[quick99si]

Most everybody will agree that anything short of "scientific" logging is unreliable when it comes to comparing battery life. Signal, usage (data, text, voice), backlight, runing services will all have a significantly larger impact than a taskbar IMO.

Not to mention that the battery charge meter is far from accurate, and your 4% drop is basically as good as being in your head.

I would recommend using a program that can display or log battery consumption (in mA) and doing some longer term testing with and without the taskbar mod.

BTW battery charge indicator is especially inaccurate near the 100% mark.