Off-brand li-ion camera batteries - personal experiences/recommendations, please

[cranioscopical]

I recently acquired a new pocket camera.

I'd prefer not to pay the manufacturer's price for spare lithium-ion batteries (or charger, come to that).

I'm aware that there are plenty of very dodgy ones out there. So, can anyone give me some pointers to reliable sources, based on personal experience?

Thanks for your time!

[Target]

no experience, but I know that at least one manufacturer (panasonic) was 'locking' their camera's so that they would only work with genuine batteries, so maybe this is something else to consider

[mouser]

My experience with off-brand li-ion batteries: They work well enough to justify buying them.

However, they do rarely work completely as well as the originals, and sometimes the camera won't recognize them until you re-insert a couple times, etc.  and i know for my video camera they require manual button push to begin and don't show proper time remaining on them.

Still, with the price difference, i think they are the smart buy.

As for which brands work well -- I just look for reviews on amazon or newegg and avoid brands without reviews.

[cranioscopical]

Thanks both 

Food for thought.

[tomos]

I got batteries on ebay for two different olympus cameras - from 3 different suppliers/manufacturers over the years. My experiences have been good, but I havent gotten anything in a long while - so cannot recommend any supplier. I went sort of intuitively I guess, and avoided the very cheapest offers.

Today I'd probably do as mouser suggests - check the reviews.

[sightsandsounds]

I recently bought a JVC video recorder from newegg. The lowest of 3 batts for it came with, I looked up prices on better batt / life, and couldnt believe the best batt was almost as much $ as the camera. Recently I read that some Li-ion companies were busted by Govt for price fixing, Im hoping to see the prices sink. Same thing last year, LCD TV makers Busted for price fixing, THATS WHY the tv prices went way down just after holidays. Then again if they keep making cars with lith ion batts, supply and demand,,,, Hope for the best.

[olamoree]

I have THREE Panasonic Lumix  Point 'n Shoots and like all things with "replaceables", each comes with a different SHAPED battery, altho one has 10% more capacity.  I then got a notice from Panasonic to "Upgrade" the internal chip so that I could only use the $39 batteries and never the $9 ones... I didn't upgrade and still use the two extra $9 batteries and I cannot tell the difference when they are in the camera!  Same amount of video, snaps, etc.  So they are "no brand" 3.7v 1400mAh and of course, "Made in China".  If you figure that you can get more than FOUR "No Brand" batteries for the price of ONE OEM battery, then I am pretty sure that even if the No Brand failed... again and again, when you buy your FIFTH No Brand, you will have reached the OEM price.  Its like inkjet cartridges and laser powder... you can pay $139 and get 4000 copies or pay $11.30 and "only" get 3,750 copies!   Worse now, they are even coding inkjet cartridges with DATE Expirations!  What next?  Bottom line... don't be a victim of the marketing ploys out there!

[elvisbrown]

I bought some off-brand batteries for my Sony point n shoot and they do not last as long as the original Sony battery. I had the same experience with a Canon point n shoot too with off-brand batteries. I have never had a good experience with them

I can extend this to AA NiMH rechargeable batteries that purport to be 2300 mAh but are probably just 1500mAh labelled for the higher capacity and are simply a rip-off.

I've recently bought a Sony Nex-6 and am told that they will not accept anything other than genuine Sony batteries. I have ordered a cheap off-brand battery to see if this is true. I'm hoping as the real thing is $NZ100+

[cranioscopical]

Thanks to all for the new info. 

I picked up a couple of batteries that were very inexpensive. They claim to be the same brand as the original but the price denies this. So far, performance is the same as the original.

If/when these induce exploding camera syndrome I'll post again. At least I won't need expensive software to blow up my snaps.