Trade off? Canon ext battery pack vs. knock-offs w/8 AA rechargeables?

[jonathan7007]

I am going to get at least one external battery pack for a few Canon 550's I am putting together as a location kit. ...for events where one unit will be needed for especially fast recycling. Perhaps in the future multiple slaved units would be sped up with such battery packs.

Canon's pack has one big recharged battery and a dedicated charger, it appears. So declining health of that core component affects the usefulness of the whole unit. If AA's weaken I replace just the little battery which has aged. OTOH, I expect that the engineering in the Canon is good.

Thoughts? Experience?

jonathan7007

 

[Viggo]

Do not use the packs with AA's, trust me, you'll go nuts from all the charging, unless you have a 15 min charger that accepts 12 batterie. at a time... i've used those cpe3 packs for two flashes and that's 24batteries you need to charge every time you want to use them.

I bought the GoDox pb520 or something like that, build in battery you can just plug into to the mains and charge it, lighter and I get at least 400 shots at near full power. They are really great and not that expensive. Set the recycle function on your flash to only use external power to recycle, that way your in flash AA's lasts way longer...

 

[jonathan7007]

The "GoDox pb820" has lots of good reviews. Thanks for the tip.
http://fstoppers.com/cheap-deal-godox-battery-pack-for-camera-flash
http://www.lightingrumours.com/godox-propac-pb-820-battery-pack-review-1162
http://www.photoanswers.co.uk/Gear/Search-Results/Photo-Accessories/Godox-PB820-Propac---portable-flashgun-charger/
http://www.vtography.com/blog/2012/06/05/godox-propac-pb820-external-flash-battery-pack-review/

the last one has practical details pro and slight con: rigid belt clip doesn't easily adapt to your crouching for a shot.

jonathan7007

 

[Richard8971]

OK, so I have enough AA chargers and I have enough AA's to make it worth the investment. (I own dozens of NiMh AA's) I have been using rechargeable AA's for years and there are always enough charged and ready to go at any given time. I keep two boxes, one marked "charged" and one "discharged". Costco here sells bulk packs of Sanyo Eneloop batteries cheap.

So, are the packs worth it? I am not talking about the "time" spent recharging batteries as it really isn't an issue to me. It takes only a few seconds to pop 4-8 AA's in the charger(s) before I head to bed, if I so happen to have any in my "discharged" box that need refreshing.

I am refering to the "bulk" of the AA's power vs that of the sealed packs.

D