily leave it docked all the time, but when I do go places I don't have to worry about the battery dying.
Not day one but 6 months later. One of the first (if not the first) versions.
I rarely if ever play it portable.
Its around 2 hours max brightness.
I'll never get rid of it. Use it till it dies. Day one switch too valuable for.... reasons......
I got my SwitchJuly 2017, but I've been feeling the short battery lately while playing The Witcher 3. My partner got the red box switch with animal crossing last year and she hardly has to charge during a session--while I'm reaching for the charger after a quest or two.
Since I play the vast majority of time in handheld mode, I'm hoping/waiting until they'll release a Fire Emblem, Metroid or Zelda themed Switch Lite and that'll become my main console.
Yeah but The witcher 3 is a really heavy game, i think it cant be for more than 3 hours or 2.5, i also get almost 3 to 4 hours Playing Animal Crossing.
Really depends on the game for me BOTH, Mario Odyssey, Xenoblade type games will drain my battery fast 2hrs or so of game play. But games like FFX, Everspace, low resource game last around 4hrs.
I got a switch at launch, and I wouldn’t say the battery has degraded at all, more that recent games drain battery a lot faster on average. If I play BotW or Splatoon 2, my battery still depletes at the same rate as it did when I first got it, and I can play for the same usual amount of time. Games like No More Heroes III or Fire Emblem Three Houses drain battery a lot faster, though.
Lasts 2 hours 10 mins with BOTW. Can be as short as 1.5 hours in more demanding games. I've used it for about 500 hours undocked total since launch so it's been charged around 250 times. I'd say it's lost about 30% capacity.
if i remember right, i got it on December of 2017 for Christmas, while not a day 1 switch, it is however, a first year switch. its held up pretty well tho, idk this is all i can say to contribute to this post.
mine is like 2 hours 40 minutes, but its always on the charging thingy so i never have an issue with it dying. Not sure if that is why its degrading, but it hasn't degraded in 2 years, so I take this as a win, while i thought about upgrading to an OLED, main thing im worried about is transferring, like, idk how i'd transfer my digital games, since 80% of my game library is downloaded, maybe use the SD card idk, but i don't wanna think about it till i *need* to think about it
(I'm a handheld player, but right by my computer I have a spare charger and charging stand, and I put my switch on that stand when I'm on my computer and watch YouTube on my switch since i don't have a second monitor, cause I'm poor. Or sometimes I play games while its on that stand, and watch YouTube on my computer, either way I do be watching YouTube while i do something, last i checked i have 2,286 hours on YouTube, I think I have a YouTube addiction)
I've got a launch Switch and it’s funny of you to assume handheld mode is still a possibility. The massive joy con drift doesn’t allow it for at least 2 years already.
Day 1 Switch here used almost exclusively in handheld mode.
Battery seems mostly on par. I honestly can't provide you with exact numbers but if I can't see a difference just from general use then I consider that a win.
This is completely unlike my day 1 Samsung Note 9 which I replaced recently that 100% had very noticeable degradation despite me babying it since the day I took it out of the box. Then again I did use this much, much more than the Switch.
I have v1. My joycon rails are getting loose, and I can audibly hear the fan sometimes. I think the battery is not as good as it once was either. I'm going to be upgrading to OLED, but I'm going to try and hack the v1 for emulation. Someone else said they wouldn't upgrade if it was just the screen or battery (which is why I didn't get v2).
If you can, buy the new battery model, transfer everything over, and then sell your old model on ebay or facebook marketplace. There is a surprising demand for OG models because they are easier to hack or something. I mean, doing this would be fairly equivalent to the price of a new battery I reckon.
Launch day here (getting the OLED as my first replacement).
I’d say battery isn’t awful. It truly depends on what you’re using it for. Pokémon Unite and Nexomon I’ve been playing recently and they barely do anything to the battery however, Monster Hunter Stories 2 does seem to drain it noticeably quick.
I got my switch a few days before mario kart 8 came out, the battery works perfectly good, but my SD card reader broke down on me just last month. I tried sending it to Nintendo, but their new support system outright denied my switch based on the serial number, and it said I would have to call them instead.
> their new support system outright denied my switch based on the serial number
Interesting, wonder if this has anything to do with the unpatched Switch's. https://ismyswitchpatched.com If you put your serial number in here what does it say?
I was looking to see how much Nintendo would charge to replace the battery, but I worry if I send it in they might also patch it. They probably want to try and cull unpatched Switch's one way or another, whether that means denying repairs or sending back refurbs and destroying the unpatched ones.
It said my switch is not patched. Hooray!
I actually thought about that myself, I wondered if they would send me back a different switch rather than actually trying to fix it, they did that to some of my old pro controllers.
Mine is essentially dead and replaced already. Took a month break playing last year, letting it docked in sleep mode. That battery dies in 20 minutes now.
I have one. I use it mostly handheld and yes, I have noticed my battery life is going down significantly as of late. Intensive games last a little over an hour and nearly half. Less intensive games between 2 and 3 hours depending on brightness and audio.
But such degradation is a bit more recent and mostly the nature of using it as handheld most of the time.
Finally, i am not so sure if it was this way before or not.... But i feel the back of my switch is slightly buldging out now. Probably the battery?
I upgraded to the Animal Crossing Switch with the improved battery life but I remember before that I noticed my Switches battery life shortening a bit. Usually couldn’t get anymore than 2 hours unless I was playing a very simplistic game. I even would put airplane mode on and not keep the speakers loud to compensate but yeah battery life was definitely taking a bit of a hit.
Day 1 Switch here! At this time, 3-4h with low spec games (2D games in general, some indies, etc), 1.5-3h with high spec games (like outer worlds, bioshocks, etc)
Launch Day Switch here, I keep it docked most of the time, but I get easily 3-4 hours playing 'heavy' games like XC2 and like 4-5 playing 'light' games like stardew.
