How long do batteries last in a Wiimote?

I put about 15 or so hours into Zelda, 5ish hours into Red Steel, and a lot of Wii Sports before my batteries died. My roommate also played Zelda as well. So I'd say my batteries died around the 25 hour mark but it might've been a bit longer than that. I turned down the speaker to two bars and I turned off rumble. I also invested in some rechargeable batteries. I think I read somewhere that the Wiimote uses up more battery life when it is used as a pointer. I got about 12 hours into Elebits (with some sporadic Wii Sports and Zelda) before I had to recharge.

diskeater: the pointer drain makes sense, because it requires the IR camera as well as the other parts to be working simultaneously

I'd say 20-30 hours for mine (Sports + Zelda). Subsequent batteries haven't fared as well, it seems.

6 hours, tops, for mine. I thought time just flew by, but actually the batteries just didn't last very long.

The pack-in batteries lasted maybe 20 hours in mine, but the Energizers I put in afterwards are still ticking along a month or so later. The pack-in batteries never last long at all when it comes to Nintendo products for some reason.

I think they made it around 20 hours of ZELDA-time for me as well. I'm not sure they were Panasonic, also; it's possible they're sourcing lots of different batteries. I'm just going into invest in rechargeables, obviously. And yeah, the Wavebirds get waaaaaay more time out of AAs than the Wiimotes do. I myself was considering turning off rumbling, but it's so enjoyably implemented in ZELDA that I can't bring myself to...

Maybe 20 hours of wii sports & super monkey ball. But, I turned off sound pretty much right away. When I started playing zelda, I went thru a couple batteries (50 hours a game play). Then I got rechargeables.

Thanks for the answers, all. I was just using the pack-ins as a metric since I figured everyone's would be the same. What a mysterious little device. I didn't think the IR camera would be that much of a drain, since I imagine the camera's still receiving even if it's not pointed at the TV, and the info it sends is updated just as often as any other input method. However, it does seem like turning off speaker/vibration can be a big boost. I think I'll just leave the speaker off by default unless given a reason not to. I've heard rechargeables are somehow bad for the Wiimote, but they're sure good for my wallet, and that's a question for another time.

Durhey - To answer your second question, Nintendo originally stated that you shouldn't use rechargeable batteries in the remotes but they revamped that statement and gave the thumbs up to using NiMH batteries. Keep your eyes peeled for a number of third-party battery packs to hit the market in the next month or two.