Camera Batteries

[John S.]

Where do you buy your replacement camera batteries? I am looking to replace a Pentax D-LI8, 3.7V, 710mAh.

[Bob Gross]

I buy for a different camera brand, but I generally get them from Amazon.com

On one day I will buy batteries from three or four different sources. More than half of them will be very good, perhaps almost as good as the camera branded batteries. A minority of them will look decent on Day One, but then they seem to age much more rapidly compared to the camera branded ones. After six months of use, they act like they are approaching the end of life. The other sources are the two big NYC camera retailers. They generally stock their own brands of off-branded batteries, and they are generally about as good as the branded ones.

So, I continue to buy off-brand batteries, but I watch them closely during recharging. When I spot a poor performer, it gets shuffled out of the collection. Overall, this strategy is still cheaper than buying the brand named ones.

–B.G.–

[Ken Thompson]

Only purchased from them twice. All good so far.

http://sterlingtek.com/

[John S.]

Thanks for the replies. I ended up buy some Wasabi batteries on Amazon. I'll try them out this week in the Pecos Wilderness.

[David Thomas]

As Bob does, I get off-brand ones because there are SO much cheaper. Here, for instance, are some off ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-7V-1500mAh-Battery-for-FUJI-NP-40-Pentax-D-Li8-FinePix-40-402-F455-F460-F470-/270972841928?pt=Batteries_Chargers&hash=item3f173d6fc8

$2.69 each with free shipping. Takes about 2 weeks from Hong Kong, Shanghai, or Taiwan but isn't that where all the ones at Walmart or Best Buy come from anyway?

Buy 3 or 4. Make them "A", "B", "C" and "D" and track their life (if you care). Toss the odd one that performs poorly. I don't care because at this low price and weight, I always have an extra battery along.

Despite advances in solar cells, in almost all situations, carrying 3-4 extra batteries will be cheaper, lighter and more versatile than trying to recharge on the trail. For thru-hikers, buy a dozen and include them in your resupply shipments and periodically mail old ones homes (or just throw away at this price). If you have extra juice for one leg, do some editting to thin out the culls.

This works for cell phones, cameras, and cordless home phones. Type a battery part number into eBay's search or enter the make and model of the camera and lots of options will pop up. If no one offers free shipping, search of "Sanyo XYZ-123 lot" and you'll see lots of 3 or 4 (and 10 and 100) pop up thereby reducing per time shipping.

[Bob Gross]

You may not want to purchase 100 rechargable batteries for a camera. Camera manufacturers have this nasty habit of discontinuing some proprietary battery type every 5-10 years, if not sooner, and it is nice to be able to move all of your batteries from the old camera to the new camera. I order only as many as what I think I need for my longest trip, or how many I think I can use effectively over five years. Most lithium batteries like this will degrade within 3-5 years.

I was heading to Alaska, and I was going to be using up Canon batteries at a rate of at least one per day, but there was almost no electricity available for recharging. So, I ordered up plenty.

–B.G.–

[David Thomas]

I agree with Bob not to order more than you need in the short term, most are available with no shipping charge. If you still have the camera in a few years, any old batteries will have degraded somewhat even if you weren't using them. While manufacturers may discontinue stocking old batteries after a few years, I've found after-market options for some pretty old stuff (10-12 years) on ebay with a little smart searching.

[Rog Tallbloke]

It's always worth doing some research to see if the battery you find expensive to replace or has gone obsolete is replaceable with a different code number. For example the batteries for my ricoh GXR are identical to the old Fuji F31D batteries.

[USA Duane Hall]

Folks can always try buying local so you can support business that supports your youth activities.
Duane

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