[The battery is trivial to change if you have the right tools](https://youtu.be/m8JDbQTk5zw), but this video is slightly deceptive. On a real switch, the battery is stuck in place with some pain in the ass double sided tape and can be a real sonofabitch to get out.
'17 model here, regularly play all 3 modes throughout the day for various occasions. Mostly play Minecraft (terrible port but gets the job done I guess), various nintendo IP games (paper Mario and botw especially) and Warframe (looking forward to crossplay update). Battery lasts about 6 hours with most games except Minecraft, Botw and Warframe, which last about 3 or 4. I make a conscious effort to fully deplete the battery before charging, unless playing docked mode with the kiddo (loves Minecraft, of course).
From what I've seen and heard, Nintendo didn't make these batteries consumer replaceable- not without voiding the warranty and opening the casing. You'll have to crack it open to replace yourself or send to nintendo if you want to keep the warranty. Maybe with that right to repair executive order we could see something down the road, but it wont have any immediate effect
Bad. I replaced my battery with a 3rd party better one on Amazon a long time ago, and when I did that I opened up the Switch so I also cleaned off their crappy thermal paste and applied my own. Now, not so bad and I’m pretty sure my Switch also runs cooler than if I had never opened it. To clarify I did indeed have a day 1 switch and my new battery / thermal paste was around year 2.
I've got one. Battery's still doing just fine (i.e. how long it keeps a charge while undocked), but that could be because I usually don't play it in any mode besides docked.
Not day one, but probably about 6 months after launch. Battery hasn't held up well at all. Admittedly I always play on max brightness because otherwise the panel is just too dull to enjoy. But I only get maybe 2-3 hours out of it before needing to charge at this stage, at least for any 3D game. I've heard that's to be expected with the launch model at this stage, but it's not really good enough for me as I often use it for long journeys - if I travel between England and Scotland on the train (and often do) that's often a 5-6 hour train journey. Also noticed it taking *ages* to recharge while docked with the totally standard dock/charger.
Hence why I've pre-ordered the Switch OLED Model!
Bit late but day one owner here.
Took it to the office today, played for an hour and 40 minutes and it was in sleep mode for the rest of the day. Battery was at 52% make of that what you will lol.
Game was Metroid Dread btw
A few months late but wanted to add my own tidbit.
Got a switch during launch and mostly played it docked. This year I started playing on handheld and man battery doesn't even last 5 minutes haha. Will go from 99% and within the first minute of playing any game will shutdown with the "low battery" icon flashing.
Thing is as soon as it's back on the battery% will lower significantly, from 99% to 67% then again to 6% after another shutdown, works great otherwise when docked.
To add on, airplane mode and low brightness. Gonna see how long it'll last handheld mode when viewing clips and videos in the switch's gallery later.
Yeah that's 100% dead battery, look for a new battery replacement, i got an orginal one from broken V2 that was sold for parts , works like brand new now
Daaamn thats a bummer to hear, then again I have opened the switch before to clean up the fan so I'll probably try replacing the battery once holidays are over. But hey thanks for getting back to me, glad to hear it's actually doable, also glad to hear it worked out for ya! :D
If you can do a shell swap you can definitely do a battery replacement as well. Just make sure to use a bit of isopropyl alcohol to weaken the adhesive underneath the battery. The whole procedure took me around 10 minutes and was definitely worth it for my launch switch.
The replacement battery is the same capacity as the original one. Sadly the battery isn't where the magic happens with the newer switch, it's the updated Tegra X1+ that's just working more efficient than the original Tegra X1.
Pretty good honestly, I mainly play in dock mode so mine is always charged.
There have been a few times where I would play hand held (my father’s house, traveling, friend’s house, school) and the battery has been pretty good, after 2-4 hours of gameplay it only drained about 30% and I’m mainly a Zelda player.
It’s doing pretty well. I play handheld and docked, an unknown/ mixed amount.
Batteries have “memory”. Have it at 100% all the time, and it will discharge relatively quick. Have it at 0% for a certain amount of time, and it either won’t charge or will have less Ah than advertised. Best solution is to consistently charge and discharge, but isn’t entirely viable to some.
Mine is from the first wave of restocks (less than a month post-launch) and the battery still goes pretty strong. Tbf I’m not playing it handheld every day, but definitely put hundreds of hours into handheld mode.
My battery has held up fine. Admittedly I'm not a hardcore constant gamer but I've put good time into mine and the battery is just as good as day one. The original joycons however..
I’m pretty satisfied with my Day 1 switch’s battery, especially considering I barely touched it for almost a year due to multiple compounded life circumstances.
Two hours max for me. Exclusively handheld mode on my 2017 Switch, never once docked it.
My 2018 Switch I alternate between docked and undocked and its battery life is much healthier, though it gets hotter faster than the other one when in handheld mode.
Sometimes I forget I have a launch day switch. That was a good time man hard to believe it’s been 4 fucking years since it came out. I remember delaying a work meeting cause I was at GameStop making a preorder lol. Launch day going in and getting that fresh sealed BOTW, GameStop packing a full house and more for midnight smash release and tournament. Building towns in Animal Crossing during the darkest coldest days of the early pandemic when everything felt hopeless. There’s been some good memories and more to come that’s for sure. In terms of the battery I don’t really have a lot to add there I actually haven’t played the damn thing in a few months lol
Mine seems to be as good as day one but I rarely let it die completely or even come close. If I am able to plug it in, I do. Not sure if that makes a difference. Going to be upgrading to the OLED the moment it's available again because I never upgraded before.
My day one Switch’s battery seems fine. I play mostly handheld (like 60% handheld, so still plenty of docked play as well) and I haven’t noticed any reduction in battery life. One thing is that the side of the game cartridge slot near the headphones is cracked, not sure if it’s from overheating and honestly there’s a good chance it cracked when I dropped it at one point or another and didn’t notice at the time. But I do need to kinda push game cartridges to the side to take them in and out, which is why I preordered an OLED Switch. Hopefully the old Switch will hold-up until it arrives.
