According to the store's description, this battery offers up to 8 hours of use and can be easily installed using a screwdriver and included instructions.
Battery Capacity: 2550mAh / 9.2 Wh (offers up to 8 hours of use, compared to 3–5 hours with standard Wii U GamePad Battery) Battery Voltage: 3.6V
Not me, but I'm sure some people do. And sometimes I play over the course of many hours while doing other stuff but being too lazy to put the controller back in the charger in between.
The amount of time varies too. I don't play that long in one sitting but if you've got the gamepad screen's brightness turned up, volume up, and its displaying something other than a stationary map, you can be sure you'll see that red light crying out soon. It usually lasts me a good 2.5 hours before it needs a charge.
Huh, this is pretty cool actually. 30+ bucks is kind of steep, but I could see myself biting on it at a bit lower.
My problem is that I seem to have stripped my GamePad's tiny, tiny screw trying to remove it in the past. Is there any way to get into the battery case without damaging the unit now?
Hmm, that's a tough one when they are small like that. I haven't run downstairs to check out the screw you're referring to but are you able to use a slightly larger screwdriver? Sometimes that works. Sometimes using a rubber band over the screw adds enough grip. I've even tried super glue to add grip but I wouldn't do that with electronics, only wood.
I think you're going about it the wrong way though. I don't own a Wii U, but I imagine I wouldn't want to have to charge it after/before each session. That would be like having to change the batteries on your remote every time you watch TV. It is an inconvenience that could have been easily remedied with a bigger battery, specially considering that the compartment inside the Gamepad is bigger than what the current battery holds.
Anyway, I hope they make this standard moving forward. Perhaps by next Christmas they'll do so just like they eventually put in Wii Motion Plus on all Wii Remotes.
I don't always remember to put the pad back in the charger, so I see the red light quite a bit.
Thing is, getting a new battery isn't going to get me to start putting it back in the charger. So really, I should try changing my behavior first before throwing money at this battery.
That said, I still think the current battery is a little screwy.
