QUESTION: Lithium ion battery packs

[flipfrog]

i want a back up battery and i am just curious if you guys have gone with the generic brands for your back up or sticking with the Nikon brand battery.... ?
price difference is anywhere from 30-40 CAN dollars...
also, anyone know what the life span of this battery is?

thanks in advance,
Dee

[Paul]

Hi Flipfrog,
I bought my 2nd generic EN-EL3 battery from e-bay for $20 AUS Dollers, It worked perfectly well at an all day wedding last weekend, I did manage to drain the battery, this was proberly due to me using the 24-120 VR for most of the day and firing the SB-800 flash during the night reception.
I would say that it's charge life is about the same as the original which is exceptional.
Overall well worth buying as it's still cheaper than buying 3 CR-2 batteries for the second battery that Nikon supplies with the D70. (3 x $13 = $39 for 1 use batteries)
Just my 2 cents worth

[stubbsy]

Flipfrog

I bought 2 generics. They work identically to the Nikon one, but at a quarter the price!

[Onyx]

I do recall at the last Sydney xmas meet. Geoff and I were the unofficial event photogs. We both took probably similar amounts of images, but Geoff's Cameron was running on generics and I had geniune EN-EL3s in mine (unnamed D70). Cameron had ran outta juice close to the end of the night, while mine didn't. The generic had a higher rated capacity too IIRC.

Generics probably represent better value as they're a third to half the price of the originals, but when you want the absolute best - there's no doubt.

Given the exceptional energy efficiency of the D70, I suspect it's very difficult to tell even when a cell's capacity and/or performance has degraded. eg. 2000 shots per charge when new versus 1200 shots per charge when the cells have aged slightly, that's still alot of shots per charge!!

[flipfrog]

thanks guys

i bought a generic one today

[boxerboy]

My only concern with generic batteries is that their quality is unknown. It may be some of these come out of the same factories as the genuine batteries and could even be identical to the Nikon items. But how do you know?

Low quality batteries (I'm not saying all generics are low quality - but once again, how do you know?) are more prone to over heating and possibly leakage.

I think you would struggle with a warranty claim if there was ever a problem. At least if you use the Nikon battery, there can be no chance of a warranty claim being rejected.

I just don't think the few dollars you save is worth the risk (however low that may be).

Cheers
Peter

[birddog114]

boxerboy,
Spot on! that was happened twice seeing by my eyes and Maxwell refused with the battery leakage inside the D70 compartment due to the use of non genuine Nikon battery

[marcus]

Yep, I too have a generic ($12.00 eBay purchase) and so far it works as well as the one that came with my camera............fingers crossed!

[Matt. K]

I have both a generic brand and the original and have been swapping them around for nearly 12 months. I can never tell which is which as there is no difference in their performance.

[Mal]

One each for me, fingers crossed too no leakage...

[Sean]

I have one of each and no probs with them either, I did notice the generic one had slightly less millamps I think?

Also handle anything containing lithium with great care
http://www.excellbattery.com/msds/CSC_PMX%20MSDS.pdf

Regards

Sean

[marcus]

boxerboy,
Spot on! that was happened twice seeing by my eyes and Maxwell refused with the battery leakage inside the D70 compartment due to the use of non genuine Nikon battery

Do you know of any complaints of leakage from the genuine article?

ps My ASF 70-200VR still moves 1-2mm in the fitting. Genuine article.