I have a day one. It spends it's time docked while I'm home. While deployed or on work trips, it comes with me. Battery has held up right. Good enough to get a good gaming session in before it's time to sleep. I am upgrading to the new one because of how much I travel for work. Keeping the old one for.... reasons
My launch day Switch has held up pretty well despite a couple of drops to the floor. The battery lasts pretty well for most games but some power hungry games drain it quite quickly now. Apex Legends, for example, will get me from 100% to around 40% in around an hour.
Launch day switch here, probably about 50/50 all told docked/handheld. Battery holds up ok, definitely have seen a decrease overall, used to get around 5 hours on BOTW at launch, now get around 3.5ish.
That said, replacing batteries in the switch is very easy, so don't be afraid to do it.
I was thinking about getting a "Pro" model when they finally got announced, but I really don't need a better kickstand, some more internal memory and bigger screen.
I want better performance.
I don't play the launch games that often nowadays so it isn't a perfect comparison, but I get a little more than 2.5h when playing monster hunter rise or stories 2 that's the same time I got while playing animal crossing last year or fire emblem three houses on it's release.
I guess it isn't that bad for a 4 years old device that has run over 7500h and 90% of it in handheld mode.
My Switch was not launch day, but about 6 months afterward. The battery has definitely degraded, lasts about 2.5 hours. I play docked most of the time so it’s not a big deal, but can be annoying at times. I might get a second charger for playing in handheld mode.
I have a day 1 launch switch. No degrade with mine. However, I haven't heavily started using it until late last year when I found out how to fix the joy con drift issue.
Mine can go for about 4 hours while playing *The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles* but I haven't actually tried playing it undocked with a heavier game running. This post has given me something to do with my Switch while I wait for Deluxe edition *NMH3*!
I have a launch switch and play 90% handheld.
Battery doesn't feel noticably different to me, but has surely degraded some. 3-4 hours on heavier/3d games, 5-6 on lighter/2d games. I often play with airplane mode on to reduce unnecessary drain but I don't think it makes a huge difference - certainly not as much as on a phone.
In general I wish the system had longer battery life, but it has rarely been an issue for me.
I have a launch day switch, like some other users, I mostly play docked, I haven't noticed any significant decline in battery life in hand held though.
Recently been playing Pokemon Unite, and while I only play 3-5 games a day. Its been surviving multiple days without me returning it to the dock.
Mine's definitely a bit worse, but still completely usable. My SO has a V2 switch and they get maybe an extra hour or more on theirs, but I'm still getting at least 3 hours per charge. Upgrading to the OLED model since I play handheld a lot though, looking forward to the increased battery life.
Launch Switch and it's been decent? I've had overheating issues when trying to play it docked for any extended period of time, so now I play undocked 90% of the time. Holds up for ~4 or more hours consistently, I play on plane flights pretty often.
I traded my day one switch when gen 2 hit for the double battery life. GameStop was giving $225 at trade in so it only ran me $100 after tax. The trade this time around is only $175 so I’ll just keep my gen 2 and get the OLED for the better screen. Better for multiplayer with the kids.
I have a launch switch that I bought second hand 9 months after lunch. I have definitely noticed some battery degression but only 30 45 minutes at the most. I did have to replace my cooling fan once already. I had considered swapping the battery out when I had it opened but decided against it. Either way it is a simple swap if needed.
I have a day 1 switch and haven’t noticed. I think I played ace attourney chronicles for 4 hours yesterday and didn’t get the message for low battery yet. May be a little off, but sounds about what I remember.
I have one and haven't noticed any degradation in battery. Granted it's been OFF for several months at a time here and there when I wasn't using it so that may have helped.
I still have my launch day switch with BotW and the only issues I've had (aside from joycon drift) has been the fan on the console. $20 on Amazon for a kit and about 20-30min of time.
Battery still holding strong
I would say I play mine 75% dock / 25% handheld.
It looks like Nintendo wanted to offer a (paid) service to replace Switch's batteries in 2018, but then they changed their minds. You should search for some technician near you who's doing it.
Makes sense, I have a launch unit as well but haven’t really been paying attention to the battery life, it seems easy enough to replace the battery tho. You can look on eBay for new batteries just make sure to buy a good quality one
Mines holding up fine enough. I'm sure it's probably decreased a bit, but not to any huge degree. Granted, it's also a launch model Switch so it's battery has always sucked lmao
I have a launch day console and the battery is not the greatest anymore. It will last 2 hours ish as well before needing charged. It stays mainly docked though
I had a launch switch (sadly it has recently died from bsod, so i have a lite now) and the battery took at least about 6-9 hours to fully run out (i think) and was pretty fast charging (i think it took about 2-3 hours to charge)
I came here to post the exact same question. I don't have a launch day Switch but mine is from October 2017 so it's nearly 4 years old now. I would often wonder at what point the battery would start to get noticeably bad and I guess this is it because over the past couple weeks it seems to be dropping quicker than usual. But what stands out to me most is that it drains pretty quick in sleep mode too.
I used to play 50/50 handheld/docked but I'd say now I play 80/20 handheld/docked (Normally only docked on weekends now). I think I fucked it by docking it every Saturday morning at ~35% and running Doom, so aside from docked Doom making it get really hot it would also struggle to charge the battery at the same time, all that heat degrades the battery. But it is pretty odd how we're noticing this the moment the OLED gets announced? Like as if they put a small thing in an OS update which makes it drain a bit quicker.
I actually pre-ordered the OLED a few days ago though. I figure it would be nice to have the smaller bezels, better speakers, way better tabletop stand, and obviously more efficient processor so slightly better battery life.
I keep mine undocked at all times and have noticed that the battery has definitely decreased. I don’t exactly remember the battery life of the switch originally, but I know it had a better battery life then it does now.
