K10D Battery

Does anyone have any experience with the Konica Minolta NP400-PL4008-853 (DB25) Digital Battery? I believe this battery may be compatible with the K10D? It seems considerably cheaper than the Pentax one

Been using a NP-400 in my K10d for a while now, no problems.

BJ.

Merlin, you are a magician, thank you!

Hi Babu, you can get these here for £9.99 + £2.49 postage:

http://www.digitalmediastore.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=107_138_171&produc...

Thank you Gordon.

The only warnings I have ever heard over non-Pentax batteries is they can have a low cold weather performance. Addationally I have heard that batteries mage in China are less reliable then some.

I use a non-pentax battery and I do appear to get less shots from it than the Pentax one, despite its slightly higher capacity. However, I have not experienced any problems and it cost me £9.99!

Found this link for the KM NP 400 battery we have been discussing.

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_3&products_id=992...

Anyway I have now ordered at a amazing price of £4.99 + postage.

Wow!! I know where I'll be going when I need a replacement

I must admit, I really do love these original / non original debates about batteries, especially when the battery used in the K10D was designed for another product in the 1st place, and Pentax just used / licensed an existing battery design.

It was even funnier, when a couple of weeks ago, went down to SRS to pick up a new K10D, and Chris gave me an original brochure for it. On the accessories page, the additional battery did not have pentax written on it but 'Minolta NP400'

All the other debates about false economy, you will end up buying 3 batteries over the lifetime of an original battery etc.etc. just pale into insignificance when, as posted here, you can buy them 10x cheaper!

I know what I would rather have, and indeed I do have 2x higher capacity 3rd party ones!

Another similar experience made me laugh / spit out my coffee last night. Was looking on Apple's website, speccing up a 24" iMac, they wanted £539.99 for a 4GB memory upgrade. Crucial.com will do it for £52! A nice saving of a DA*16-50mm there me thinks!

No surprise there, most batteries do!

All this ignores a few points. The NP400 and the Pentax battery are different specs, there are a lot of counterfeit unbranded batteries around that can be dangerous and if a battery does cause a serious problem it is likely to affect the warranty.

I doubt very much that I will ever need to buy another Pentax battery for the K10D (apart from the one spare already purchased) as the camera will be upgraded long before the batteries give up.

However, as with all things, we are all free to spend our money as we wish!

I have been using a third party battery described as a model NP400 replacement made in China. It is said to have a capacity of 1500mAh compared with the original Pentax battery which has 1620mAh. I have not noticed any difference in how long a charge lasts and regard it as practically indistinguishable from the "official" battery. I have had it for only six months so I do not know if it will last as long as a Pentax battery but as it only cost a fiver I am not worried. OEM batteries seem to be something of a rip-off.

Archie

Don't forget, they are the same for the K20D too!

Also certain genuine batteries explode, so, no guarantees there either!

Just ask Sony and Dell about that one!

Indeed so, but would they have jumped so quickly to put matters right if it had been an unbranded battery in someone's computer?