B&H and Watson Batteries...

[Steve5D]

I wasn't sure where to put this, so I opted for here. Mods, please move if there's a more appropriate area for this.

So, I'm window shopping at B&H, and I see that both the 5D MKIII and the 7D include free Watson LP-E6 battery packs. These look to be in addition to the Canon LP-E6 battery packs.

Any comments on these? I'm unfamiliar with the brand...

 

[kc4sox]

My 5DMK3 came with the Canon LP-E6 and the Watson version. I honestly can't tell any difference in performance. I'd most likely buy the Watsons as a replacement / additional battery to save a buck. Mind you mine are only 7 or 8 weeks old so YMMV.

Mike

 

[Steve5D]

Cool, thanks...

 

[TCampbell]

Third party batteries are always a bit of a gamble -- the batteries are included at no additional cost... so the risk is low.

Low quality batteries can have problems with swelling and in some cases even self-combusting. But mostly my experience with 3rd party batteries has been reliability.

On my current bodies (5D II, 5D III, and 60Da) all of my LP-E6 batteries are Canon brand. On my T1i I had a couple of Canon batteries and about 5 different 3rd party batteries. What I found was that the Canon batteries were actually still performing well after 3 years. But the 3rd party batteries had noticeably degraded performance after just one year -- they didn't want to hold much of a charge.

In the end, the cost analysis was a wash because the cheap 3rd party batteries were costing 1/3rd of the price of the Canon batteries... yet seemed to have 1/3rd the useful life (possibly not that much since I don't know how long the Canon batteries would have lasted... I eventually traded the camera.) BUT... I opted to buy the Canon batteries because it's important to me to know that when I'm miles from home and have no practical way to recharge the batteries, that my batteries aren't going to give out sooner than expected.

In fairness... I also occasionally hear stories of people who bought 3rd party batteries and great results and claim to get years of use from them.

B&H lists the genuine Canon battery at $59 and the Watson is listed at $34.95 -- if you were buying the battery it would represent about $24. I still go with the Canon battery because it's worth $24 to me to be pretty sure that battery will still be going strong in 3 years and I'm not going to run into a situation where my fully charged battery in the morning cannot make it through the day when I'm miles from home and don't have an AC outlet and an hour to wait for a recharge.

 

[Derrel]

B&H lists the genuine Canon battery at $59 and the Watson is listed at $34.95 -- if you were buying the battery it would represent about $24. I still go with the Canon battery because it's worth $24 to me to be pretty sure that battery will still be going strong in 3 years and I'm not going to run into a situation where my fully charged battery in the morning cannot make it through the day when I'm miles from home and don't have an AC outlet and an hour to wait for a recharge.

Guess: Canon battery, wholesale cost $39. Markup, $20.00
Guess: Watson battery, wholesale cost $7.Markup, $27.95. SO for each battery sold, there's enough profit to buy another unit to sell for almost $28 in return. That's why generic, made-in-China batteries are a self-sustaining market item, and one reason that they simply are not supposed to last a long time...

 

[kc4sox]

B&H lists the genuine Canon battery at $59 and the Watson is listed at $34.95 -- if you were buying the battery it would represent about $24. I still go with the Canon battery because it's worth $24 to me to be pretty sure that battery will still be going strong in 3 years and I'm not going to run into a situation where my fully charged battery in the morning cannot make it through the day when I'm miles from home and don't have an AC outlet and an hour to wait for a recharge.

Guess: Canon battery, wholesale cost $39. Markup, $20.00
Guess: Watson battery, wholesale cost $7.Markup, $27.95. SO for each battery sold, there's enough profit to buy another unit to sell for almost $28 in return. That's why generic, made-in-China batteries are a self-sustaining market item, and one reason that they simply are not supposed to last a long time...

As I stated YMMV my batteries are only a month or so old

 

[curtyoungblood]

I got one of those watson battery packs with my 5diii, and I can't really tell a difference. There is one small quirk I've noticed though. The pack also came with a Watson dual charger with an LCD screen. The dual charger is pretty cool, but interacts a little strangely with Canon-branded batteries. For a long time it wouldn't charge them at all. One day, I decided to put the canon battery on it and it worked. It has been fine since. As far as we can tell, there's no explanation as to what I did differently. My boss is having the same issue, but it hasn't resolved itself yet.

 

[Derrel]

I have only three Canon batteries left out of the four I bought, two in 2006, two in 2007. One of them died last year. These are for 20D and 5D bodies. So far, they've been superb performers. They have always been charged on the stock Canon factory-supplied chargers. A few years ago, there were some very serious problems with counterfeit, Chinese-made batteries for various devices (laptops, but also cameras),and some large scale recalls done by various makers (Sony and Nikon, to name two who recalled shiploads' worth of batteries). There are a few individuals on the web who sort of do battery testing and reporting as a hobby/public service.

I buy expensive camera bodies that retail from $7999 to $4999 typically: I run them using the real, manufactuer's suggested, authorized batteries. It makes no sense to me to buy a top-shelf camera and then slap a generic battery in it to save $20 over the course of three years. I literally piss away that much money on coffee in two weeks' time. But I do "get" the idea that people like to save 10 cents a week on a battery over the life of the battery.

 

[runnah]

The only thing I have noticed with all 3rd party batteries is that they tend to wear out faster than the regular ones. Also at least for my video camera batteries the time remaining tends to not be as accurate.

 

[bratkinson]

When I bought my 5D3 from B&H 18 months ago, it came with a generic battery in addition to the genuine Canon. I forgot what brand it was. I ultimately gave it unused to the person I sold my 60D to as I had bought a 2nd genuine Canon battery at the same time I bought the camera and grip.

The stories that have surfaced here and elsewhere in the past year or so about the new firmware version rejecting previously used generic batteries confirmed my buying the extra 'real deal' was worth the money.

For what it's worth, it seems that camera and printer manufacturers alike are doing what they can to prevent generics and cheap imitation consumables from being used in their equipment. And why not? They are the ones that spent the Research and Development money to create the products only to have their designs and patents 'ripped off' by the imitators? As much as I don't like paying 'top dollar' for the real deal batteries and ink cartridges, I'd much rather see the real manufacturers get my money than some imitator. Yeah, I'd like to save a buck, just like the next guy. But as indicated by others above, the generics don't last as long as the genuine batteries. It just proves the old adage "You get what you pay for".

 

[Steve5D]

I've got both third party and genuine Canon BP-511's for my 40D and 5D. Some of them I've had since I bought my Digital Rebel back in 2006 (?), and they work fine.

I'm partial to the Canon batteries, and I'm using them almost exclusively. But if I run down the Canon batteries, the third party ones do just fine, and have for several years.

I was just wondering about the brand itself, and not third party batteries in general...

 

[gossamer88]

Since using the Watson for a year now, the Canon's are slightly better. But they're still pretty good.

 

[table1349]

The only 3rd party batteries I have ever used are SterlingTEK. Never had an issue with any of them. Battery life seems to be the same as the OEM's, never had a heat problem etc. Can't speak for other 3rd party batteries.

 

[pixmedic]