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DualSense battery roundup

xenonium

xenonium

Member
Apr 3, 2020
257
I've added the times I found from the review thread below, but add more in the comments and I'll add them in.
It seems similarish to DS4, but heavily dependent on usage of haptics.

PushSquare
results in the battery life averaging around six to seven hours on a full charge
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The Verge
I was able to get around 6–7 hours of playtime on a charge
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IGN
I've found a full charge lasts around 10 to 13 hours
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Press Start
seems to last between 5-7 hours
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ArsTechnica
10 hours or so of gameplay on a single full charge of the DualSense controller while playing Spider-Man: Miles Morales, give or take. That number goes way down when playing a game like Astro's Playroom
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TheDanimal

TheDanimal

победитель победитель куриный ужин
Member
Oct 25, 2017
855
Man, I was really hoping it'd be a bit better, considering the switch pro controller's battery life :(
 
Magio

Magio

Member
Apr 14, 2020
648
Apparently it charges fast, and I can't remember my last 5+ hours uninterrupted gaming session. So I'm good.

Can understand why one would be disappointed, but I'll take the new features over longer battery life.
 
aidangs

aidangs

Member
Jan 8, 2019
537
The comment about Astro's Playroom is making me think that games that utilize the haptics and adaptive triggers more will run it down faster, which makes sense but could be a pain for bigger games.
 
ngower

ngower

Member
Nov 20, 2017
4,131
Nintendo have forever ruined me. My Wii U and Switch Pro controllers lasting like 40 hours or whatever is something I hope can be achieved by Sony and MS soon.
 
Risk Breaker

Risk Breaker

Member
Oct 25, 2017
883
In my experience, battery life for a controller heavily depends on how much its motors (vibration etc) are used.

Playing something like COD or Gears where you fire auto weapons 50% of the time obliterates my batteries every time, no matter the controller. I'm assuming Astro has a lot of that kind of stuff.
 
Geeklat

Geeklat

Member
Feb 13, 2018
268
Harris Katz said:
Helpful, but it looks all over the map! What is the equivalent time on a PS4 controller? I never pay attention on mine.
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PS4 Controller can range 4-8 depending on what you're doing and what the light bar is doing. I just always have a second controller charging and swap if I'm playing for a long time. My extra DualSense is already here in a charging dock waiting....
 

Deleted member 36578

Dec 21, 2017
26,561
God this suuuuuucks. I will have to get a second controller or a really really long usbc cable
 
B.O.O.M.

B.O.O.M.

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,831
Harris Katz said:
Helpful, but it looks all over the map! What is the equivalent time on a PS4 controller? I never pay attention on mine.
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I never tested my DS4 properly either but I reckon it lasts around 4-5 hours of gameplay for me at least. I don't if it lasts longer cz I just plug mine into charge once I am done
 
Wegelius

Wegelius

Member
Nov 27, 2017
143
If it keeps the really high polling rate, plus the haptics and adaptive trigger, I can see why the battery life is what it is.
 
RedHeat

RedHeat

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,744
Seems like 10-13 hours is the average, depending on what game what you're doing. I wonder what it is without the special features.
 
Mat-triX

Mat-triX

Member
Oct 27, 2017
972
I assume it's the touchpad again being the main battery drain, as it always has to sense touches & can never turn it off, just like the DS4.
 
Ultima_5

Ultima_5

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,684
wow. that's very low. shame its stuck w/ a built in rechargeable battery instead of being able to switch out AAs
 
opticalmace

opticalmace

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,053
Sounds decent. Anything is an improvement on the dualshock 4.

Guess I'll need to get a second controller though.
 
Zeroth

Zeroth

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
790
Curious if using a headset plays a bit part in the battery differences
 
AndrewDean84

AndrewDean84

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
11,595
Fontana, California
So like the PS4, I charge my controller after each gaming session. No big deal. I still would rather use my awesome rechargeable AA's.
 
WhtR88t

WhtR88t

Member
May 14, 2018
4,706
Yeah, I think games like Astrobot where the triggers and haptics are getting triggered 100% of the time have a negative effect on the battery life… 4 hours at full force feedback isn't too bad imo.

I'd be super curious for someone to turn off all the adaptive features in Settings and test in Astrobot. I bet there's a pretty big jump.
 
tomwarren

tomwarren

Senior Editor, The Verge
Verified
Apr 18, 2018
342
Not sure where this 2 hour claim came from, but I was just streaming Astro's for an hour and I'm still at 2/3 bars of battery life. Like we said in our review, it's around 6-7 hours.
 
DanteMenethil

DanteMenethil

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,101
Sucks it doesn't use rechargeable AAs. I would have liked to have another full charge at the ready with a 5 sec battery swap instead of cording the controller after every session.
 
BitterFig

BitterFig

Member
Oct 30, 2017
1,104
TheDanimal said:
Man, I was really hoping it'd be a bit better, considering the switch pro controller's battery life :(
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You can disable the adaptive triggers, tone down the haptic feedback, mute the microphone, the speaker and so on to have feature parity with the Pro controller and then maybe you can get similar battery life.

The only thing you can't tone down from the DS is the polling rate that is significantly higher than the one of the Pro controller which results in lower input lag but higher battery consumption. But since the battery size is a bit bigger on the Dualsense, maybe with all features off you are already pretty close to the Pro battery life.

For me I will put everything to the max, as long as it can hold one gaming session (2-3h), I don't care about the battery life.
 
viotech3

viotech3

Member
Jul 31, 2020
5,277
Maryland
Yeah this sounds about right for my PC usage. PC usage def. seems to be much higher due to lack of Haptics/Rumble alone. 7-8 is pretty solid!
 
nib95

nib95

Contains No Misinformation on Philly Cheesesteaks
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
18,498
Karak (ACG) and MHwilliams (USGamer) here. Both saying around 13 hours, similar to IGN.

Seems battery life can really vary. Astro's Playroom being more battery intensive than other games.

Karak said:
Decided to hold off on mine and shoot the gap a bit.

Some random stuff
Lots to like but some oddities I am investigating

Controller test to turning off 12 hours 43 minutes of solid playing - Expected
Best PlayStation controller ever - Really their best
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MHWilliams said:
Yeah, this battery life is about what I got too.
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Deleted member 679

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
14,741
I hope someone tests the battery life on PC/PS3, without all of the lights and new features. I'd want a Dual Sense mainly to use on PC and some times on the PS3, but battery life is my only issue with the DS4.
 
badboy78660

badboy78660

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,740
Thanks for the info OP. Preemptively, I purchased a second controller specifically because I was expecting as much.
 
Fawz

Fawz

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,702
Montreal
That's really bad, not being enough charge for a single day's worth of gaming is dissapoinintg. I guess it's expected when you look at the various battery draining features (Light, Touch Pad, Gyro, Adaptive Triggers, Microphone, Speakers, ect...)

At least the move to USB C should make charging easier, but I hope we have option to turn off some of the extras to save on battery life and that it doesn't degrade too much over time.
 
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