One charger to rule them all?

[andrei1989]

i'll be travelling for about 1 month in new zealand and i am looking for a solution to keep my canon M5 batteries (LP-E17) charged

the solutions i've come up with until now are:
1) get 2-3-4 more original canon batteries (i only have 1) and charge them in the original canon charger --> quite expensive at ~50€/battery and there is no way to charge more at the same time (or is there?)
2) go all 3rd party and buy decent batteries (i have 2 now which are ok) which are way cheaper than the original ones and come with a charger that holds 2 at a time and also can be supplied via USB --> disadvantage is that the 3rd party charger doesn't support original canon batteries and i don't see the battery level in the camera

i'm leaning more towards the 3rd party USB solution as this would mean i can get an adapter for australian plugs and a really powerful USB supply (5-6 ports) and charge all my devices from that (camera, phone and whatever else)

any of you have some experience regarding this? this would be my longest trip to date and the first one outside europe so i don't have much experience
and other solutions i should consider?

thanks.

 

[LDS]

Hähnel PROCUBE2 for Canon can charge 2 batteries (LP-E6, LP-E8, LP-E17) or 4 AA. It also has a 2.4A USB port. It comes with a car 12V adapter plus US, UK and EU plugs (you still need an adapter in NZ).

The disadvantages are it's not really cheap, nor small.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I bought some low cost LP- E17 batteries which worked fully with my SL-2 for a one time trip. After that, they did not get used much if at all. They were in no way comparable in actual capacity to my Canon battery, but they were there for a backup. Having two chargers along was not what I wanted, but I never had to use either of the chargers.

I've also used my case relay to power my cameras from a large USB battery. It can go for many times what a Canon battery can manage, but it is not convenient at all to use while moving around, its great when you are in one place for long term camera use.

 

[andrei1989]

currently RAVPOWER sells 2 LP-E17 batteries with a charger which works with USB for 30€
1 original canon battery is 41€
ravpower is one of the better brands out there as far as i know..
i could get 2 sets of these and be happy i guess...having 4 (maybe 6) batteries would offset the fact that i don't see the charge level on the camera...

does anyone know if the canon battery will work in the ravpower (or any other 3rd party) charger?

 

[Mikehit]

I bought a Hahnel 'universal' charger when in NZ last year - when I charged an original Canon battery and the meter that communicates with the charger to say when it has charged has never worked since (in 3rd party charger or Canon original charger). I have no idea if this suggests a fault in the battery's internal circuitry so I chucked it out.
I would have thought that using batteries and charger from one manuacturer (as andrei1989 suggested) would be OK but it has made me cautious.

 

[StoicalEtcher]

currently RAVPOWER sells 2 LP-E17 batteries with a charger which works with USB for 30€
1 original canon battery is 41€
ravpower is one of the better brands out there as far as i know..
i could get 2 sets of these and be happy i guess...having 4 (maybe 6) batteries would offset the fact that i don't see the charge level on the camera...

does anyone know if the canon battery will work in the ravpower (or any other 3rd party) charger?

Andrei,
I have a RavPower dual charger, and use it interchangeably with Canon battery chargers (I tend to use it more when travelling, as it plugs into a USB pack that also charges phones etc.). I've had no perceived problems with my original canon batteries - they have charged fine off it, and it does;t appear to have affected reporting, capacity, etc.

I agree that Rav seem to be one of the better providers - judging by the packaging and quality of finish on products etc., they seem to have taken a leaf out of Apple's book (or indeed be using one of their Chinese production facilities...?)

Good luck.