[Leica] Battery Report M9 Firmware 1.196

[mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)]

Again I go back to your seven thousand dollar investment. Filled with
delicate electronics and costing seven grand usd.
THEN having spent the 7 grand we don't want to spend another hundred bucks
on a backup battery we want to subject this mechanism to an unknown entity
at cut rate prices.? Not my mentality at all.
The minute I'd see a light blinking faster than I thought I'd remember it
blinking I'd go "quick put the real battery in there before it shorts out".

Mark William Rabiner
Photography
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/lugalrabs/


> From: Frank Filippone <red735i at earthlink.net>
> Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
> Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2012 10:56:37 -0700
> To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
> Subject: Re: [Leica] Battery Report M9 Firmware 1.196
> 
> There is only 1 application for the Leica battery... otherwise called the
> BLI-312.  Leica M8/9 cameras.  Overall, substantially less than 200,000 
> have
> been made in the past 6 years or so.  ( even if I am wrong with the 200,00,
> certainly no one would think Leica made a Million M8 or M9 cameras....)
> 
> The market for Leica M8/9 batteries is so small, there is only 1 conclusion
> that can be drawn....   All the batteries, Leica branded or otherwise, are
> from the same manufacturer(s).
> 
> The ones that Leica gets are tested and have passed some Leica criteria.
> The batteries you get from aftermarket companies are the ones that may have
> passed, are overruns, or failed some test criteria of Leica.  You do not
> know which.
> 
> Further, in MOST firmware, there is a check program that looks for the
> current residing version.  If the proposed version is more recent than the
> old, you can upgrade.  If the proposed version is older than the current
> residing version, you can not upgrade.  It is likely Leica employed this in
> the design of the new FW.  ( I think I remember something on this in this
> forum in the past.... )   If you are going to try this, you will need to
> have kept on your computer or SDHC Card, the old version of the FW, as 
> Leica
> keeps only 1 version available for download at one time.... V1.196 
> currently
> 
> More further, if you are chicken to upgrade FW because of your supply of
> aftermarket batteries, remember that the next  version of the FW will be
> based upon this version of FW.  All the worries you have about batteries
> will be repeated ad nauseum in the future.  Which means that IF Leica does
> improve something ( not only an added feature, but a real improvement),
> unless you bite the bullet, you are locked out of that improvement.
> Eventually you will drink the Kool Aid.
> 
> Lastly... the aftermarket batteries cost 1/10 those of Leica heritage.  If
> the aftermarket batteries only last 1/2 as long, and cost 1/10 as much, you
> are 5 times more ahead of the game......  Basic logic says that if you need
> or want a mess of batteries ( long trip, remote trip, long shooting 
> session,
> etc) you are best off financially buying the aftermarket ones, cull out he
> bad ones, and keep the good ones..... but they may not last as long.....
> no big deal, remember they saved you $140 each.
> 
> Forget the Apple battery comparisons... Apple makes so many computers, that
> it pays an aftermarket manufacturer to make a battery from their own
> designs.  Some of these designs will use parts that are different,
> "differently" toleranced, or just plain defective.  Not true with Leica.
> Not enough market to be worth the production and marketing headaches.
> 
> My M9 comes back from the Doctor tonight.  I will install the new version 
> of
> the FW, and try out my OEM and old non-OEM batteries and report back.
> Hopefully that will put this to bed, finally.
> 
> Frank Filippone
> Red735i at earthlink.net
> 
> 
> Anyway, all three fit the M charger, work fine in the M9, and report a full
> charge.
> 
> FWIW, I have had extensive experience with replacement batteries for Apple
> notebooks.  Like Leica, the Apple batteries seem over-priced, and the
> Chinese replacement batteries are way cheaper.
> When you first get one they seem to work okay, and once in a while you get 
> a
> good one that holds its charge and you feel smart because you just saved
> over $100.  However, some Chinese batteries have small tolerance problems,
> and don't fit precisely (it might fall off).  Some don't fully charge, or
> recharge.  In that case you just lost your $25 bargain.  From this I would
> say that the suspect battery has to be tested in an M9 to be sure.
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information