Battery - Generic or Branded?

Lola92

Hi folks,

My OH bit the bullet today after months of longing for one of these. (As an avid but very amateur photographer I might add ). With Fathers day coming up I thought I would get him a spare battery, memory card, new camera bag and the likes for long days out with his new toy.

What I want to know is am I better off to buy the specific Panasonic branded battery or a generic compatable one? I havn't come across many online but there does seem to be a good bit of price variation. If it comes down to it I would rather spend a bit of extra cash now if I know it would be more reliable.

Thanks in advance,
Lola


Mods: Apologies if this is in the wrong area but I thought here might be appropriate.

The Mary Clarke

Lola92 wrote: »

Hi folks,

My OH bit the bullet today after months of longing for one of these. (As an avid but very amateur photographer I might add ). With Fathers day coming up I thought I would get him a spare battery, memory card, new camera bag and the likes for long days out with his new toy.

What I want to know is am I better off to buy the specific Panasonic branded battery or a generic compatable one? I havn't come across many online but there does seem to be a good bit of price variation. If it comes down to it I would rather spend a bit of extra cash now if I know it would be more reliable.

Thanks in advance,
Lola


Mods: Apologies if this is in the wrong area but I thought here might be appropriate.

I have a Panasonic Lumix fz38. I needed a spare battery and bought a generic one locally as they did not have the Panasonic one in stock plus I needed the battery for the weekend. I have had it almost a year now and no problems with it. It seems to last as long as the Panasonic one. I have had no problems with it.:)

I have two generic Canon batteries, and one genuine one, for my 20D. The generic Hong Kong batteries have never given me a minute's trouble.

I've heard of people having trouble, but such stories seem few and far between.

NakedDex

One of my battery packs failed recently and needed replacing immediately, resulting in me having to shell out €80 for one.
Two weeks ago I was browsing DigitalRev (who were a damn sight cheaper to begin with on the original) and spotted their OEM packs for €16 each. In a moment of "that's a bargain" fever, I bought four. So far I've had no problems and, even if I only get a year out of them, they still work out cheaper than original packs.

Lola92

Thanks for the advice guys, will go with the generic so

LeoB

I got 2 generic batteries from www.7dayshop.com for my Canon 40d and they are super. Have them about 16months now and they cost me around £5 or £6.99 each

The Snipe

I have 3 batteries for my Canon 400D, 2 Genuine, and one Generic - I will admit the difference in the shots between a genuine and a generic is about 200 shots for me on a full charge.