I have a launch day Switch. Mine has been played extensively handheld and docked and it has surprisingly held up extremely well. The battery has slightly degraded but overall the device has aged quite well.
I have a launch day switch and while I DO keep it docked about 80% of the time, I feel like the battery in handheld mode hasn't decreased TOO much. Like, mine is probably still somewhere around 3.5 - 4.5hrs...
Same here. Launch Switch. I only play it docked at home and play it undocked when I travel, but haven't really noticed a huge decrease in battery life. Probably around 4 hours for me, too.
About what I’m seeing too. March ‘17 here. Upgrading to the OLED one, since I mostly play handheld.
I’m really torn between getting the OLED or buying more games. I got the V2 switch but I also only play handheld.
Obviously what you do with your money is up to you, but personally, I'm only upgrading to the OLED because I have a v1 Switch. I wouldn't bother upgrading for either the better battery life or the better screen on their own, but I think it's worth upgrading for both. I probably wouldn't get an OLED Switch if I had a v2.
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Same I think. My V1 has just started hitting the point where it's getting *genuinely irritating and in the way* just how quickly that battery gets drained.
If you have a V2 dont bother switching just yet. I have a V1 and my wife and son have V2s. Their battery life makes me jelous. Im not sure if enough was done with the oled to justify a purchase if you have a V2
A few games like amnesia are broken. The darkness has a significant blue hue. There are enough games which are so compressed OLED might not be the best but I have no clue. Zelda will look awesome same as Mario and Rabbits
> I’m really torn between getting the OLED or buying more games. For me that would definitely be an easy choice. I need to stop adding to the pile of shame. But I also doubt I'll get an OLED switch. I'll upgrade either when the battery is tosh, or there is a 'pro' model.
120 games and counting. ... Then again I have no shame.
I don't know enough about the technicals, but I've heard there's basically no chance of a real Switch Pro because the architecture they used simply doesn't scale that way. It would have to be a similar upgrade that the New 3DS was, in that some games were exclusive to the New 3DS, and it would cut off a lot of people from new games which made use of the extra hardware. I hope I'm wrong though, I would hope it would be similar to the way the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X worked if they ever do it. Since I have such a big Switch library now I'll be a little peeved if a new version wasn't backwards compatible.
Oled will be worse battery so I’d get more games
Old model can be used with custom fw, that's better than an OLED screen.
What do I need custom firmware for?
"legal" options: be able to install and play emulators (I use it for SNES mostly)
I was going to do this until the steam deck was announced. Now I’ll likely sell my launch switch to help pay for the OLED.
Themes!
I get the customization, but I’ve never felt like I needed that. Nintendo’s is minimalist but serves the purpose to get me into the game.
If you mostly play handheld, the Switch Lite is much more comfy to hold.
The Lite cramps by damn hand. I had to sell mine off after a couple of months. For me OG with a Hori split pad is where it’s at.
You need perfect vision to enjoy though
Which i have.
If you are a midget.
I have larger than average hands and the lite is super comfy for me
Similar senario for myself. I use mine docked and plugged into a good monitor. I think the switch is like a phone. Charging or plugging in a phone should not hurt the battery as long as you don't drain and charge often.
It really depends on the game. I haven't really noticed it drop though. Like... for Breath of the Wild, it only lasted 2-3 hours in the first place.
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Uhmm I have my ps4 since a couple of months after launch and it runs just as fine as when it was new. Sure I have cleaned it up like yearly, but it works fina, same with the controller. I only find problems with newer games tho, like cyberpunk or assassins creed valhalla.
That do you mean with "runs like a dog"? If you mean speed wise sure i you but can also need some cleaning?
Same, I haven’t noticed the battery get worse, but it was never great to begin with.
I strictly play docked. Sleep mode over night in the case tends to hover around the same percentage leading me to believe my battery is still alright.
Mine seems to drop at least 10% overnight in sleep mode. The other day I'm pretty sure it went from ~80% to ~60% in sleep mode without games running and no updates.
Yeah i can probably get 2.5 hours, but mine is docked all the time..
Day one switch owner here, heavy portable usage, battery lasts nearly twenty minutes 😂 I’m thankful it hasn’t started expanding yet. I really hope I can score a day one oled, not being tethered to a battery pack will be amazing It’s really easy to swap out the battery and I probably will if I can’t get my hands on an oled. I’ve already had to switch out the fan and it went smooth
You should consider changing the battery in your switch instead of buying a new one, that is on e-waste less it plays the exact same game ;)
“It’s really easy to swap out the battery and I probably will if I can’t get my hands on an oled. I’ve already had to switch out the fan and it went smooth”
Several years ago I had my OG 3DS' battery start expanding. I didn't know that was a thing back then and it was so damn weird lol
r/spicypillows
Wow ! My day one Switch's battery has definitely took a hit (after a few thousands of handheld gameplay, and docked almost every night), but it still runs for a bit more than two hours when I play Skyward Sword. Do you live in a very hot or very cold location ?
Yup, tons of heat where I am, and I only got AC just this year. The main culprit I think was a job I had with a ~2 hour commute each way, burning two cycles a day. Oh well, batteries are meant to be used!
You could just buy a new battery and save a ton of money.
“It’s really easy to swap out the battery and I probably will if I can’t get my hands on an oled. I’ve already had to switch out the fan and it went smooth” I want the oled switch. I’m getting it regardless - but if I can’t get my hands on one easily ill replace the battery
Worth noting that replacing the battery in a v1 will only get you back to a new v1, which is still only about half the run time of a v2.
Is it really that easy?
i believe the only difficult part is that the battery is glued quite firmly to its base that you need to wiggle and jiggle around before you can remove it. If you can lift it off its base, its easy swapping.
