3rd party battery - K5

I've got 6 2000mah K-5 batteries that cost £5 each from ebay. One of them doesn't charge properly but all the others work perfectly, for the sake of £5 I'm not worried about one that doesn't work right. They still cost me as a whole a lot less than a single Pentax genuine replacement. I've never had a camera lock-up on either the K-5, K-01 or K-3 with any of these batteries.

Regards
David

I have 3 Pentax batteries now as two cameras are more or less redundant (K7 & K5)

One OE Pentax, one cheapo unbranded Ebay special, and one Hama supplied as a freebie by SRS.

The unbranded one works identically to the OE item; the Hama is comparatively a pile of poo. It's allegedly 1350mAh but I'd rate it at half the life of the other two.

For the past decade I have bought cheap spare batteries for laptops, point and shoot cameras and, since acquiring a DSLR in 2011, for Pentax K-r and K-5 cameras. I have had no problems with any of them - in the case of the cameras, using them in rotation with the manufacturers' original batteries, they seem to give comparable performance.

Are there many reported incidents of cheap third-party camera batteries causing harm to the equipment or, even more important, hazards to people? The incidents resulting from internet searches on this subject usually seem to involve laptops and power tools, and with the OEM batteries installed. Also what proportion of incidents are actually due to human error rather than equipment failure?

As a result of company reactions to such incidents, I have had to return for exchange two laptop batteries (properly functioning, but following battery recall procedures), one for a HP battery and one for a Toshiba battery.

Regarding battery manufacture - aren't items like this made by robots and, if so, are the robots programmed to make the batteries safer and better quality when they are to have a Pentax label attached? Or is each battery sent to the Pentax factory checked externally, internally, and for its performance, by technicians (or robots) there, thus dramatically increasing its production costs?

So is there any significant evidence that spending up to 10x as much for an OEM battery really justifies any extra peace of mind?

Philip

MrB, there are so many levels on which original accessories are or can be a batter idea than cheap alternatives. There's the matter of guarantees, if an original battery fails and damages the camera then there's some comeback for the manufacturer. If it's a cheap battery that causes damage, then you're on your own. Just recently someone put a battery in upside down and the Pentax technicians removed it. I'll bet they wouldn't have been so confident to drill into it if it had been a third party product.

In terms of performance, there have been tests that have shown that only the Pentax batteries were up to spec. The others didn't even come close and some cheaper ones were totally dismal. You can't tell which ones you are buying.

If you buy an expensive camera and want it to work properly, then I don't think buying cheap accessories for it helps. In general I would always pay the extra. It's nothing to do with "peace of mind", a dreadful phrase IMHO, it's everything to do with efficiency and the pleasure of using accessories that match and fit properly, sharing the same high standards as the cameras and lenses.

Obviously John, everyone will make their own decisions on this sort of topic but, in my opinion, in this case it is a matter of assessing the risk, preferably based on evidence.

As I wrote previously, many of the reported lithium battery problems in electronic equipment have been with OEM batteries installed. Is there any evidence that using generic (3rd party) rather than OEM batteries poses anything other than a minuscule percentage risk of causing a catastrophe? In my experience, 3rd party batteries for any of the cameras I have owned look identical (apart from the label), fit perfectly, and work satisfactorily.

For me, the pleasure of saving £100 by buying two generic K-5 batteries, and thereby being able to afford, e.g., a Tamron 70-300 zoom lens, outweighs any tiny risk that might exist in the use of those batteries.

Philip

Those tests obviously didn't test every 3td party battery then did they, because there have also been tests showing no difference in performance between batteries with a Pentax label on and batteries with a 3rd party label on them. I have done them. Whether anyone trusts my word on my own tests is up to them, but I've no reason to lie about it and I'm enjoying equal performance for a tenth of the price.



If those accessories work fine then they certainly aren't unhelpful


IOW it's piece of mind. You pay 10x the extra for that piece of mind, That's fine, people take their choice.

Personally I think £55 for a battery is a gross rip off when you can get exactly the same thing with a different badge for nearly a tenth of the price.

I'd also add that if a third party battery only worked 75% as good as a Pentax battery then it's still much better value for money.

I agree that Pentax batteries are probably the best. However as a back up, 3rd party makes so much sense it hurts! Most seem to be so close to Pentax battery performance you wouldn't really notice in use. Even the poorest performing ones are useful to have to get you out of a hole.

Does anyone know which manufacturer produces batteries for Pentax? And if they sell them under another brand name ?

There's no way to know and I'm sure Pentax wouldn't be telling. It may well be that they have used many manufacturers over the years. It's only become an issue since lithium battery packs were used, prior to that a mercury or silver oxide cell would likely have been marked with the manufacturer's name, rather than Pentax.

The difference is that now a particular battery is designated for a particular camera, or range of cameras such as the path from K-7 to K-3.

Probably a case of, as with all manufacturing, "Made for company X by company Y because they submitted the cheapest tender"

Maybe Stan, but maybe not. I'm sure that in the end the spec will be delivered. The labelling doesn't wear off Pentax batteries like it does with some cheap ones. I feel that quality is reflected at all levels and clearly Pentax don't make "cheap" products, be in cameras, lenses or accessories. They aren't going to go against the grain with their batteries.

I buy the branded versions of accessories and I guess you don't expect I then go and buy the cheapest can of baked beans I can find?

The brand leader for baked beans is Heinz.

In the "Which?" blind taste test of baked beans, Morrisons own Value Baked Beans (29p) and Heinz Baked Beans (64p) achieved equal scores (70%).

Seems like a credible analogy here.

Philip

No matter which brand Beanz Meanz Fartz

We digress, but I don't like Heinz beans. They may be market leader, but yuck!

I think we've established the contrary views on batteries though, yet again. No doubt we'll revisit it soon!