I have almost 500 minutes on Panasonic Industrial Use alkalines. These were
placed in my unit after it was repaired from HP. These are alkalines, not
lithiums. I have typically moderate to heavy use. I have not used the serial
port with this 500 minute run, and the batteries still show 1/4 full on the
meter. I would suspect that this is medium to average lifetime for the
batteries that I have experienced so far.
I have NEVER had the Ogo fail due to batteries losing power rapidly - especially
alkalines. There is always plenty of time to switch batteries (Sometimes even
days on a low battery warning). I have never lost data due to batteries.
I suggest that you make yourself an AC adpator for your Ogo if you use the
serial port and/or SRAM card a lot. It even makes the printing from the Ogo to
the laserjet clear - no garbage printing due to slightly low batteries.
Jeff Hinman
ust941@edcca4.bgl.ca.boeing.com