Picked up replacement NZ90- CHECK YOUR BATTRY CYCLES

[starstreak]

K, after 2 hours to do the exchange. I get a new unit. but heres the thing. I got an open box which the sales person said he opened in the back to check it out. Everything in the box was sealed and new, BUT my battery charge cycle was already at 2. Should I be worried? He said to trust him that he just opened it before bringing it to me, and that I can always bring it back again...doh another 2 hour wait.

Can you guys who just yours, check how many cycles your battery has cycled vs how many times you remember charging it?

Thanks!

[TritonB7]

I recieved my Nz90 from sonystyle and it had 0 cycles. I think that guy is lieing.

[lanchman]

Mine had 0 from CompUSA.

[omgitsroy326]

mine was at 0

[pdagal]

Mine had zero.

[fc2003]

What does it mean by "battery charge cycle was already at 2"? Where can we check / spot the battery charge cycle? I am going to collect my NZ tomorrow. Any recommendations / thing-to-check will be much appreciated.

[lanchman]

The new battery is smart. click on the battery, then details.

[LITTLESIX]

Salesman be a liar. Cycles=2 means that the battery/unit has hit the charger twice.

Sorry dude - his "trust me" and .10cents will get you a dime. It ain't worth ****.

[ArK]

0 for mine too

[Warubozu]

Starstreak, how is your new unit doing? I've been following your posts and wanted to know how your unit is doing. I looked at the NZ at CompUSA and was pretty impressed. I'm thinking of going to Byteware to get a closer look and a real "hands on" feel for it. I believe Byteware has it pretty good deal on it too. At least thats what I was told.

[fc2003]

Originally posted by lanchman
The new battery is smart. click on the battery, then details.
Thanks. Hope my NZ from Sonystyle will show zero as well. It will be very amazing if the count is not zero as the unit is supposedly just landed Hong Kong.

[starstreak]

damn it. I don't want to go thru all this again for 2 hours. It had better work once I get it off the charger. Its only been on in for about 2 hours. gonna leave it on till the light goes off.

Oh battery cover is the same. I still have a gap between the cover and the unit.

[davy19]

hmm i never chcecked when i got mine

but just checked now and it says 4, but owned mine for over a week now, so i should be ok.

[starstreak]

Well its been on the charger for 6 hours and the light is off. SHould I touch it? :) Dying to see if its gonna work.

[omgitsroy326]

it took me all day to drain it to 0 %... i'm charging it right now

[starstreak]

going to 0% in one day wasn't my problem. it was keeping it away from 0% in one day. LOL

[dimensiondvdrob]

Starstreak,

my policy when i buy electronics such as PDAs is i never buy anything that's not factory sealed.

[Hazmat]

Originally posted by starstreak
K, after 2 hours to do the exchange. I get a new unit. but heres the thing. I got an open box which the sales person said he opened in the back to check it out. Everything in the box was sealed and new, BUT my battery charge cycle was already at 2. Should I be worried? He said to trust him that he just opened it before bringing it to me, and that I can always bring it back again...doh another 2 hour wait.
You got it from Bestbuy huh?
http://www.bestbuysux.org/

[starstreak]

compusa

[starstreak]

well I took it off the charger. 8 hours. stopped somewhere around 4 hours.
I took about 5 pictures and 3 or 'em was with flash. kept them in that mode for about 3 minutes or so. battery went down to 75%, but went back to 96%. Which is a bit better than before. Before I think it would be like 89%. Will take more pictures.
Btw, I shoot to MS and always in best quality. use flash most of the time unless its bright enough.

[starstreak]

k so far up to 30 pictures and only 3 without flash. ended up with 74%. This is better than my old unit! Is this about what you people are getting?

[Unregistered]

At the end of the day, whats your battery indicator at? What what have you done with your unit? Just curious. And I know this is subjective, but just want to know.

[dorianne]

I am having a problem with keeping my battery charged. I use it too much, and play too many games. I have noticed that the camera with the flash really drains the battery. I took 3 pictures the other evening of the snow storm out my front door, and could not use the flash any more till I charged it some more.

[starstreak]

defanatly better than my first unit. It lasted even after taking all these pictures. Btw, do I have to charge it this way all the time? Doesn't seem right that I have to drain it to almost 0% first.

[omgitsroy326]

i drained it and i don't see a difference... i can't that many pictures in a day.... what's the best way to drain to 0??

[vansouza]

While mine reads 3, I have charged it at least 4 times a day for a week... and it has never gotten to zero before a charge... lowest was 76%.

[eric2002]

hmm, I got my NZ sealed (the box still had the sony seal in tact).. I immediately charged it for 4+ hours. When I first turned the unit on (after it's initial charge)...my battery read "2 cycles"? I've only charged it once...yet it still read 2 cycles? It doesn't worry me, because I am convinced it is a new unit.. but I am not sure why it would say 2 cycles after only 1 charge?

by the way, my unit seems to be running very strong... I've used it for about 5 hours and it still states it has 1 1/2 hours left. (I am having a tough time running it all the way down to or close to 0%).

