Spare 60D battery

John from PA wrote in post #14375566
If you are getting a 60D through the CLP, ask about them providing a spare battery for a nominal fee. Never hurts to ask...

Hmm, good idea. Never thought of that... Wonder if anyone else here has tried that maybe?

Another vote for sterlingtek. I recently purchased a battery from them for my 5d. It was doa. They then sent me out the wrong model as a replacement. After talking to customer care, who was very apologetic, offered to refund me the whole price including shipping or another battery. A couple days later I received 2 free batteries and a replacement for the original dud. That is how customer service should be done!

All three batteries work as well as the oem canons and I will continue to buy batteries from them for all my cameras.

Jason L wrote in post #14376551
Another vote for sterlingtek.

Sounds like good service from them. A shame they don't ship outside of USA/Canada any longer

I'm confused about the Sterlingtek's though. They're rated at nearly 45% more capacity than Canon's LP-E6 and yet a lot of people have said they get roughly the same number of shots. Sounds like they spec the capacity differently to Canon or something.

The 60D battery charge lasts so long (I'm still on my first charge...over 400 shots), I can't comment on the SterlingTeks on a 60D, but I can tell you, I got a lot more shots on my G12 with them over the OEM battery.

For me, I think it's because I charge them quite regularly and they are never really empty. I will usually go 500 or so shots on each battery and charge it after. Don't want to miss a shot because I was testing batteries. Some people get much more, some report the same as oem.

I ended up buying a couple of the Wasabi kit with 2 exrta batteries and charger from Amazon for my 5D3 camera. Yes, that is 4 spare batteries and two extra chargers. But the way that I see it. I live up in Canada, and an actual Canon LP-E6 up here cost around $135 after taxes. Even buying from B&H costs $85 with shipping and brokerage. I got the 4 shipped to my door for less than $75. Even if they don't last as long, or hold up for as many recharges, I have paid far less in the process.

I also take my camera with my on trips. I bring the Wasabi charger as if it gets lost or broken, I'm out far less than replacing the Canon. I have in the past lost a battery on vacation once. It hurts far less when it's only $15 loss rather than a $135.

Another think to note. SterlingTek batteries don't have a Unique serial number on the battery. So if you register it to your camera, having more than one doens't work out. The Wasabi do have unique serial numbers, so you can actually track the charge and shot count for each of your batteries.

Jason L wrote in post #14378049
For me, I think it's because I charge them quite regularly and they are never really empty. I will usually go 500 or so shots on each battery and charge it after. Don't want to miss a shot because I was testing batteries. Some people get much more, some report the same as oem.

That is why I want a second battery... Soon as one dies i swap it and charge it. They don't take THAT long to charge / I never use the second that fast... and that was with the Rebel Xti. Only time I ever came close to running out of battery and missing shots, is when I forgot to charge one of my batteries over night, so it only got a partial charge in the morning before I left lol. But even then..I just squeaked by with enough juice left to dl the pics.

Also, isn't it better for the battery to drain it most or all of the way before charging it? I would think you get a better charge that way, but I could be wrong.

Shutterwolf wrote in post #14378479
Also, isn't it better for the battery to drain it most or all of the way before charging it? I would think you get a better charge that way, but I could be wrong.

This was "Best practice" with NiCad batteries but really isn't necessary with today's Li Ion batteries. In fact, letting them get too low can cause overheating which shortens life.

Used Sterlingteks a bunch. Never an issue. Last as long if not longer than OEM. I use them in the worst of conditions as well.

From experience, just shoot and see if you actually need a spare battery. I shot a whole fashion show (750 pictures) and had at least ~60% left in the battery .. then shot the after party (350 pictures) and had about 40% left. Its rated for around 1,100 shots I think but man do I get way more! Plus if your memory is the bottleneck to how many pictures you can take then a spare battery is going to do nothing. My 16gb held 750 pictures (it perfectly lasted for the show!) on just raw.

Just an opposing thought

I would never trust 1 battery or memory card, no matter how much they can hold.

Shutterwolf wrote in post #14378479
Also, isn't it better for the battery to drain it most or all of the way before charging it? I would think you get a better charge that way, but I could be wrong.

As Yogi said this can actually be detrimental to the battery. But it's not so simple to work out. Battery University has some test results comparing DoD and number of discharge cycles before a typical lithium battery is dead:

Depth of discharge    Discharge cycles
100% DoD               500
50%  DoD               1500
25%  DoD               2500
10%  DoD               4700

Depth of discharge    Discharge cycles   Relative "Use" (Higher better)
100% DoD               500               500
50%  DoD               1500               750
25%  DoD               2500               625
10%  DoD               4700               470

coolhotwaves wrote in post #14370579
Maximal Power batteries are good, $15.

I use these in all my cameras and think they are great value for the money. (Can usually get a for $12 on up.)

Has anyone had any issues with these batteries months or years later? I'm shopping for batteries for my 60D and came across the brands mentioned here.

NJKEV wrote in post #14839740
Has anyone had any issues with these batteries months or years later? I'm shopping for batteries for my 60D and came across the brands mentioned here.

I've had my Wasabi battery for 9 months now with no apparent problems.