[Adam Lincoln]

What are peoples thoughts on buying camcorder/camera batteries from HK. Obviously they are not the real thing but are they worth it with the saving you make?

Thoughts?

[SA Chris]

I got some rechargeable batteries from HK via ebay. They were shite.

Hope this helps.

[dontfollowme]

I have always found 7dayshop good for batteries.

[dave]

bear in mind all propriety brand camera batteries will be made in china, so whether you go into harrisons and pay £50 for a nikon or get one for a tenner off ebay they're still from china/HK, and for all I know these things are probably made in the same factory. for my camera i've got the nikon battery that came with it, plus a spare cheapo off-brand from ebay. for one fifth the price of the nikon its fine. not had problem. i don't use the spare much anyway since my camera has exceptional battery economy so rarely run it down, although the spare doesn't seem to hold charge very well as it used to, but that might be my fault for not keeping it topped up like you're supposed to (my bad). basically you pays your money you takes your choice. given you can generally get 5 cheapo ones for the price of a camera brand seems like good value. however i'm guessing you'll do the opposite of what everyone recommends anyway......

if you want to go middle ground you can generally get Hahnel compatables which are just like the cheapo ones but twice as expensice but more comback/support shoudl anything go wrong from a lot of camera shops:
http://www.photosolution.co.uk/hahnel-hl-el3e-battery-p-935.html

[Adam Lincoln]

I've been using a cheapo one with my D200 for a while and it seems ok. Though i do use it with a battery grip so its got the original Nikon one running alongside.

I've just bought a new camcorder, and ordered a couple of supposed 4 hour batteries from HK. They are the same size as the Canon one (Go figure). They are charging at the moment, so will post after a bit of usage on the quality, longevity.....

[Adam Lincoln]

however i'm guessing you'll do the opposite of what everyone recommends anyway......

Whats that supposed to mean? Just because i didn't listen to your lens advice!

[SA Chris]

I think he means you will buy one anyway, then ask what everyone thinks?

The "shite" one I got from fleabay was supposed to be original, but is blatantly a bad home brand. I tried interchanging it with the original rechargeable one on a regular basis, but it kept running down so quickly and was so unreliable that I ended up just using the original and kept on recharging it. Then I lost the camera, so it became irrelevant anyway.

[dpb]

I got two cheapo ones from ebay for my 40D.  They last about 15-20 shots, absolute crap!  Hannel and energizer make batteries which are cheaper than the originals and more or less as good.  I'd stay clear of the mega cheap HK ones.

[neil h]

i got a couple of 4 hour ones for my canon camcorder.

They cam with afree car charger. i have had them a few months now and they still hold normal charge, I payed less that £15 for 2 with car charger and i cant fault them.

I now got my new hd cam so Rather than going to HK for batteries i bought direct from uk but still only paid £15 each for them with free charger for the car


hit and miss really