[Leica] Bad luck with Hong Kong battery

[henningw at archiphoto.com (Henning Wulff)]

I know I've written of this before, but here it comes again:

For various digital cameras I've usually bought one extra OEM battery 
with the camera, and then went looking for third party batteries. 
When I bought a newly released camera, it sometimes took 5-6mo. 
before third party batteries started showing up, so that's what 
started the OEM buying process.

I've bought various third party batteries for Canon, Fuji and 
Panasonic P&S cameras, and generally had about twice as many third 
party batteries as OEM batteries. These third party batteries cost 
about 15-20% of the OEM batteries. I would say about 10% turned out 
to be duds. The batteries that worked had about the same capacity and 
total length of life as the OEM batteries. Only on the basis that 
every battery should work every time at the same level does using the 
OEM batteries make sense. As I always carry around a couple of 
batteries for the camera I carry, it really doesn't matter that much 
if a given battery does not work at that time. Financially, I am 
waaaay ahead.

The other third party batteries I've bought have been for Canon 
DSLR's, Panasonic m4/3 cameras and for the M8 and M9. The third party 
batteries I've bought for the Canons have all worked as well as the 
originals with respect to capacity and holding a charge. For recent 
cameras (5DmkII and 7d) the third party batteries don't have the 
circuitry to tell the cameras about their charge status, so I'm left 
in the dark about when they will expire. No real problem, as I carry 
extra batteries (as above).

With the Panasonics it's a bit more complicated. Some non-Panasonic 
batteries will not work with some firmware versions, so you have to 
read the information carefully before buying. If you do that, you're 
OK. Again, no problems with capacity or charge holding. Both the 
Canon and Panasonic third party batteries cost about 20% of the OEM 
batteries; again, a very good cost/benefit ratio.

For the Leicas, I started buying third party batteries right after my 
local store told me that the OEM batteries were $150. Now they are 
pushing $200. I bought some batteries from Hong Kong, and by now have 
bought about 20, which cost me in total less than $300 with shipping. 
Of those batteries, 2 have failed and 2 more have low capacity. The 
others are OK and have the same capacity as the OEM batteries. Of the 
total of 5 OEM Leica batteries I got (bought), one went with one of 
the M8's I sold, 1 died and 3 are still OK, but have no higher 
capacity than the third party batteries. As none of the batteries for 
the Leicas  have a great capacity and as I generally leave the camera 
on when I'm carrying it, I go through batteries quickly and carry a 
number. No problem with $15 batteries.

It would be frustrating if the third party batteries had a 50% chance 
of being poor or worse, but that certainly hasn't been my experience. 
At the failure rate outlined above, and at the price differential, I 
can't see myself buying another Leica battery.





At 10:08 PM -0700 5/24/11, Herbert Kanner wrote:
>After both Dr. Ted and Tina said that they had had good experiences 
>with M8/9 batteries from Hong Kong, I ordered one. I charged up that 
>battery and put it in a drawer. A month later, I put it in the Leica 
>and found that it was dead. OK, I thought, a month is quite a while, 
>though Li ion batteries are not supposed to leak current. I 
>recharged it and put it in the camera. Two days later, it was deader 
>than a doornail.
>
>I guess I got a lemon. Will have to order another one or two; damned 
>if I'll pay Leica's price.
>
>Herb
>--
>Herbert Kanner
>kanner at acm.org
>650-326-8204
>
>Do not meddle in the affairs of cats,
>for they are subtle and will pee
>on your computer!
>
>_______________________________________________
>Leica Users Group.
>See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information

-- 

       Henning J. Wulff
  Wulff Photography & Design
mailto:henningw at archiphoto.com
   http://www.archiphoto.com