Railfan Technology > Rechargable batteries

I know the old saying you get what you pay for but I want some opinions. I want an extra battery for my Canon T8i just for backup. I see Canon LP-E17's from 55.00 to about 70.00 plus,
There are many variations from 2-pak batteries with chargers from 20.00 to 40.00. Anyone ever had any experience with these knock offs?

I bought a Nikon D7100 from B&H about 7 years ago and it came with a Nikon battery and a free Watson battery. The Watson battery was fine for a while it lasted about 2/3 the time of the Nikon. It just mostly died a year ago while the original Nikon is still doing great. I say mostly died because it still charges but it will only take about 100 pictures before it is dead.  I bought a new Nikon battery to replace it with and it works great. I like having 2 batteries to replace in the field  the batteries always seem to die at the wrong time.

So to answer your question yes the batteries will work just not take as many pictures and will have a shorter lifespan. If you can live with that they are fine. Yes the OEM batteries are very expensive but they last a lot longer. I bought my new Nikon battery from E-Bay for about 60% of the list price and it is great so far.

Scott



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/21 07:26 by seod.

In camera batteries, I've never had issues with secondary market batteries.  My rechargeable battery issues have mostly been with the AAA, AA, C, and D "knockoff" rechargeables.  I haven't had bad luck with secondary market 2-way radio batteries, either.  Sadly, both the name brand and "knockoff" batteries are now almost all made in China.  I don't like that.

Some years ago I bought a knock-off battery for one of my Nikons, they certainly are a lot cheaper.  FWIW, like Scott's experience, it started out fine but slowly faded and finally died, while the Nikon originals keep motoring on.  On the other hand, I bought a knock-off for a power drill many years ago, and it just keeps working.  As best as I can tell it is gamble, but so long as you carry some backups with you the stakes should not be too high.

JBWX

So far, since last summer anyway, the Watson batteries that came along with my Canon 6D from B&H last just as long as the Canon battery. I rotate through all three as they die and haven't noticed any difference in number of pics they take before needing recharged.

I've had excellent results with Wasabi brand batteries for Nikon EN-EL3 (D70S), EN-EL3E (D300), EN-EL4 (MB-D10 for D300), and EN-EL15 (Nikon 1 V1, D810, and MB-D12). I also have Wasabi batteries for the Fuji NP-B126 used in my Fujifilm X-E2S and X-H1, and have had no issues with any battery.

I wish I could say the same about some other brands I've tried (and forgotten about). If there is any difference in performance between the OEM batter included with the camera, and the equivalent Wasabi brand, I've never noticed it. I have relied on their batteries in professional assignments. Wasabi is a trusted, respected brand. I wouldn't hesitate buying them again, or recommending them to others.

As glowing a review as I gave, I have to point out I have no financial interest in the company, other than as a satisfied consumer.

Arved Grass
Fleming Island, FL

I mostly used Duracell alkaline batteries for decades; but 5 to 10 years ago they started leaking before they ran out of power.  
I've had better luck with Energizer alkalies since then.  But they are now mostly made in China, or are counterfeits.

I've used NiMH AA batteries for 15 years for digital photography. 
I've found that most brands self-discharge in a week or three; and then will go dead quickly in use.
So I try to charge them in a slow rate, good external charger shortly before use.

But I have found that Duracell NiMH AA batteries have a self discharge time of several years.
And my Nikon batteries have excellent self discharge life.

Another vote for Wasabi batteries here, as Arved wrote above.  I've been using EN-EL18 Wasabi Li-ion replacements in my Nikon D850 for two years now without a problem.
GK



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/21 08:22 by TheNavigator.

When I bought my new Canon 5Diii in 2012 from B&H Photo, even though the 'package deal' included some knockoff 2nd battery, I opted to buy a Canon grip and 2nd Canon battery at the same time.  I consistently got more than 600 frames on a single charge of those two batteries used together in the grip, usually spread across 2 days of shooting.  About 2-3 years ago, I noticed that when I did a battery check after a fresh recharge, they were only taking about 65% of a charge.  About the same time, my shoots skinnyed down from 7-800 shots over 2 days to 3-400 in a single shoot, not on consecutive days.  I never had any problems running out of a charge.  But just in case, I always took the optional 6-AA cell battery drawer for the grip and freshly charged Eneloops along with me. 

