Tangential, but one reason zojirushi is a buy it for life product is because you can get spare parts for a very long time. I have a 20 year old zj with no fundamental failures beyond the cookpot getting old and dented, and zj part replacements are easy and cheap.
Disappointing aspect indeed, but the battery is only relevant to people that use the clock to set cooking times a lot AND ALSO keep their rice cooker unplugged. The intersection of those 2 groups is likely minimal, and the slight inconvenience of setting the time for the aforementioned group is not that bad.