[davy19]

maybe at the factory they test it somehow, and is comes up with 2 cycles.

sony does test them, or suppose to..somehow

[eric2002]

davy19, yes that is my thought also... but I am thrown off by the people who's NZ showed only 0 cycles? ...maybe sony randomly tests the units?
or maybe there are some lazy factory workers? ....who knows... my unit seems to be working fine though.

[SprSaiyan8]

i am glad to hear you are have better luck just keep your receipt did you get somekind of replacement plan

[davy19]

Originally posted by eric2002
davy19, yes that is my thought also... but I am thrown off by the people who's NZ showed only 0 cycles? ...maybe sony randomly tests the units?
or maybe there are some lazy factory workers? ....who knows... my unit seems to be working fine though.


I think they randomly check, like every 5th one..or so

I use to work for Sony Electronics a few years back, and I had to go out to one of the facotries in Pennslyvania, where they made speakers, and got to see how the assmebly line worked, I remember when they were giving me a tour of the QA, thye only picked every 4 or 5 to test physically but inspected every single one.

[SprSaiyan8]

i got mine form compusa as will and it had 2 cycles on it i will ask my wife today when i see her if see had anything on her see just got one too she love it

[starstreak]

k i'm still at work and its been off the charger for almost 10 hours. I loaded the camera app once(stayed in it for like 10seconds), took NO pictures. Used it off and on for calc and such. brightness set at 50% and BT on. about 3 sms message send using BT. i figure no more than 30mins max powered on. I'm at around 75% battery life. Is that ok?

while on my first unit and O took about 4 shots with flash, I would end up with 35-40% battery by the time I got home, so if I'm higher than that, at least I know i'm doing better, or the 4 flash shots before was a killer. :)

[ralchizar]

Those stats for the battery are not really all that great, but I would not return it just yet. As you can see from other threads the battery life gets better with use. Try draining and charging a few times before you do anything drastic.

[starstreak]

this is my second unit. the first was far worse. I just wanted to know if this "sounded" like what it should be at.

[pdagal]

That sounds pretty much like mine.
I've noticed that just launching the camera app and initializing the camera produces a noticable drain. If I go ahead and take a few pix (e.g.: 5) after launching the app, it doesn't dent much more.

Originally posted by starstreak
k i'm still at work and its been off the charger for almost 10 hours. I loaded the camera app once(stayed in it for like 10seconds), took NO pictures. Used it off and on for calc and such. brightness set at 50% and BT on. about 3 sms message send using BT. i figure no more than 30mins max powered on. I'm at around 75% battery life. Is that ok?

[starstreak]

k but thats too bad for Sony. at 50% power, it'll drop to like 35% or lower, which makes flashes useless for half the battery. Somehow I would rather pay for the few ounces a double capacity battery would have made (if you ever held the battery its super light).

[starstreak]

OK I'm home. Full days use of the NZ90. About 11 hours off the charger. Lasted to 60-65%. (see few post back on my NZ90 settings for light and etc.) Which for me is 2x as good as my first unit. Now then, I desided to take some pictures. I turn on the camera, and 5 seconds into the "options" menu, it tells me no flash. I go back to camera, and remove the no flash. I could then take one shot and about 3 more without. I then turned it off for 1 minute. I turned it on again and could take one more with flash. 10 minutes later I could take 3 in a row with flash. then camera wouldn't work. Now I look at the unit and I still have 50% battery. Its good in that I wanted the camera for "emergencies" when I wouldn't have my 5mp Sony 707 with me. But I really wish Sony would have a better handle on how the battery gets affected by the camera. Its so wishy-washy on if it wants to use the flash. At least I know I can go for a whole day without fear of the battery killing over.

update:34 shots total and about 12 are with flash(you can trick the camera to taking a flash shot. when it says its too low, wait about 3-5 seconds and hit the flash button and snap quick. It'll allow the flash to go off) batter went down to around 28% but resting now and its up 35%.

[mace2k]

Got mine yesterday from PcConnection (with free 128MB Memory Stick). Still had factory tape. Unit shows 2 charges already after being plugged in at my desk overnight.

On a side note...I also purchased 2 "spare" batteries at the same time. Haven't tried swapping them out yet, but I travel quite a bit and was figuring that I would need the extra battery life....

[mashoutposse]

The reason for the steep drop in the battery life reading after booting up the camera app (as well as the reason for the long bootup itself) is that the camera has to physically 'warm up' and get ready -- a particularly energy-draining activity. As stated previously, high-drain activities cause LiIon batteries to give a brief inaccurate reading, which slowly corrects itself in a few seconds.

[eric2002]

anyone know about the "button battery"?
I am curious, the Sony NZ handbook states that the button battery will charge off the main battery. Will it do this on it's own? do I have to leave the NZ off the charger un-used for a period of time for the button to charge? does it constantly charge?
-the handbook touched on this, but wasn't very clear?
thanks,

[dimensiondvdrob]

the button battery is JUST for memory purposes when the main battery is removed or very low on juice. it will stay charged while the main battery has juice and will only be used when the main battery cannot sustain itself during low battery or battery is removed episodes.