Z1 battery life is extremely bad

Just got a Z1 and i am currently trying to figure out a workflow for HDR shooting on filmsets.

The battery life seems to be extremely bad. The battery drains really quickly even if i dont do much. I am just connecting to wifi with various apps and dont even do any shooting. Battery drains within 2 hours.

Even after fully charging the z1 and then turning it off (yes i made sure its off and not in sleep mode) the battery drained to 20% within one day without using it.

Some developers in the community have connected to an external battery for longer use. RICOH has tested explicitly with the following Anker batteries:

…we have confirmed that RICOH THETA Z1 charges when connected via the bundled USB cable to the devices listed below. However, be aware that this use falls outside of the warranty, and the customer assumes all responsibility.

Portable battery chargers

  • Anker PowerCore Speed 20000 PD
  • Anker PowerCore 13400 Nintendo Switch Edition
  • Anker PowerCore 10000 PD

Full FAQ post here: How can I charge the battery? - トピックス(米国)

I personally used an Anker PowerCore 26800 with a THETA V for a timelapse project and it worked well.

I did some testing more elaborate testing as the high battery consumption is an issue for me as well.
You may check if the figures match your experience:

This should definitely not be the case!
Have you double-checked that the Z1 is really powered off completely?

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Awful battery I agree, much worse that it has been in their V model.
I could leave with that(with a powerbank) but if you add awful wifi range(2-3 meters top in DLOS) and most important their denial in acknowledgment of their bug in the Theta app that affects precision of location recorded in each sphere. It is going from 5-10 meters to 100 meters & more because of this bug and it makes both V and Z1 cameras absolutely not useful for me for GSV work.

Already sold my V and I am selling my Z1 now. Sorry Ricoh, there will be no more 360 degree cameras of your brand for me.

And a bit of advice to Ricoh support, when somebody sends you a support ticket about some bugs, try to read it first before you send anyone to your local repair centre. The bug I have reported is in your app which has been explained in great details in my ticket but you bluntly sent me to repair my camera.