Intro

Archos, as well as Apple, claims their batteries last "the lifetime of the product", but we all know this isn't true. So, when your AV300 just doesn't seem to hold a charge like it used to, what are you to do? Well, NewMP3Technology has the solution: 3rd party battery replacements! Mike Freeman was kind enough to send me a battery for review and I must say I am quite pleased. Their replacement battery works every bit as good as the original did the day I got my AV300. (Please see my Archos Battery FAQ for detailed testing of "new" AV300 battery performance.)

Testing the Old

Before testing the new battery, I first wanted to see how good my 10 month old battery was holding up. With the LCD brightness set at full, and all time-outs set at minimum, I tested my old battery's video playback twice and both times it came out at about 2h and 30m. In my Archos Battery FAQ you can see that a "new" battery should get about 3h and 30m, so my battery had certainly slipped a bit!

Swapping in the New

Now that I was convinced that I certainly needed a new battery, it was time to take the old one out and put the new one in. This processes is pretty easy, but it took me a bit to find a screw driver that could unscrew the single screw holding the battery cover on (see Glenn's HD Replacement How-To for pictures and instructions on removing the battery). Once I had the screen out and the battery cover removed, it still took a bit of work to get the old battery out.

Once you have the batteries side-by-side, you'll notice that NewMP3Technology's battery is about a millimeter shorter than the Archos one but otherwise nearly identical. Since the battery needs to be a precise length to have have firm contact with the AV300's power terminals, after I inserted the NewMP3Technology battery, I placed a little bit of rolled up paper between the end of the battery and the AV300 battery cover.

Testing the New

I used the following files in all my tests for this review:

• Video:
• Looped one 50m 27s AVI with 743kbps video and 128kbps audio bit rates.
• Audio:
• I repeated the 4 songs that came on my AV300 (each is encoded at 128kbps CBR):
• Brave New World.mp3
• Mirror.mp3
• Steve_pride.mp3
• Through the rain.mp3

Once I installed the new battery I ran the unit through a full charge cycle to make sure I got a good, clean charge. The battery seemed to be working fine. With full, clean charges, I did a series of tests. For all tests I used the shortest time-outs on the AV300.

• Video:
• LCD-Max test: 3h 28m (right on par with a new Archos battery)
• LCD-Min test: 5h 04m (again, right on par)
• Audio (two identical tests with LCD at Min):
• 8h 48m
• 8h 46m (a tad below average, but well within the range of a new Archos battery)

There you have it. The NewMP3Technology performs just like a brand-new Archos battery for video and just a little bit below average for audio.

Increase in Battery Life?

On their website, NewMP3Technology claims a "10-30%" increase in battery life for your AV300. In my tests, I didn't see an increase over a new Archos battery, but it did perform right on par. Their claim for video playback time was right in line with my tests - 3h and 30m, but their Archos-original battery only tested at 2h and 45m. On my FAQ you can see that I tested 3 different, new AV300s and got between 3h 30m and 3h 45m. If you have a new AV300, you may want to test it first to see if you'll be getting an increase in battery life. If your battery is a few months old like mine (10 months) however, you may see a substantial increase over current performance: in my case, 39%!

Conclusion

The NewMP3Technology battery makes an excellent replacement or spare for your AV300. It is a pity the battery is a tad short, but this is easily fixed with a bit of paper. The battery performs almost exactly like an original for Video and just a tad below average for Audio. If your AV300 is 6+ months old, don't wait! Get a replacement and enjoy a return of the good old days!

This article was originally posted to Shane Brinkman-Davis' Archos Website