If considering getting a 2nd battery, based on my own experience, I'd get a 2nd and possibly a 3rd memory card as well.  Fortunately, I never did weddings where timing was everything, but there were a couple of instances when I ran out of memory card space (RAW format) unexpectedly forcing me to make a card swap 'under stress'.  I steadily replaced memory cards as their capacities grew and their prices fell.  I stopped at 16GB.  There's times that taking some photos on one memory card and more on a 2nd can save the day in the event one of them goes bad.  That's why I always bought genuine Sandisk memory cards...NEVER had a failure since I started shooting digital in 2004!!  Another confirmation of "you get what you pay for".

My experience is less than great with aftermarket lithium camera batteries.  I've been shooting with cameras that use LP-E6 batteries of one sort or another for about a decade now.  I still have and use my very first battery.  I think it was my 5D3 that came with a couple extra Watson batteries.  I always had problems getting the Canon chargers to accept them, and in a few months even the aftermarket charger wouldn't touch them.  Before that happened, though, their capacity had gone way down.  Before that, I had some aftermarket BP511s from my 20D and 40D.  Short life, capacity that quickly degraded, and were worthless in the cold. 

Since then I just don't even mess with the aftermarket stuff.  It's cheaper in the short run, but my real Canon batteries last a decade and keep going.  Maybe one of these days my inner cheapskate will come out and I'll try one again, but so far my experience hasn't been good.

I have a bunch of Watson batteries for my Canon 5D4.  They work fine.   Maybe not as "good" as Canon, but certainly good enough.  And, there is a bonus of having a couple of spares, you never run out of power.  There are other 3rd party brands that also have good reviews. Check out B&H photo.

For "AA" rechargables, I have gotten good service from Panasonic "Eneloop"
cells and the charger  bought as a "bundle" from the good folk at B&H.

A concern.  Some "large capacity" rechargable "AA" cells are larger in diameter
than typical and may not fit in multi-cell battery compartments.

Be Well,

Tim Colbert K3HX

Three years ago when I bought my camcorder, a Canon Vixia R800, I picked up two third-party aftermarket batteries + charger. I've noticed that for output they only last 60-75% as long as OEM, but they only cost about $10 per battery versus the $70 or so for OEM.

About two years ago I got into digital photography, and I've been using Canon DSLRs that use the EP-L6(N). I bought a couple third-party aftermark batteries as backup, but I don't know that I've ever had to change batteries for shooting photos once. Therefore, it's hard to say if there's a similar drop-off in duration per charge, and I haven't been using them long enough to get an idea for their long-term longevity.

I did recently pick up another Canon DSLR that also uses the EP-L6(N) for video work, and I plan to pick up 2 or 4 more aftermarket batteries. Since video is more power-hungry than photo, I think this should really show any difference. However, even if it's a similar drop-off to what I saw with the camcorder batteries, I think the aftermarkets are the better bargain with ~60% of the life at only ~15% of the cost.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/21 06:43 by Mid_Iowa_Rails.

K3HX Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> For "AA" rechargables, I have gotten good service
> from Panasonic "Eneloop"
> cells and the charger  bought as a "bundle" from
> the good folk at B&H.
>
> A concern.  Some "large capacity" rechargable
> "AA" cells are larger in diameter
> than typical and may not fit in multi-cell battery
> compartments.
>
> Be Well,
>
> Tim Colbert K3HX

I have the panasonic also.  My Nikon D-780 has a charger you can run off your car USB, or 110  but the battery last long enough never been a problem but I could charge on the run or while waiting, lots of that in our hobby.

For the D-750 I also bought a replacement charger that also allowed charging off a USB or 110 so.  

Bob