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Has anyone tried any 3rd party replacements for lithium ion camera
batteries?
I would like couple spares for my nikon en-el1 pack, and I see various
taiwanese made replacements available on the internet for a fraction of
the price. These invariably advertise a higher capacity than my nikon
original battery (680mAh).

Can the replacements be trusted? If they last for as many shots as the
original and can be charged even half as many times, it's a deal.

Don't know about 3rd party batteries in general, but have used two from
Sterling Tek (sterlingtek.com) in my CP 5700 with success. I have two Nikons
and two Sterlings and rotate through them. In use, I can't tell which one is
in the camera and would guess I get similar results with both.

I've bought batteries from Thomas Distributing for a long time and never had
any problems.

--
Canon 300D
Photoshop 7

Ellis Veech
(E-Mail Removed)

"Jacobe Hazzard" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:U7adna2JzsdVngjcRVn-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Has anyone tried any 3rd party replacements for lithium ion camera
> batteries?
> I would like couple spares for my nikon en-el1 pack, and I see various
> taiwanese made replacements available on the internet for a fraction of
> the price. These invariably advertise a higher capacity than my nikon
> original battery (680mAh).
>
> Can the replacements be trusted? If they last for as many shots as the
> original and can be charged even half as many times, it's a deal.
>
>

"Jacobe Hazzard" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:U7adna2JzsdVngjcRVn-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Has anyone tried any 3rd party replacements for lithium ion camera
> batteries?
> I would like couple spares for my nikon en-el1 pack, and I see various
> taiwanese made replacements available on the internet for a fraction of
> the price. These invariably advertise a higher capacity than my nikon
> original battery (680mAh).
>
> Can the replacements be trusted? If they last for as many shots as the
> original and can be charged even half as many times, it's a deal.

I replaced a NiMH laptop battery with a third party, no-name, low-price
battery. The replacement claimed higher amp-hours than the original
and my testing showed that, indeed, it powered the computer longer
than the original. It lasted more years too.

Alan

Jacobe Hazzard wrote:
> Has anyone tried any 3rd party replacements for lithium ion camera
> batteries?
> I would like couple spares for my nikon en-el1 pack, and I see various
> taiwanese made replacements available on the internet for a fraction
> of the price. These invariably advertise a higher capacity than my
> nikon original battery (680mAh).
>
> Can the replacements be trusted? If they last for as many shots as the
> original and can be charged even half as many times, it's a deal.

I would trust Hahnel batteries - they are about half the price of
Manufacturers' own-brand. I have their EN-EL1 equivalent and have had no
problem.

I would not, in general, trust something at a tenth of the price.

David

I used to have a fuji Finepix 6800z. The Fuji battery replacement is
something like $50-60 (NP-80). I bought a DigiPower brand from B&H, $35. It
was good, but it was never the capacity of the original Fuji.Perhaps only
half the capacity. It infact failed to hold a reasonable charge after 1.5
years while the Fuji was still going strong. After 3 years the Fuji battery
started not holding a good charge so I went on eBay and bought a generic one
for $7 plus $6 shipping. This battery seemed better than the Digipower, but
still shy of the Fuji battery supplied with the camera. It seemed a bit
weaker with every charge.

I was on a business trip 900 miles from home. Before I had to catch a plane,
I took some time and went the zoo that everyone was recommending. My battery
was charged and ready to go. While at the zoo, nearly 3/4 way through the
battery started showing the nearly empty sign, but luckily kept going long
enough to finish shooting. When I got home the battery was exhausted.

Now annoyed with the camera and battery, I sold it on eBay and Bought a Fuji
A330 for less than what I sold the 6800 for. I've shot 110 pictures on the
two AA Ray-o-vacs and they still have not quit or even showed a weak signal.
I've shot flash and keep the LCD on. I'd never leave the LCD on with the
6800.

