Generic alternative for NB-2LH Battery?

[driftin' by]

Anyone have any experience with a off-brand or generic replacement NB-2LH battery that is common in many Canon cameras? I know you get what you pay for but $50 for a genuine Canon one is a bit much especially when it has a much lower mAh than many equivalents.

 

[budaman]

Hey there fellow May Cozumel buddie! I have a Canon HV20 that the NB2LH is one of the usable batteries. I ordered the larger batteries BP2 L14 that it also uses and a couple of batteries for our SD870 from:

BestBatt.com - Batteries, Chargers, Power Supplies, Accessories - Your Complete Power Solutions!

They arrived without a hitch and were considerably less expensive.....I believe the NB2 was under $10. I'll be back on the 14th & will let you know how they work....should have plenty of time to get them if you want to wait that long.

Mike

 

[Blackwood]

FWIW, I've had nothing but bad luck with third party batteries. I know some people swear by them, but I've owned three different third party batteries for my 350D, and none of them came close to the life of the Canon battery.

I own two BP-511A for my 40D, and each offers close to 800 captures.

 

[driftin' by]

Hey there fellow May Cozumel buddie! I have a Canon HV20 that the NB2LH is one of the usable batteries. I ordered the larger batteries BP2 L14 that it also uses and a couple of batteries for our SD870 from:

BestBatt.com - Batteries, Chargers, Power Supplies, Accessories - Your Complete Power Solutions!

They arrived without a hitch and were considerably less expensive.....I believe the NB2 was under $10. I'll be back on the 14th & will let you know how they work....should have plenty of time to get them if you want to wait that long.

Mike

Hey fellow May Cozumel SB'er! Thanks for the tip. At $10 it's definitely worth a try. My current battery is still strong and rarely needs charged with casual shooting. I think this will make a good backup that I can try out to see if it's worth it's weight.

 

[driftin' by]

FWIW, I've had nothing but bad luck with third party batteries. I know some people swear by them, but I've owned three different third party batteries for my 350D, and none of them came close to the life of the Canon battery.

Thanks for the input. So budaman now has me thinking... Blackwood, how bad were the generic batteries you had bad luck with? Were they half as good? That's probably a fair estimation of my experience with generic batteries in the past. So for $50 for the name-brand battery and $10 for a generic, you could afford 5 generic batteries still yielding more live than one name-brand battery. As long as the generic will last 2 dives, I'll be good to go because I don't want to be opening the housing on the boat.

 

[budaman]

Hey again Josh....one thing I am going to do in the next couple of days is check the run time of the batteries. I always do that with batteries & mark the time on each one because they always are a little different.....that way I use the shorter run time on the deeper dives & the longer ones on the 2nd & 3rd dives. I have one original Canon & 2 generics so it should be a good comparison. I did the same thing with the batteries on my old JVC camcorder & the generics were always within a minute or 2 + or - of the original battery.

Mike

 

[Blackwood]

Thanks for the input. So budaman now has me thinking... Blackwood, how bad were the generic batteries you had bad luck with? Were they half as good?

Half is probably fair.

 

[BurBunny]

I've had really good luck with batteries from Sterlingtek. Most folks over on the Canon forum (photography-on-the.net) swear by them and I've become a believer as well.

 

[budaman]

Update on the Generics.....both batteries I got from BestBatt outlasted the 60 min tape and that was with using the LCD screen. Both showed 1/4 usage at the end of the tape. For me this means I don't need to open the case prior to needing a new tape.....$10 or $50+ = no brainer.

Mike

 

[jbb]

Anyone have any experience with a off-brand or generic replacement NB-2LH battery that is common in many Canon cameras? I know you get what you pay for but $50 for a genuine Canon one is a bit much especially when it has a much lower mAh than many equivalents.

I have usually stuck with the Canon batt because of issues. But also but from a reputable merchant. The lithiom batts age as soon as they are made. I think I got a couple of older batts from B&H which don't hold as good a charge as the one that came with the camera - all them are canons. I bought another from Best Buy which works fine but there was no manufacturer date on the battery or package. I heard that the lithiom ionon loses 10-20percent each year.