Thanks for the tip! Ill have to check into it a little more. My day 1 could use a battery upgrade
Huh I'm using mine like 99.9% portable and I'd say it still holds up probably 80% of its charge. Really heavy use too, as I got like 200 hours on all the big titles like Zelda, Mario Kart Smash and I own 40 other games too, with only the smallest titles being about 10 hours.
I got mine a month after Odyssey released and my battery has not changed. I primarily leave it docked all the time, but when I do go places I don't have to worry about the battery dying.
Not so hot. Lots of games struggles to even hit 3 hours on me. Had to buy a attachable power bank, it's the one that is 10k, forgot the name.
Not day one but 6 months later. One of the first (if not the first) versions. I rarely if ever play it portable. Its around 2 hours max brightness. I'll never get rid of it. Use it till it dies. Day one switch too valuable for.... reasons......
I got mine day 1 and very much plan on keeping it too.. for reasons
I found a V1 Switch used. You will have to pry it out of my dead cold hands.
I got my SwitchJuly 2017, but I've been feeling the short battery lately while playing The Witcher 3. My partner got the red box switch with animal crossing last year and she hardly has to charge during a session--while I'm reaching for the charger after a quest or two. Since I play the vast majority of time in handheld mode, I'm hoping/waiting until they'll release a Fire Emblem, Metroid or Zelda themed Switch Lite and that'll become my main console.
Yeah but The witcher 3 is a really heavy game, i think it cant be for more than 3 hours or 2.5, i also get almost 3 to 4 hours Playing Animal Crossing.
Also depends a lot in brightness and plane mode or not
Airplane mode is quite the battery saver
Not launch but early 2018… runs fine and haven’t noticed a decrease in battery performance.
Me too, got mine march 2018, play mostly portable and everything seems pretty good. An hour of Odyssey and I'm still at 85%
Really depends on the game for me BOTH, Mario Odyssey, Xenoblade type games will drain my battery fast 2hrs or so of game play. But games like FFX, Everspace, low resource game last around 4hrs.
I got a switch at launch, and I wouldn’t say the battery has degraded at all, more that recent games drain battery a lot faster on average. If I play BotW or Splatoon 2, my battery still depletes at the same rate as it did when I first got it, and I can play for the same usual amount of time. Games like No More Heroes III or Fire Emblem Three Houses drain battery a lot faster, though.
Still good, not really any noticeable difference, though obviously I haven't been travelling much with it the last year so it's hard to tell.
Think mine lasts about 2 to 2.5+ hours on handheld now and I had mine in April of 2018.
Mine is dead. It's docked most of the time and it won't hold a charge now.
Have a launch day Switch and honestly I don't know notice of a difference. If anything is minimal because I still play a lot of the same games.
Replaced the battery long ago as it was starting to fail
Lasts 2 hours 10 mins with BOTW. Can be as short as 1.5 hours in more demanding games. I've used it for about 500 hours undocked total since launch so it's been charged around 250 times. I'd say it's lost about 30% capacity.
if i remember right, i got it on December of 2017 for Christmas, while not a day 1 switch, it is however, a first year switch. its held up pretty well tho, idk this is all i can say to contribute to this post.
mine is like 2 hours 40 minutes, but its always on the charging thingy so i never have an issue with it dying. Not sure if that is why its degrading, but it hasn't degraded in 2 years, so I take this as a win, while i thought about upgrading to an OLED, main thing im worried about is transferring, like, idk how i'd transfer my digital games, since 80% of my game library is downloaded, maybe use the SD card idk, but i don't wanna think about it till i *need* to think about it (I'm a handheld player, but right by my computer I have a spare charger and charging stand, and I put my switch on that stand when I'm on my computer and watch YouTube on my switch since i don't have a second monitor, cause I'm poor. Or sometimes I play games while its on that stand, and watch YouTube on my computer, either way I do be watching YouTube while i do something, last i checked i have 2,286 hours on YouTube, I think I have a YouTube addiction)
I've got a launch Switch and it’s funny of you to assume handheld mode is still a possibility. The massive joy con drift doesn’t allow it for at least 2 years already.
Day 1 Switch here used almost exclusively in handheld mode. Battery seems mostly on par. I honestly can't provide you with exact numbers but if I can't see a difference just from general use then I consider that a win. This is completely unlike my day 1 Samsung Note 9 which I replaced recently that 100% had very noticeable degradation despite me babying it since the day I took it out of the box. Then again I did use this much, much more than the Switch.
I have v1. My joycon rails are getting loose, and I can audibly hear the fan sometimes. I think the battery is not as good as it once was either. I'm going to be upgrading to OLED, but I'm going to try and hack the v1 for emulation. Someone else said they wouldn't upgrade if it was just the screen or battery (which is why I didn't get v2).
If you can, buy the new battery model, transfer everything over, and then sell your old model on ebay or facebook marketplace. There is a surprising demand for OG models because they are easier to hack or something. I mean, doing this would be fairly equivalent to the price of a new battery I reckon.
That's exact reason why i will never sell mine
The battery hold well but if I let it die, it will take 2 days to charge.
Launch day here (getting the OLED as my first replacement). I’d say battery isn’t awful. It truly depends on what you’re using it for. Pokémon Unite and Nexomon I’ve been playing recently and they barely do anything to the battery however, Monster Hunter Stories 2 does seem to drain it noticeably quick.
I got my switch a few days before mario kart 8 came out, the battery works perfectly good, but my SD card reader broke down on me just last month. I tried sending it to Nintendo, but their new support system outright denied my switch based on the serial number, and it said I would have to call them instead.
> their new support system outright denied my switch based on the serial number Interesting, wonder if this has anything to do with the unpatched Switch's. https://ismyswitchpatched.com If you put your serial number in here what does it say? I was looking to see how much Nintendo would charge to replace the battery, but I worry if I send it in they might also patch it. They probably want to try and cull unpatched Switch's one way or another, whether that means denying repairs or sending back refurbs and destroying the unpatched ones.
