non sony A580 battery (also used in a850 i thin?)

I have an A100, an A700, an A550 and an A580.

As well as the original batteries that came with the cameras I have another 10 or so e-bay cheapies. All of them apart from one work just fine with all the cameras I own. The one that didn't work would charge continuously but never reach full capacity. I could use it and it would last about 60% of the time of the others but since they are so cheap on e-bay I just replaced it with a new one.

I did the same thing with my KMA2 and KM5D because they also use the same battery (not the same as the sony cameras of course) and apart from one breaking open when I dropped it on a stone floor I never had any trouble with them either.

I agree. The socalled "risk" in off brand batteries is greatly exaggerated. Half of my packs are Ebay cheapies, and they perform just as good as the originals.

cheers,

I have for my 7d 2 cheapo's and the cheopo's (each from other seller) just die after like 100 pictures while the "real" keep on going ...

hence the reason why i got 2 other real minolta packs after a while :)

so i assume it's just "luck" and i need to chase a bit on ebay...

thankx jeroon, but i must say that battery looks like any other ebay cheapo, do you actually own it?



Edited by polossatik - 05 December 2011 at 23:55

thankx dca1213,

so that Meike grip is quite crappy? just came across it on ebay for like 35€ ... :)

and just found 2 NP-FM500H battery's for 17€ on ebay..
looks like i'll just have to bite the bullet and test..

or maybe the saake shop...
but that's 31 € for one and all the other A580 stuff there looks just the same as what you see on ebay... just more expensive


Edited by polossatik - 06 December 2011 at 00:01

thank you for the info Dennis!

polossatik wrote: thankx jeroon, but i must say that battery looks like any other ebay cheapo, do you actually own it?

@polossatik: Yes, I own that battery and a Sony too. Both living and in love with each other in my vertical grip.

Based on this thread, and my desire to purchase extra batteries for less than $75US (local price), I started searching on the Internet.

My criteria:
    1. Must not be a Sony counterfeit
    2. Must come from a US marketer.

Searching, especially on Fleabay, revealed one important fact, there are Sony equivalent batteries out there, but you have to read the specs carefully. I found batteries listed at 2000 mAh, 1650 mAh, and 1500 mAh. The mAh listed had little impact on pricing.
The Mah may be the reason that some have reported significant differences in weight and length of charge.

I finally decided on a 2000 mAh, 3 battery set for $28.98US ($9.66 each) with free shipping. The seller listed on the Fleabay sight was Outdoorzy, the eBay store sight was listed as DigiPhotoZone, the PayPal recipient was listed as Advant Digital. ??? Go figure.

However, Outdoorzy had a 100% positive rating on 9600 feedbacks, so for $28.98 I thought I would give it a try.
Batteries arrived in 4 days via USPS. Postmark was Pomona NY.

Time will tell as to whether or not these batteries hold up. However, here are the available stats that I collected.

I have 3 Sony batteries, 1 (Sony 3) came with original A300 in Aug 2008 making it 3.5 years old. The other 2 (Sony 1 and Sony 2) were purchased in 2011.
The non-Sony batteries were purchased in Jan 2012 (Generic 1,2 and 3).

The generic batteries are almost identical in molding characteristics to the Sony batteries. Overall the batteries were nearly identical, with a slight difference in the plastic finish. Listed as "Power2000 Professional Digital Battery" on the box. Usual fluff like maximum power etc, plus 2 year warranty. (How do you collect on the warranty?). Listed as Vidpro Corporation, P.O. Box 344 Jamaica NY. I would guess they are the importer.

Stats:
Sony   Weight (gram Oz) 100% charged Volts
   1     76.76     2.70        8.43
   2     76.77     2.70        8.44
   3     77.33     2.72        8.42

Generic Weight (gram Oz) 100% charged Volts
   1     73.20     2.580       8.37
   2     73.38     2.588       8.40
   3     73.45     2.590       8.43

So Generics approximately 3.5 grams (.12 oz.) lighter, and voltage difference is marginal.

Edit:
I was just looking at the back of my Sony batteries and noticed these differences.
My 3.5 year old battery is listed as 7.2v 11.8Wh (Watt hours?)
the 2 newer batteries were listed as 7.2v 1600mAh typ. 11.8Wh mi. 11.5Wh. I would guess that Wh stands for Watt Hours, but I don't know what it signifies.
But at 1600 vs, 2000 mAh, the generics should actually last longer that the Sony originals.


Edited by JimK - 09 January 2012 at 14:50