Cheap batteries / chargers harmful?

[ecphoto]

I've been using cheap Chinese made batteries on my Camera and grip for about a year now. I own 6 of them in total.
Today I was browsing the canon website and I noticed this huge advert and fancy video about counterfeit batteries being harmful to your camera.
I can't afford $80 per battery so I buy the cheap HK made ones from ebay. I'm just wondering if anyone else has had bad experiences with them or
if its just hype. I've never bought the cheap chargers though, anyone know how well those work out?

 

[Big Mike]

I've been using 'off brand' batteries in my cameras for many years. They are cheaper, usually with a higher rating (last longer) and did I mention they are cheaper? But I have found that they tend to lose their ability to hold a charge as well as they used to a few years ago. But for $12.99 (or whatever they were) it's not a big deal.

Of course, Canon/Nikon etc. are going to say that you shouldn't use off-brand batteries...and there is, of course, some amount of risk involved.

But here is the big thing to know. Off-brand batteries are usually OK...but watch out for COUNTERFEIT batteries. In other words, if it cost $10 and is says "Canon" on it...then it's probably counterfeit...and since they are already crossing the line into fraud, they probably don't care much about quality or safety etc. Whereas the regular off-brand batteries still want to make a good name for themselves, so they probably won't give you something without any quality control etc.

So my advice is: Off Brand is OK...but beware of counterfeit.

On other thing to note. The newer batteries from Canon etc. have a chip in them so that they camera can better track the battery usage and remaining charge. The cheap off-brand batteries may not have this chip, or just aren't as compatible with the cameras. So while they do probably work, you may not get the level or accuracy of battery info, as you do with a brand name battery

 

[TCampbell]

I've been using 'off brand' batteries in my cameras for many years. They are cheaper, usually with a higher rating (last longer) and did I mention they are cheaper? But I have found that they tend to lose their ability to hold a charge as well as they used to a few years ago. But for $12.99 (or whatever they were) it's not a big deal.

I've used Optec batteries and found that the price difference and life expectancy (the age at which the battery no longer wants to charge or wont hold much of a charge) is proportional. Basically the batteries cost much less, but the useful lifetime is proportionally also much less.

Since I never wanted to get out into the field only to discover that the battery in the camera has almost no capacity and/or that the spare battery in the bag can't hold a charge, I decided to just spring for the extra and buy the genuine battery. Basically my "dollars per number of charges" are equal, but the reliability factor was higher. In the end, reliability was more important to me (even if the money favored the off-brand I'd still only take the savings if the batteries were at least on par with charge cycles and reliability.)

As Mike mentions... another bonus of the genuine battery is that my camera will tell me what condition the battery is in (so I can see if it's getting to the end of it's useful life and I should be prepared to order replacements.)

I label my batteries with numbers so I can cycle through them without losing track. I hate for any single battery to sit unused for too long (not good for batteries to never be used) and this way I can make sure they're all getting used about the same.

 

[Big Mike]

That's a good point Tim. Although, the one thing I'm not sure of, is whether or not my Canon battery would have started to die out, if it has seen as much use as my off-brand batteries. Since the Canon one had about 60% of a life (per charge), I didn't bother to use it nearly as much as the other ones.

And while it probably evens out in the end, I think it's also worth mentioning that having 4 extra batteries is often better than having one extra. And 4 off brand batteries are still cheaper than one Canon.

 

[jrizal]

Knockoffs are a hit and miss. Some are good and some are just plain bad. The trick there is to find out which are the good ones. Most sensible way is to look at reviews in terms of rating and actual number of users who made the review. That IMO woukd be decent basis for you to go knockoff or OEM.

PS This knockoff thing has become some sort sort of religious debate and some will even slam you just even for the idea of using knockoffs. As for me, It depends. I have both OEMs and knockoffs. At the end of the day it is still caveat emptor.