Battery advice

Thanks for your thoughts on this chaps
– much as I thought

Cheers!

btw: Ordered & received 2 batteries from 7dayshop – we’ll see how they go!

Rechargeable Cells

Can’t comment about SLR Batteries yet (though my first additional “pattern” unit for my recently acquired EOS350D has just arrived, it cost £15 as opposed to ca.£45 for a genuine Canon cell).

However, I have used non-branded rechargeable cells on various Canon camcorders for 15 years, with no problems.

I would recommend using one of the web-retaillers rather than buy bargain basement cells off un-proven ebay sellers, I would also recommend use of well established brands such as Uniross, Hahnel etc.

On (older type)camcorder cells many pattern brands offer “universal” cells to which you fit one of a number of compatibility “mounts” or “covers” to suit the brand of camcorder you have. I prefer cells tailored to fit directly without such adaptors, simply as it’s one less thing to lose/break, and a proper fit also reduces chances of the British weather getting into the electrics too – not that any of us use our equipment in the inclement British summer of course… The pattern cells for current SLRs (and presumably for the current smaller camcorders too) seem more specific, and are proper matches to the original branded part.

If you enter your battery description on G**gle or similar, then you will probably find many of the hits are for “pattern” brands, and by following the links back to traders’ webpages you can find many suitable “fits” at varying prices.

Do take care to check the cell capacity before purchase, as some do not match the branded units, some are lower in terms of mAH, but you can also often find higher capacity units which will fit the camera/camcorder and last longer between recharges than branded units.

Of course, few of the camera manufacturers actually manufacture cells themselves anyway, they subcontract the work out to manufacturers who specialise in cell manufacture – so in effect the cell supplied originally is probably only a “badge engineered ” unit anyway ;).

Paul F

7 DAY SHOP sell them for around £10 for a pack of 2 . ive bought them from that store about 3 years ago and they are still working fine today . yes they do seem to out last the OM’s .

I have a number of third party batteries for my Nikon.

I’d say they really aren’t as good as the o/e.

But then again, the O/e is about £30 and the eBay specials about £5

And they definitely aren’t six times worse.

Moggy

There are mixed feelings about 3rd party battery suppliers. I bought 3rd party batteries for my old camera, and they work just as well as the Olympus branded ones.

That said, I did notice that build quality, whilst good, wasnt equal to the Oly supplied ones (one of the 3rd party batts ‘shell’ fell off – nothing a bit of sellotape didnt solve; and the battery still works fine)

I have read on forums all over the place about peoples different experiences – some people have found their 3rd party batts out perform the originals; others talk of near total rubbish when it comes to the batts.

I dont know how ebay sellers work and how ‘reliable’ they are when it comes to batts, but I myself would prefer to buy from ‘reputable’ distributors like Amazon or warehousexpress – I think you can be more certain of what you’re buying when you use such companies.

Generally, third party batteries are great and will work fine, saving you a bit of dosh.

i hope that helps

EDIT – just remembered – I believe you can void some warrantys by using 3rd party batteries, but if the camera needs to be sent back to be repaired for whatever reason, just put the original battery in and voila.