It does seem transferring settings and/or anything from the Android runtime horribly impact battery life and performance.
I too use my Pebble but often I've just started just using it as a watch and gone to connect it to my Passport only after I want to update it or download some new interface stuff (apps/watchfaces, etc)
I know that's not the point of the Pebble, but i just get so many messages that it drives me nuts to have notifications on!
Almost beat Pixel Miner again (kills your Pebbles battery) so i may set it up to not vibrate on BBM's and leave those for my phone... I've just been out of the habit of having it connected because of how awful my Z10's battery life was!
Praise be unto our Lord Squircle | Passport SQW100-1/10.3.0.1418