Rondo 3 battery life using omni mic setting: with and without using AudioLink

[Mary Beth]

@Lauren

If you ever find yourself using Rondo 3 all day in your omni mic program AND not using AudioLink that day, I am curious about your battery life.

I am wondering if battery life is longer when using omni mic setting since the processor is not doing the same kind of evaluating listening scenes?

And I am wondering how much battery life is reduced when using AudioLink?

[Lauren]

Not sure how thoroughly I can answer the question asked but can at least describe typical scenarios for myself. All my processors have Omni as program one and AI-Strong as program 2. 

I occasionally do have days where I don’t stream at all or stream minimally. I did start out with Natural when bimodal however cannot compare to now as back then/originally I would wear the Sonnet 2 during work and switch to my Rondo 3 after work for streaming so neither processor got a full day’s worth of use. Probably related to the replacement mentioned later but the original Rondo 3 would sometimes not last 5+ hours of streaming; I cannot reliably say it was either the battery or the Natural Directionality though  when it started dying consistently it was in Omni so the battery was the likely culprit.

Typical Wearing Day:

7:30am-5:30pm at work, not streaming.

5:30pm-10:00pm (ish) home and streaming.

Both Rondo 3s rarely die before I’m done. If they get bumped off the charging pad and don’t get a full charge one might die mid day at work but rarely both and when my original Rondo 3 was dying consistently at 2pm (when I started wearing it more) it got replaced a few days before I went bilateral. 

Occasional Wearing Days:

7:30am-5:30pm at work not streaming. 

~5:30pm-7:00pm movie start time. If I catch a movie that starts before 7:00pm there’s not time to do any streaming and when I get home later it’s straight to bed. If a movie starts later, sometimes I can squeeze in maybe 30 minutes of streaming but not always as I don’t want my Rondos dying at the theater. If I’m really worried I’ll take my Sonnet 2s with as backup.

Sometimes instead of a movie I’ll go to dinner with my Aunt and the timeline is similar to that of the movie, though I get home sooner so can do a little streaming before bed. For this I switch to Program 2 (AI-Strong) as it’s so helpful in noisy restaurants.

I sometimes do a quick battery check towards the end of work and if I think a top off is needed I’ll do that real quick (one at a time) using my 3-in-1 phone charger. The spot for the Apple AirPods is perfect for a Rondo 3 and it charges super fast. It’ll go from a ~2 ish hour estimated remaining battery to ~6 hours very quickly.

So far the only times I recall my Rondo 3s dying before I’m done is (ironically) during the monthly google meets. This past Sunday for example. I was wearing them from 5am-11am, not streaming during that time as I sat in on the meeting then ran errands after. Then from 11:30ish to about 8pm was streaming until first one died then the other. I was exhausted too so didn’t argue and took that as a sign that it was bedtime. 

[Mary Beth]

Thank you @Lauren

I am glad these Rondo 3 processors are typically lasting a full listening day for you!