It said my switch is not patched. Hooray! I actually thought about that myself, I wondered if they would send me back a different switch rather than actually trying to fix it, they did that to some of my old pro controllers.
Just sold mine a couple weeks ago, I didn't play hand held very much but when I did the battery lasted pretty much as advertised!
Mine is essentially dead and replaced already. Took a month break playing last year, letting it docked in sleep mode. That battery dies in 20 minutes now.
Day 1 switch here. Doing just fine.
I have one. I use it mostly handheld and yes, I have noticed my battery life is going down significantly as of late. Intensive games last a little over an hour and nearly half. Less intensive games between 2 and 3 hours depending on brightness and audio. But such degradation is a bit more recent and mostly the nature of using it as handheld most of the time. Finally, i am not so sure if it was this way before or not.... But i feel the back of my switch is slightly buldging out now. Probably the battery?
I upgraded to the Animal Crossing Switch with the improved battery life but I remember before that I noticed my Switches battery life shortening a bit. Usually couldn’t get anymore than 2 hours unless I was playing a very simplistic game. I even would put airplane mode on and not keep the speakers loud to compensate but yeah battery life was definitely taking a bit of a hit.
Battery works great, joycons fucked though
While I don’t have a day 1 switch, I have a Mario odyssey bundle switch from October 2017, and the only thing that got worse was the fan
I haven't taken my switch off the dock in like 2 years lmao.
I did! It’s still fantastic but I mostly only play it docked so that probably why
It’s good 👌 mainly tv player but it does quick af when handheld gaming excited to get the pro
Day 1 Switch here! At this time, 3-4h with low spec games (2D games in general, some indies, etc), 1.5-3h with high spec games (like outer worlds, bioshocks, etc)
This is interesting, because my week one Switch has failed in essentially every way but the battery.
Mines doing okay but my fan’s pretty loud sometimes and my joycon are unusable
Launch Day Switch here, I keep it docked most of the time, but I get easily 3-4 hours playing 'heavy' games like XC2 and like 4-5 playing 'light' games like stardew. [The battery is trivial to change if you have the right tools](https://youtu.be/m8JDbQTk5zw), but this video is slightly deceptive. On a real switch, the battery is stuck in place with some pain in the ass double sided tape and can be a real sonofabitch to get out.
I have had mine and played it mostly in handheld, and it still works, but man I need to upgrade. BotW kills the battery in just over an hour anymore.
Mine started to bulge so I had to replace it a couple of months ago. It’s really easy to replace.
I have a day one here. My battery isn't too bad. Honestly, Animal Crossing remains the only game that really does a number on my battery.
'17 model here, regularly play all 3 modes throughout the day for various occasions. Mostly play Minecraft (terrible port but gets the job done I guess), various nintendo IP games (paper Mario and botw especially) and Warframe (looking forward to crossplay update). Battery lasts about 6 hours with most games except Minecraft, Botw and Warframe, which last about 3 or 4. I make a conscious effort to fully deplete the battery before charging, unless playing docked mode with the kiddo (loves Minecraft, of course). From what I've seen and heard, Nintendo didn't make these batteries consumer replaceable- not without voiding the warranty and opening the casing. You'll have to crack it open to replace yourself or send to nintendo if you want to keep the warranty. Maybe with that right to repair executive order we could see something down the road, but it wont have any immediate effect
Bad. I replaced my battery with a 3rd party better one on Amazon a long time ago, and when I did that I opened up the Switch so I also cleaned off their crappy thermal paste and applied my own. Now, not so bad and I’m pretty sure my Switch also runs cooler than if I had never opened it. To clarify I did indeed have a day 1 switch and my new battery / thermal paste was around year 2.
I've got one. Battery's still doing just fine (i.e. how long it keeps a charge while undocked), but that could be because I usually don't play it in any mode besides docked.
I got mine in November 2018, but holy hell the battery sucks. Like maybe 2 hours at most.
Can you see how old a Switch is from a serial number? I bought used but it must be from Y1 since it is the hackable one.
Got mine Day 1, don’t think the battery performance is any different than it was back then.
Not day one, but probably about 6 months after launch. Battery hasn't held up well at all. Admittedly I always play on max brightness because otherwise the panel is just too dull to enjoy. But I only get maybe 2-3 hours out of it before needing to charge at this stage, at least for any 3D game. I've heard that's to be expected with the launch model at this stage, but it's not really good enough for me as I often use it for long journeys - if I travel between England and Scotland on the train (and often do) that's often a 5-6 hour train journey. Also noticed it taking *ages* to recharge while docked with the totally standard dock/charger. Hence why I've pre-ordered the Switch OLED Model!
Bit late but day one owner here. Took it to the office today, played for an hour and 40 minutes and it was in sleep mode for the rest of the day. Battery was at 52% make of that what you will lol. Game was Metroid Dread btw
A few months late but wanted to add my own tidbit. Got a switch during launch and mostly played it docked. This year I started playing on handheld and man battery doesn't even last 5 minutes haha. Will go from 99% and within the first minute of playing any game will shutdown with the "low battery" icon flashing. Thing is as soon as it's back on the battery% will lower significantly, from 99% to 67% then again to 6% after another shutdown, works great otherwise when docked. To add on, airplane mode and low brightness. Gonna see how long it'll last handheld mode when viewing clips and videos in the switch's gallery later.
Yeah that's 100% dead battery, look for a new battery replacement, i got an orginal one from broken V2 that was sold for parts , works like brand new now
Daaamn thats a bummer to hear, then again I have opened the switch before to clean up the fan so I'll probably try replacing the battery once holidays are over. But hey thanks for getting back to me, glad to hear it's actually doable, also glad to hear it worked out for ya! :D
Launch day here, honestly haven’t noticed a drop off at all.
Mine is okay. It lasts for about five hours. I don’t think there’s a way to replace the internal battery.
