Canon U.S.A. Raises Awareness About the Dangers of Counterfeit Power Accessories

[Deleted member 91053]

To IglooEater:

"Can't speak about Canon batteries per se, but in Makita batteries, the chips are far from pointless. They extend battery life and battery lifespan, saving the company I work for thousands of dollars."

A properly designed (and remarkably cheap) charger will do this job better in my experience - no chips needed.

Perhaps- I can only speak through experience, not scientific tests. When Makita started chipping their batteries and tools, it ended our constant run to the store to buy new ones.

"In regards to third party batteries, again, in my field we don't bother with them anymore. Yes we could get the cells for a lot less, but they just don't last. They won't hold a charge, they don't provide the life of a similarly spec'd oem, and give up the ghost much sooner. Same with 3rd party batteries."

Unfortunately non - oem packs often contain inferior and under spec cells with the inevitable results! However many have cells of far higher quality, as I have found in the past, 3 Canon BP511 packs dead within 3 years and 5 non oem packs (cost less than 1 Canon pack) still giving better than Canon originals - they were bought in 2005 and 2006 and are still going strong! The problem with non-oem packs is that we don't know what we are getting until it is too late!

Fair enough. I can't speak about canon, I've only ever bought two canon batteries, and I don't see why I'd buy any more.

"On the other hand, I still agree with you that canon oem batteries are overpriced. (Makita too!). But how much is not clear, as they perform dramatically better than their less expensive "equals" and thus have something different inside them."

With the branded packs you know that you are getting decent cells. Non-oem packs - who knows? That is the trouble! There are rubbish packs out there or there are packs like my OLD BP511 packs that deliver 30 to 40% more capacity for more than three times the service life (and still counting!) of the branded packs. It is a lottery!

yup. I don't gamble. But that's why I said while Canon (and Makita!) oem batteries are overpriced, we don't know by how much. If they go to the trouble of testing all their cells before putting them in a pack, or engineering a cell that won't explode/overheat/etc, it's not fair to say they should sell them at the same price as those from third party manufacturers that don't go to the trouble.

Good points Igloo!

My point is that Canon (+others) ridiculously overprice their packs for example these cells:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00AIOH9VG/ref=pd_day0_23_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=RSQPD5P3VENM9W5JVGWC

nearly 1000Mah more than the Canon ones and of the highest quality (Panasonic own Sanyo) yet even their retail price is a tiny fraction of the cost of Canon packs. As to safety? Then a proper charger is the way to go and these are pretty cheap!

We all want proper performance and safety from our gear and, to be fair, Canon provide it but at what price! If my charger fails then do I spend £399 to replace it or do I make up a new connector for a £25/£30 charger which is FAR better and I already own! If/when the cells in my packs fail do I spend £150 for a new pack with mediocre cells or do I re- build the pack with better cells for £15 - £18?

Nothing wrong with the Canon products except their price - hence the non-oem market. Again Canon/Nikon etc can cure this alleged problem in a heartbeat and still make a nice fat profit on their chargers and battery packs. Even if they sold them at twice what they are worth then we (and I) would be queuing up to buy them! However at 10 to 20 times what they are worth? We start looking for alternatives!