Band Battery replacement and or upgrade

[Jakoh]

Hi,
Have had the band for more than 1.5 years. The battery is finally starting to die faster. SO i was thinking about an upgrade or replacement. Called M$ and they said they dont replace the battery. They will exchange it if they find a problem.
So i looked around found this teardown. https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Microsoft+Band+Battery+Replacement/38109
Its mostly true, the cover is "glued" to the watch. so its not as easy to remove and must be pried. It requires a T3 screw driver, i had both a t2 and t4, my luck. The battery terminals are soldered and gooped, the connector is gooped, the wire is super thin. my plan of attack is to cut the wire off the battery and find one of similar size which by the way is 20mmx14mmx4mm. Search for this battery on ebay. "battery 501220" some soldering skills will be required. FYI, there are two batteries, one on each side.
here are some pictures taken with L950 (with a 10x loop)

 

[Chintan Gohel]

Just go for the replacement - that is a better option since you get an entirely new device - now that you've opened it, I don't think MS will give you a replacement

 

[Jakoh]

I am sure i wont get a entirely new device, probably a refurbished one.
Plus it was left for them to determine if there was something wrong with mine, there is nothing wrong with mine. The battery works, just last 60% of the time as before (while tracking GPS).
Since my band is out of warranty, It would have also cost like a ridiculous amount ~120ish.
My second option is to get a bigger battery, tape it to the band and use for bike only purposes. And go for a Garmin Fenix 3 HR or Band 3 for my daily driver.

 

[Chintan Gohel]

I am sure i wont get a entirely new device, probably a refurbished one.
Plus it was left for them to determine if there was something wrong with mine, there is nothing wrong with mine. The battery works, just last 60% of the time as before (while tracking GPS).
Since my band is out of warranty, It would have also cost like a ridiculous amount ~120ish.
My second option is to get a bigger battery, tape it to the band and use for bike only purposes. And go for a Garmin Fenix 3 HR or Band 3 for my daily driver.

since it's out of warranty, carry on then and share with us how it goes -using a bigger battery

 

[CrippsCorner]

I too wondered about changing the batteries, but it seemed it would cost me about ?30.

I got a secondhand Band off eBay for ?45 and it was absolutely mint, with the box, manual, another cable etc... definitely worth the extra.

If you wanted to go directly via Microsoft, I spoke to them on their online chat and they told me they could specifically mark on my account that I wanted a brand new replacement rather than a refurbished one (I chose not to do this as it was ?90 either way)