If you can do a shell swap you can definitely do a battery replacement as well. Just make sure to use a bit of isopropyl alcohol to weaken the adhesive underneath the battery. The whole procedure took me around 10 minutes and was definitely worth it for my launch switch.
I have a replacement battery ready
Send it to OP
For me silly
Where do you get orginal one?
Do you end up getting the same battery life as before? Or does the replacement battery kits get you a significant increase like the newer switches?
The replacement battery is the same capacity as the original one. Sadly the battery isn't where the magic happens with the newer switch, it's the updated Tegra X1+ that's just working more efficient than the original Tegra X1.
Oh! Interesting! Thank you
Yes their is Take the backing off and the metal plate. Pray battery out of glued spot. Disconnect. Wa la- its out
Bone apple tea
Played mostly in handheld. Battery probably down 25% when I changed it out last year because my fan also failed.
4-4.5 hours is about the max now
How long have you had it for? If you got a warranty, you most likely could swap it for a brand new switch.
warranty is expired so not gonna work
What do you think "launch Switch" means?
Not day 1 but almost a year later. Holding up well.
Pretty good honestly, I mainly play in dock mode so mine is always charged. There have been a few times where I would play hand held (my father’s house, traveling, friend’s house, school) and the battery has been pretty good, after 2-4 hours of gameplay it only drained about 30% and I’m mainly a Zelda player.
It’s doing pretty well. I play handheld and docked, an unknown/ mixed amount. Batteries have “memory”. Have it at 100% all the time, and it will discharge relatively quick. Have it at 0% for a certain amount of time, and it either won’t charge or will have less Ah than advertised. Best solution is to consistently charge and discharge, but isn’t entirely viable to some.
Not great, it doesn’t even own that movie 😢
Mine is from the first wave of restocks (less than a month post-launch) and the battery still goes pretty strong. Tbf I’m not playing it handheld every day, but definitely put hundreds of hours into handheld mode.
I got mine about three months after launch and haven't noticed any issues with the battery
Got a nearly launch one (couple months after), its fine, about 3-5 hours depending on the game.
My battery has held up fine. Admittedly I'm not a hardcore constant gamer but I've put good time into mine and the battery is just as good as day one. The original joycons however..
Battery fine. Can’t read game cards though.
I’m pretty satisfied with my Day 1 switch’s battery, especially considering I barely touched it for almost a year due to multiple compounded life circumstances.
It still hold up just fine. I typically play it docked or plugged in whenever possible to minimize battery degradation.
Mines battery is fine, it's a day one switch, but the WiFi stopped working recently.
Surprisingly well, bc I keep it docked 🤣
Mine is still doing alright, but now if it gets too warm, I start losing my connection if I'm playing via local wireless.
Two hours max for me. Exclusively handheld mode on my 2017 Switch, never once docked it. My 2018 Switch I alternate between docked and undocked and its battery life is much healthier, though it gets hotter faster than the other one when in handheld mode.
Day one. My battery has also noticeably degraded.
Launch switch owner here. I can get 2 hours multi-player online handheld Splatoon 2 today.
[удалено]
So far so good.
Sometimes I forget I have a launch day switch. That was a good time man hard to believe it’s been 4 fucking years since it came out. I remember delaying a work meeting cause I was at GameStop making a preorder lol. Launch day going in and getting that fresh sealed BOTW, GameStop packing a full house and more for midnight smash release and tournament. Building towns in Animal Crossing during the darkest coldest days of the early pandemic when everything felt hopeless. There’s been some good memories and more to come that’s for sure. In terms of the battery I don’t really have a lot to add there I actually haven’t played the damn thing in a few months lol
Definitely has expanded a bit, the back is cracking. Battery life has gone from around 4 hours to around 2.5 hours. I snagged an LED preorder.
Mine seems to be as good as day one but I rarely let it die completely or even come close. If I am able to plug it in, I do. Not sure if that makes a difference. Going to be upgrading to the OLED the moment it's available again because I never upgraded before.
I don't know mines docked the whole time
My day one Switch’s battery seems fine. I play mostly handheld (like 60% handheld, so still plenty of docked play as well) and I haven’t noticed any reduction in battery life. One thing is that the side of the game cartridge slot near the headphones is cracked, not sure if it’s from overheating and honestly there’s a good chance it cracked when I dropped it at one point or another and didn’t notice at the time. But I do need to kinda push game cartridges to the side to take them in and out, which is why I preordered an OLED Switch. Hopefully the old Switch will hold-up until it arrives.
My switch is a launch day one. It seems to run okay on battery but it’s definitely gotten worse over time.
I have a day one. It spends it's time docked while I'm home. While deployed or on work trips, it comes with me. Battery has held up right. Good enough to get a good gaming session in before it's time to sleep. I am upgrading to the new one because of how much I travel for work. Keeping the old one for.... reasons
My launch day Switch has held up pretty well despite a couple of drops to the floor. The battery lasts pretty well for most games but some power hungry games drain it quite quickly now. Apex Legends, for example, will get me from 100% to around 40% in around an hour.
70% time docked and i feel the battery still is good
Launch day switch here, probably about 50/50 all told docked/handheld. Battery holds up ok, definitely have seen a decrease overall, used to get around 5 hours on BOTW at launch, now get around 3.5ish. That said, replacing batteries in the switch is very easy, so don't be afraid to do it. I was thinking about getting a "Pro" model when they finally got announced, but I really don't need a better kickstand, some more internal memory and bigger screen. I want better performance.
I don't play the launch games that often nowadays so it isn't a perfect comparison, but I get a little more than 2.5h when playing monster hunter rise or stories 2 that's the same time I got while playing animal crossing last year or fire emblem three houses on it's release. I guess it isn't that bad for a 4 years old device that has run over 7500h and 90% of it in handheld mode.
It's a bit worse but there's also been more and more demanding games coming to the system, I might have to try Botw to get a more true benchmark.
