Non-Nikon brand batteries

molested_cow · Jan 17, 2015

I have two batteries for my D700 and one is going bad, so I want to replace it with a new one. While my D700 is going strong with no plan to replace it, I am thinking if I should just get a non-Nikon branded battery or spend 3~4x the money on an original one. Any thoughts on off-brand batteries?

pixmedic · Jan 17, 2015

we had a few third party batteries years ago. never had any serious issues with them, but some of them dont report battery life to the camera.
it got pretty annoying at weddings so i replaced all the third party batteries with OEM nikon batteries.
as far as battery life went, they did fine.

Tinderbox (UK) · Jan 17, 2015

Find a third-party battery from a from a reputable manufacture, I buy Ex-Pro battery`s in the UK, they have a two year warranty and have there own website and sell on Amazon as well.

But if you are not in the UK, and you are in the USA find a reputable manufacture from there, maybe other members can recommend you a brand to buy.

Things to look out for "Capacity is in MaH and should be very close to the original, example 1420mah original, 1500mah third-part this is ok, but if it say`s 2000mah that is a fake capacity and you should not buy them.

Also look out for the words "Decoded or Fully Decoded", this means your camera`s battery gauge will work with this battery, some do not, also updating your camera`s firmware can stop previously working third-party battery`s from working, as camera manufacturers prefer you to buy battery from them at many times the price of a third-party one and bring out new firmwares to stop these battery`s from working, and they claim safety reasons for doing this.

EN-EL3e, ENEL3e, Ex-Pro Nikon Li-on Digital Camera Battery - ExproDirect

John

JTPhotography · Jan 17, 2015

All of the brands I have ever used, at least 5 of them, have been just fine.

Braineack · Jan 17, 2015

i bought a pair of cheapo batteries when i got my d600. They cant hold a charge and when fully charged they lasted about 1/4 the time my nikon battery does.

SCraig · Jan 17, 2015

I had one aftermarket battery for one of my bodies and it was junk. Sure it cost less, and the specs showed a higher ampacity, but in real life I only got about 2/3 the life between charges as a Nikon battery. Since then I never have and never will buy anything except OEM.

bribrius · Jan 17, 2015

just using oem. Guess i didn't want to take the gamble.

molested_cow · Jan 17, 2015

Mixed opinions I guess... If my camera is still newish I'd definitely get OEM ones like I did. It's just that right now I have one good OEM battery, and usually when I go out I only use one on each outing. The chance of needing a second one is like 10% of the time only. So I figure that I will keep using the OEM one as the main battery and the off-brand as the back up. Does this sound logical? The one that I am looking at is rated at 1650mAh which is higher than OEM. I think I will try it out and see what happens.

Tinderbox (UK) · Jan 17, 2015

If you have a quality dslr you can get over a 1000 pictures per charge, some can get 2500 so you might only need 1 spare so you can afford a oem, if you have a mirrowless camera with a power hunger lcd that`s on all the time or evf and you only get approx 350 pictures per charge you might need a few spare battery`s and at the oem price it could be expensive, so i can understand why some people go the third-party route, just watch out for fake mah numbers way bigger then the oem battery you received with your camera, it is a LIE

A quick test weigh the oem and third-party battery, if the third-party one is a lot lighter than the oem one it cannot have more capacity.

John.

Ted Evans · Jan 17, 2015

The D7100 that I got from B&H came with a Watson 2nd battery and I cannot tell the difference in them as far as performance goes. It remains to be seen how the longevity of them will compare. The Watson is not a cheapo like some are but it is somewhat less expensive than the Nikon.

Tinderbox (UK) · Jan 17, 2015

Yeah, Watson was the quality third-party brand name for US buyers i was thinking about but could not remember.

John.

Ted Evans said:
The D7100 that I got from B&H came with a Watson 2nd battery and I cannot tell the difference in them as far as performance goes. It remains to be seen how the longevity of them will compare. The Watson is not a cheapo like some are but it is somewhat less expensive than the Nikon.

dennybeall · Jan 17, 2015

The D5300 with the WiFi and the GPS turned on and in Live View mode for video eats battery juice pretty quick so I run two batteries at a time in the grip and have Nikon and non-Nikon batteries randomly mixed and can tell no difference.

Waldo32487 · Jan 29, 2015

I havnt had any problems with no name batteries....
Just found the one with good reviews on amazon

shadowlands · Feb 20, 2015

I use XIT batteries and I love 'em...

nerwin · Feb 20, 2015

I have mixed feelings on third party batteries. I don't want to chance anything, so I always buy OEM. They also seem to last longer in cold weather and have much longer lifespan. Sure, they are more expensive..but you wont have to replace that one for a long time.