[Danster]

Here is an interesting question. I'd like to buy a higher capacity battery for my camera. PANASONIC have the battery I'm looking for for about $250. On our favorite bidding site has them decoded batteries for $50.

Question is as follows: Are these batteries really made by the devil according to the OEM companies telling me to stay away from these knock offs?
Have anyone buy them anyway only to find out they are in fact very bad IE melt or burn down on their own?

I don't really want to spend 250 bucks if these evil batteries are just meant to scare me away from OEM....

 

[gordonb]

...Are these batteries really made by the devil according to the OEM companies telling me to stay away from these knock offs?
Have anyone buy them anyway only to find out they are in fact very bad IE melt or burn down on their own?...

Without knowing the type of device or the third-party battery your considering I can't provide anything other than general advice.

If the device you want to use the battery with mounts the battery outside then I wouldn't worry too much but if the battery goes on the inside I'd be hesitant to install a third party battery as if it does swell, overheat or, heavens forbid, explode you will damage the camera and it will not be covered under any warranty.

My DSLR batteries cost $250 here in Canada so I buy them from the US for $140 plus shipping & customs hassles. The third party batteries for my camera are well known to not hold a charge after a while and give significantly lower shots as well as having poorer weather sealing and problems getting jammed in the camera. In this case I don't buy the knock-offs as I'm not willing to risk the damage and I need my camera to work.

For my DV camcorder, however, the third party high capacity battery I bought mounts on the outside and works well. It's an everready so it's not the cheapest but it did come with a warranty and was half the price of an OEM camera.

CIPA, a association with the OEMs as members are the ones mainly responsibly for the FUD associated with this but as they tend to follow the agendas of their members their warnings might be taken with a grain of salt. Though laptop batteries have been known to overheat to the point where they have caused fires ...

 

[Danster]

Well I ordered them last night. They are the VBG260 which mounts on the back of the camcorder. They are meant to be charged with the existing charger whereas most third part require their own charger. I'll use them at last resort but I do like the info you provided. I'll be keeping an eye on it when it arrives.

 

[57]

Not sure if it's the case for your particular unit, however, Panasonic have apparently locked out the use of non-OEM batteries on some of their equipment, as discussed in the following thread.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=108681&highlight=panasonic+battery

 

[Danster]

Maybe that's why they call them "decoded" since they can go in the camcorder. Some of them have a dongle that plugs in the battery which then plugs in the power adapter insert. Not all camcorders work that way including mine. I guess I'll have to wait and see when I get the batteries in the next few weeks.

 

[cjfox]

I've used third party batteries in my old camcorders without problems, and I just received the "decoded" battery VGB260 (from ebay), appears to work just fine. Haven't had it long enough to determine charge life, but even if the charge doesn't hold as long, $30 vs $130 makes it worth it.

 

[Danster]

My camera is stil at capri electronics to be fixed. I'm still waiting but I have received everything I ordered to fit on it: new battery, wide angle lens, tele lens, 3 filters.

I tried the filters on my JVC and it is amazing how you can actually remove glare from car windows and see in it. Those batteries will come in handy for some serious video taking!!!