Does bluetooth run down battery life much? And is bluetooth always running as long as its enabled?

 

If you're referring to the battery on your phone, then yet, it does run down the battery life. And yes, as long as it is enabled, it is always waiting for for a signal from a bluetooth enabled product.

Nice avatar, btw.

 

Thanks and you too.

That sucks, I guess to get the best battery life I will have to turn BT on and off everytime I want to use it in my car.

I have noticed that when it is enabled but not in the car the BT symbol is not displayed, that got me thinking. Oh well.

 

Depending on your phone, leaving BT on may not greatly impact your battery life. I know on the v710, I see very little difference between leaving the BT on all the time, and turning it off when not in use. I have set up shortcuts to turn on/off the BT, but I really only use it when I'm traveling (not in the car), and know I'm going to be away from my car (and possibly a charger) for long periods of time.

To put this in perspective, under normal (for me) use, with half a dozen or so calls a day, around 30-45 total minutes (so, not a lot), going in and out of my TL all day (so, lots of BT connects/disconnects), my phone battery will still show a full charge 24 hours later regardless of whether I have BT on or not. If BT were making a huge difference, I'd expect my standby time to be greatly impacted, and it simply isn't.

Of course, YMMV, especially with different models. From what I've heard, the v710 is unusually battery-friendly as BT phones go.

 

I've also noticed that the BT logo dissappears when I step away from my car. I've had several BT phones and only notice the battery drains fast when I'm actually in the car. Several times, I've forgotten to turn off bluetooth and never noticed any change in battery life as long as I was away from the car. I don't use BT for anything other than my car.