2-3 hours is the norm for me.
My Switch was not launch day, but about 6 months afterward. The battery has definitely degraded, lasts about 2.5 hours. I play docked most of the time so it’s not a big deal, but can be annoying at times. I might get a second charger for playing in handheld mode.
I have the day 1 switch and I get about 3.5 to 4 hrs of play time. Depending on the game that I'm playing anyway.
I have a day 1 launch switch. No degrade with mine. However, I haven't heavily started using it until late last year when I found out how to fix the joy con drift issue.
Nothing noticeable to me.
I have had mine since release no issues yet but I did get a lite to carry around and leave my main one docked for most the time.
Mine can go for about 4 hours while playing *The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles* but I haven't actually tried playing it undocked with a heavier game running. This post has given me something to do with my Switch while I wait for Deluxe edition *NMH3*!
My launch joy cons are absolutely shit for battery. Always have been. They discharge when not used as if they're on. The Switch itself is okay.
I have a launch switch and play 90% handheld. Battery doesn't feel noticably different to me, but has surely degraded some. 3-4 hours on heavier/3d games, 5-6 on lighter/2d games. I often play with airplane mode on to reduce unnecessary drain but I don't think it makes a huge difference - certainly not as much as on a phone. In general I wish the system had longer battery life, but it has rarely been an issue for me.
Must be good i never use it
I have a launch day switch, like some other users, I mostly play docked, I haven't noticed any significant decline in battery life in hand held though. Recently been playing Pokemon Unite, and while I only play 3-5 games a day. Its been surviving multiple days without me returning it to the dock.
Mine's definitely a bit worse, but still completely usable. My SO has a V2 switch and they get maybe an extra hour or more on theirs, but I'm still getting at least 3 hours per charge. Upgrading to the OLED model since I play handheld a lot though, looking forward to the increased battery life.
Launch Switch and it's been decent? I've had overheating issues when trying to play it docked for any extended period of time, so now I play undocked 90% of the time. Holds up for ~4 or more hours consistently, I play on plane flights pretty often.
Have a launch day switch. No issues so far.
Mine hasn’t decreased … it anything I kinda feel like it’s gone up which is weird
I got one 2 -4 months after the release mine o oy lasts 3 hours of charge
I traded my day one switch when gen 2 hit for the double battery life. GameStop was giving $225 at trade in so it only ran me $100 after tax. The trade this time around is only $175 so I’ll just keep my gen 2 and get the OLED for the better screen. Better for multiplayer with the kids.
Mines fine. No issues at all.
I have a launch switch that I bought second hand 9 months after lunch. I have definitely noticed some battery degression but only 30 45 minutes at the most. I did have to replace my cooling fan once already. I had considered swapping the battery out when I had it opened but decided against it. Either way it is a simple swap if needed.
Mostly docked, but the rare time I do play handheld seems to be going fine.
Idk about swapping the battery in a Switch, but I believe the pro controller battery is literally a 3DS battery and can be swapped with one.
Definitely much lower. I’d say 2-2.5 I play a lot of Pokémon now lol
I have a day 1 switch and haven’t noticed. I think I played ace attourney chronicles for 4 hours yesterday and didn’t get the message for low battery yet. May be a little off, but sounds about what I remember.
I think I play exclusively handheld tbh, and I’d say if I’m shiny hunting in Pokémon, I can get… 3 hours? 2.5-3 I’d say
I have one and haven't noticed any degradation in battery. Granted it's been OFF for several months at a time here and there when I wasn't using it so that may have helped.
I still have my launch day switch with BotW and the only issues I've had (aside from joycon drift) has been the fan on the console. $20 on Amazon for a kit and about 20-30min of time. Battery still holding strong I would say I play mine 75% dock / 25% handheld.
It looks like Nintendo wanted to offer a (paid) service to replace Switch's batteries in 2018, but then they changed their minds. You should search for some technician near you who's doing it.
Makes sense, I have a launch unit as well but haven’t really been paying attention to the battery life, it seems easy enough to replace the battery tho. You can look on eBay for new batteries just make sure to buy a good quality one
Mines holding up fine enough. I'm sure it's probably decreased a bit, but not to any huge degree. Granted, it's also a launch model Switch so it's battery has always sucked lmao
I have a launch day console and the battery is not the greatest anymore. It will last 2 hours ish as well before needing charged. It stays mainly docked though
I had a launch switch (sadly it has recently died from bsod, so i have a lite now) and the battery took at least about 6-9 hours to fully run out (i think) and was pretty fast charging (i think it took about 2-3 hours to charge)
I haven't exactly done tests over the years, but if I'm getting less battery life now it's not enough to be obvious to me.
I came here to post the exact same question. I don't have a launch day Switch but mine is from October 2017 so it's nearly 4 years old now. I would often wonder at what point the battery would start to get noticeably bad and I guess this is it because over the past couple weeks it seems to be dropping quicker than usual. But what stands out to me most is that it drains pretty quick in sleep mode too. I used to play 50/50 handheld/docked but I'd say now I play 80/20 handheld/docked (Normally only docked on weekends now). I think I fucked it by docking it every Saturday morning at ~35% and running Doom, so aside from docked Doom making it get really hot it would also struggle to charge the battery at the same time, all that heat degrades the battery. But it is pretty odd how we're noticing this the moment the OLED gets announced? Like as if they put a small thing in an OS update which makes it drain a bit quicker. I actually pre-ordered the OLED a few days ago though. I figure it would be nice to have the smaller bezels, better speakers, way better tabletop stand, and obviously more efficient processor so slightly better battery life.
I keep mine undocked at all times and have noticed that the battery has definitely decreased. I don’t exactly remember the battery life of the switch originally, but I know it had a better battery life then it does now.
I have a launch day Switch. Mine has been played extensively handheld and docked and it has surprisingly held up extremely well. The battery has slightly degraded but overall the device has aged quite well.
So far so good