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Hi All,
I recently got a Canon Digital rebel XT. I am going to
order a spare battery pack for it. Do any of you have any
experiece/opinions on the "aftermarket" battery packs that
are around? As an example, B&H has the standard Canon pack
here:

http://tinyurl.com/j9cg8

for 49.95. It is specd. as 720 mAH.

B&H also lists this one by "Impact" :

http://tinyurl.com/k7cz7

for 32.95, and claims to be 900 mAH.

Two questions:

Is this a get-what-you-pay-for sort of thing where the cheaper battery
is in fact, not as good, or is the only difference the "Canon" label on
the more expensive one?

Is the 900 mAH rating on the Impact battery just marketing nonsense?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Regards,
Al A.

On Sat, 25 Feb 2006 09:40:44 -0500, Al A. wrote:

> Two questions:
>
> Is this a get-what-you-pay-for sort of thing where the cheaper battery
> is in fact, not as good, or is the only difference the "Canon" label on
> the more expensive one?

The evidence seems to be that the cheaper batteries are just as
good as the ones with the manufacturer's name on them, if bought
from a reputable source. You're at much greater risk to get
substandard batteries from eBay, although some eBay dealers probably
sell decent batteries.


> Is the 900 mAH rating on the Impact battery just marketing nonsense?

It may be accurate and it may be nonsense. I'm not familiar with
the Impact brand. But at $49.95 for a Canon battery, $32.95 isn't
an especially good value. B&H is an excellent dealer, but their
battery prices tend to be high. Adorama and J&R also sell
replacement batteries, and their prices should be far lower,
probably a little below $20 for batteries for Canon cameras, maybe a
little higher for others. If their batteries were labeled 900mAh
but were actually only 720mAh, they'd still be a great value. You
could get two batteries having twice the capacity, and still pay
less than if you bought one Canon battery. The replacement battery
I bought from J&R for my old Canon S20 cost $20, was made by Maxell
and performed just as well as the far more expensive Canon battery.
They also sell Power2000 Li-Ion batteries which others have found to
be as good as the originals. I only have experience with Power2000
NiMH AA cells, and found them to be very good as well.

ASAAR wrote:
> On Sat, 25 Feb 2006 09:40:44 -0500, Al A. wrote:
>
>
>>Two questions:
>>
>> Is this a get-what-you-pay-for sort of thing where the cheaper battery
>>is in fact, not as good, or is the only difference the "Canon" label on
>>the more expensive one?
>
>
> The evidence seems to be that the cheaper batteries are just as
> good as the ones with the manufacturer's name on them, if bought
> from a reputable source. You're at much greater risk to get
> substandard batteries from eBay, although some eBay dealers probably
> sell decent batteries.
>
>
>
>> Is the 900 mAH rating on the Impact battery just marketing nonsense?
>
>
> It may be accurate and it may be nonsense. I'm not familiar with
> the Impact brand. But at $49.95 for a Canon battery, $32.95 isn't
> an especially good value. B&H is an excellent dealer, but their
> battery prices tend to be high. Adorama and J&R also sell
> replacement batteries, and their prices should be far lower,
> probably a little below $20 for batteries for Canon cameras, maybe a
> little higher for others. If their batteries were labeled 900mAh
> but were actually only 720mAh, they'd still be a great value. You
> could get two batteries having twice the capacity, and still pay
> less than if you bought one Canon battery. The replacement battery
> I bought from J&R for my old Canon S20 cost $20, was made by Maxell
> and performed just as well as the far more expensive Canon battery.
> They also sell Power2000 Li-Ion batteries which others have found to
> be as good as the originals. I only have experience with Power2000
> NiMH AA cells, and found them to be very good as well.
>

Thanks for the reply. I was planning to buy from one of the bigger
dealers, I find Ebay to be a bit too much bother for my taste on stuff
like this. Your input is most helpful, I really wanted just to see if
anyone else has had any "bad Experiences" with such things. I just
picked out the B&H units because that was where my wife got my camera
from. I will check out the J&R and ADORAMA sites before I order anything.

I appreciate your taking the time to reply.
-Al A.

On Sat, 25 Feb 2006 15:19:16 -0500, Al A. wrote:

> Thanks for the reply.

You're welcome. Should you ever decide to get a second charger
it's a similar situation, where the original manufacturer's charger
can sell for 2x to 6x the price (and higher) of what replacements
would go for in the same stores (B&H, Adorama, J&R, etc.).