Topic: Did anyone buy an upgraded battery for their Wii U gamepad? anyone have experience with this?

I am planning on buying a Wii U pro controller (80 hours of battery life on single charge!!!!!?) anyway because I wanted to use it as much as possible, but since I will have to use the Wii U gamepad sometimes since the pro isn't supported on every game, I'm concerned about the battery life. alot of people complain that the battery life of the Wii U gamepad is very poor and some people upgrade its battery with a version that was released in the UK for 50$ or something. has anyone done this and noticed a massive improvement, or any trouble?

I have one, it was definitely an improvement and feel the battery is never an issue with us any more as we have more than enough time between charges.

Haven't invested in the upgraded battery from nintendo's site but the gamepad battery is bad. 2 1/2 hrs if I'm lucky. it was 3 maybe 3 1/2 hrs when i first got it. It's supposed to extend it to 8hrs on a single charge in theory. I say go for it. I'm in the US so it costs me 32 dollars on their site.

The extended battery was well worth it for me. (I have the official Nintendo battery.) It's very easy to install, but IIRC you need a small screwdriver to open for the the battery replacement on the back.

Before I got the extended Wii U battery, I often played with the power chord in the Gamepad for games like Pikmin 3, which wasn't very practical. Now I don't need to be concerned with the battery life, as long as recharge the Gamepad during the night.

If I remember rightly you get the screwdriver with the official battery

Yes, you're probably right. I have a small yellow screwdriver now that I don't remember having a year ago.

wow thanks for all the help everyone! does anyone have the link to their website? I'm terribly afraid to make a stupid mistake and get the wrong one. I like to search myself but I compare where I end up to the link you provide so I can be crazy careful.

This is the EU product, but I believe it's the same battery for all regions.
http://store.nintendo.co.uk/wii-u-accessories/wii-u-gamepad-b...

Thanks jariw, I couldn't find it at all! I took your link and from that I typed store.nintendo.com and then searched "battery" and found THIS link. US version for anyone who is wondering. Thanks! none of this "fixt it ;^)" THIS is what I was looking for, thank you!!!

https://store.nintendo.com/ng3/us/po/browse/productDetailColo...

If you have to pay that much for it in the UK, just import it from Japan.

18.33£.

That's where I got mine. The screwdriver needed to replace the battery is included. The extended life is significant. The battery is almost twice as big.

The official battery is worth it. There are a lot of people who consider buying a 3rd party battery, but I wouldn't risk it, because Nintendo will refuse to cover a Wii U GamePad that malfunctions with a 3rd party battery.

I keep mine at the lowest brightness with power saving off, and I basically never have to charge it, while I'm using it. If I play in off-TV mode, I put the screen brightness up to 2 or 3, and by the time I'm done playing on it, I put it on the charger right away and it's ready to go for next time. So ya, it's pretty hard to run out of battery with the high capacity battery, unless you are on the Wii U all day or something.

great tips, thanks!

To any wondering, go with the official battery. I tried both the 2550mah from Nintendo and the $15, off-brand 3700mAh from various online sites. The off brand WOULD be way better, if it actually worked. But it the red light would stay on no matter what, just wouldn't hold a charge.

Definitely don't chance it on a knockoff. The official battery at least doubles your playtime. Now I don't ever worry about battery life.

What would be extra cool is if someone made an external charger so I could have the old battery as spare rather than sitting in a box. Better still if Nintendo made this battery the default!

I need to buy the bigger battery. What I got instead was the Nyko add-on that you screw into the back and has a button on it that basically recharges the battery in the middle of your play session. It claims to extend the battery an additional 100%, and it got close for a while, but after about fivemonths of regular use, it now adds about 15 minutes to my play time. I still keep it on because I like the added weight of it and it has a nice little kickstand that is handy for times I don't want to use the Gamepad, but still want the map (or just times I want to watch Netflix off-TV), but it no longer has value as a battery extension.

yea, the upgraded battery should be the one that comes in the game pad from the beginning.

I actually feel that the limited charge of the battery is good for me, as it makes me stop playing, and do something else for a bit. It's nice to take a break, but yeah...sometimes I don't want to do that, lol.

I still have the original battery because I don't run out of power on the default battery much at all. Usually for the sort of games I tend to put a long gaming session into I'd rather play with the Pro Controller because it is more comfortable and the rumble isn't crap. And when I'm playing off-TV it's usually for 30mins or so at a time, because that's just how it is for some reason.

The only exception so far is Wind Waker HD where I found the use of the GamePad almost necessary. Because Zelda is one of those rare games where the map is about more than just "where's the next objective" which you can do on a HUD. With Zelda you need to know which rooms you've visited in order to progress. So having a full sized map on the GamePad is invaluable. So for me Wind Waker HD is basically the only game where the GamePad was very helpful but also had me playing for more than an hour at a time.

I suspect I may want to "fix" this "problem" before the Zelda Wii U comes out. Though I reckon a USB charging cable for the GamePad may be a better solution..........

It's nice to know that your GamePad will last a really long time for off-TV play and games that effectively use the GamePad screen. It just feels more powerful to have a longer lasting battery, especially for something like the GamePad.

Once the Wii U gets cheaper for Nintendo, it will probably be included with every console set, but earlier adopters will always get the harder sell. That's always how it is with a growing product.