Recommended: Battery Bar

Stable release:
http://osirisdevelopment.com/BatteryBar/download.html

Information:
http://osirisdevelopment.com/BatteryBar/index.html

Unlike Windows' bundled power meter this application helps you estimating battery time left based on average calculation of your objective use of anylaptop computer. The key feature: the more battery cycles you do the more accurate the estimated time left. Very useful.

 

I agree! BatteryBar is a great little app.
Provides a more accurate bat-life estimate which is always visible in your system tray (unlike the Win provided app).

 

Notebook hardware control works pretty well too. Also provides charging rates and temperatures on the system.

 

I like it! Thank you for sharing.

 

It's a nice little utility. But from using i a couple of days, the difference is not significant to the built in windows meter. And plus the fact that it needs .net services, adds a couple of services running + battery bar itself translates to a few more seconds on my boot up. So I settled on uninstalling it, since the results in my AAO are just a few minutes from what windows is reporting about my battery.

 

I tested it a bit differently. I replaced 2900 mAh battery with a 6-cell 6600 mAh and things go very interesting with a big battery. You see the full battery time is around 6,5-7 hours, but windows keeps getting confused, so from a built-in battery status I'm getting random figures of 8-11 hours while idling at 99% battery. battery bar worked perfect from the initial boot without any discharge cycles at that time with only full lifetime N/A'd. Windows them finnally sets down at app. 9:40 hours, battery bar shows 7:03. It's not a countdown thing ... if you look closely battery bar also changes its mind a lot. I don't mind 30 minutes but 2-3 hours are intolerable to me.

On my other laptop it's almost good as if nothing was used anyway, because the battery is 4400, a bit old now and it drains out in 1:15 hours or so. Battery bar shows 1:10 hours.