The 6800z gave excellent image quality for a 3mp camera, it was more the
NP-80 battery and power consumption. Fuji's battery seemed the best, but I'm
disappointed it lasted only 3 years for a $60 item. The A330's image quality
is the same, if not better in some respects, but I go for 6 months on a $5
12 pack of AAs and no recharging hassels. When I bought it, I was planing on
using Ni-Mh AAs, but Alkalines are fine.

So, I'm not very excited about 3rd party Li-ions, or Li-ion batteries in
general. They seem to last 3 years in laptops as well before dying and it
costs $150 or more to replace. OTOH, if I judge Li-ion batteries by my
digital Rebel, I'd be impressed (as long as it doesn't stop holding a decent
charge in 3 years).
John


"Jacobe Hazzard" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:U7adna2JzsdVngjcRVn-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Has anyone tried any 3rd party replacements for lithium ion camera
> batteries?
> I would like couple spares for my nikon en-el1 pack, and I see various
> taiwanese made replacements available on the internet for a fraction of
> the price. These invariably advertise a higher capacity than my nikon
> original battery (680mAh).
>
> Can the replacements be trusted? If they last for as many shots as the
> original and can be charged even half as many times, it's a deal.
>
>

Jacobe Hazzard wrote:
> Has anyone tried any 3rd party replacements for lithium ion camera
> batteries?
> I would like couple spares for my nikon en-el1 pack, and I see various
> taiwanese made replacements available on the internet for a fraction of
> the price. These invariably advertise a higher capacity than my nikon
> original battery (680mAh).
>
> Can the replacements be trusted? If they last for as many shots as the
> original and can be charged even half as many times, it's a deal.
>
>
Yep. Bought two EnEl1 replacements from Blue Nook on eBay. Merkury,
listed as 1000 mAh, and a 1 year warranty. I have only used one, just
charged the second, but the first has been charged about 3 times and
seems ok. Can't tell if there is any real difference in capacity
between the Merkury and the original battery. I usually pull the
battery when the little half empty battery appears on the screen of
my 4300. Just kept using it the last time as a test and it appears
that there is still a lot of power left when the symbol appears but I
didn't run it until the red warning and the camera shuts down. When
I pulled the battery it still read 7.45 volts so there must have been
considerable capacity still there. So far I haven't given the Merkury
a real test but it seems to keep up with the original. Based on what
I have found so far, I think the increased capacity might be
noticeable past the half-empty ikon appearance.

Cost was $13 and with shipping the two batteries cost about the same
as a Nikon original, i.e., the cost was about 1/2 of the original;
maybe 1/3 or 1/4 of the cost off the shelf at a reputable camera
store. So far, I'm pleased.

JohnR wrote:
> The 6800z gave excellent image quality for a 3mp camera, it was more
> the NP-80 battery and power consumption. Fuji's battery seemed the
> best, but I'm disappointed it lasted only 3 years for a $60 item. The
> A330's image quality is the same, if not better in some respects, but
> I go for 6 months on a $5 12 pack of AAs and no recharging hassels.
> When I bought it, I was planing on using Ni-Mh AAs, but Alkalines are
> fine.
>
You are disposing of those alkalines properly, right?
I would definitely suggest that you switch to NiMH AA's, I use them for
several things (sadly not my camera) and they are fantastic. Often the
life is longer than alkalines (although this seems to depend on the
device), and I've had no-name cheapie brand ones last for two years of
being charged every day. It's much nicer not to be throwing out batteries
all the time.

Thanks for the feedback guys, I've placed an order for my new battery.

One of the merchants I was checking out earlier came through with a
discount when I didn't complete the transaction, and with the canadian
dollar where it is, it was a hard price to resist..

JohnR wrote:
[]
> So, I'm not very excited about 3rd party Li-ions, or Li-ion batteries
> in general. They seem to last 3 years in laptops as well before dying
> and it costs $150 or more to replace. OTOH, if I judge Li-ion
> batteries by my digital Rebel, I'd be impressed (as long as it
> doesn't stop holding a decent charge in 3 years).
> John

The batteries last 3 years whether they are used or not, I understand.

David