I've had an MX-980 for about 3 months now and I haven't found the battery life to be a problem at all. I was a bit concerned before getting it after reading some of the posts here but figured worst case I can pick up a spare battery and charger off of eBay for $20. After using it for a while I haven't bothered with the spare battery. I find the charge lasts 2-3 days so it's no big deal if I forget to put it in the base at the end of the night. Also, I find that it will charge up at least 10-20% after only a few minutes so if it's really low then I just put it in the charger after the system is on and I'm watching something. By the time I need it again it's got plenty of charge.