The Great Battery debate

What is yo be gained by sticking with lp-e6 batteries branded by canon vs wasabi or sterlingtek? I know the canons cost more, but do you feel they are worth the cost if money is not an issue?

Heya,

I would argue that there really isn't a debate about it, most trust Wasabi and other third party brands to power their equipment. Some swear by Canon batteries. But most of it is anecdotal evidence.

I'd rather have 3 Wasabi batteries than 1 Canon battery, any day, any application. The performance is so similar that I don't stress the insignificant difference other than the obvious: price. There's just no time I'm going to be worried about the performance of a single battery with a dSLR application unless its video, and with video, I use an external 11aH battery anyways. For still shooting, there's just no argument. Even if a third party battery was better than Canon's, it wouldn't matter, if its the only battery you have, as two lesser capable batteries are better than a single slightly better one. I'd rather shoot several batteries to low capacity, and recharge them, than deplete a single better battery completely and recharge it. The lesser discharged ones will live longer. But it's probably not worth the fuss, for the time it would take to matter. And this is not to imply that Canon's battery is the better one, it's not in many instances.

There's no magic, so if the capacity (true capacity) and quality of materials are essentially the same or very close, the performance will not be effected by the brand name on the side. Obviously comparing a much lesser capacity battery to a higher capacity battery is not going to prove anything other than the obvious.

I'll take the $15~20 batteries. I have 20+ of them. They're excellent. My Canon branded ones perform no better or worse from my testing of them. So I have a mix of both and can't tell.

Very best,

I've seen people say the 3rd party batteries don't last as long. Not my experience.

But even if they did I can buy 3 wasabi lp-e4's for less than one cannon one. So big whoop.

I bought 2 wasabi's. They worked great for about 6-7 months. After a year they really started to crap out. Didnt hold a charge for beans. my 3 yr old Canon OE batteries were still going strong. Buying 2 more canon OE to replace the Wasabi's that crapped out


Hope that helps

This has also been my experience.

Hmmm....so there are two totally different camps here, diametrically opposed as they say.

Frodge wrote in post #18302484
Hmmm....so there are two totally different camps here, diametrically opposed as they say.

I'm from the "you get what you pay for" camp. That doesn't mean I'm a brand snob but I'd rather be harassing Canon than some third party vendor if there is an unexpected issue (fire, camera damage, etc). Considering the amount of money this equipment costs, I'm not going to quibble over a few extra dollars for an OEM battery or two.

umphotography wrote in post #18302456
I bought 2 wasabi's. They worked great for about 6-7 months. After a year they really started to crap out. Didnt hold a charge for beans. my 3 yr old Canon OE batteries were still going strong. Buying 2 more canon OE to replace the Wasabi's that crapped out

Sterlingtek has been around for a very long time, and has long been used by photographers as a reliable alternative to the Canon BP-511.
Meanwhile Wasabi is a more recent name on the market (since 2008).

According to Wasabi web site, "Wasabi Power products include a 3-year warranty from Blue Nook in which we guarantee each product to be free of manufacturing defects."
Y'oughtta be able to get Wasabi to replace them, Mike, if within the 3 year window since purchase. That is a much better warranty than what Sterlingtek offers (1 year, 110% money back).

I have one canon and one wasabi. Had them for 2-3 years. They rotate back and forth to get even usage. Unless I look at the branding on the battery I would never know which one I was using.

One possible issue not yet discussed is communication. Do the newer Canon bodies communicate better with Canon branded batteries? I know from my own experience that the Watson batteries supplied by B&H don't communicate correctly with my 7D2. The percentage of remaining power​ jumps up and down inconsistantly every time I check, and taking the batteries out and reinstalling then also changes the available power reported by the camera. This happens with 3 different Watson batteries, one that was included with the camera as a bonus and two others I bought seperately. OEM LP-E6N batteries don't exhibit the same behavior on my camera.

I have been happy with the performance of my Canon batteries. I know I could save a few bucks with some other brands and they work well in most cases. Wasabi seems to be a good option based on what I have read in forums.

I plan to stay with the Canons as it is a small amount of money compared to what I have already spent on gear.

bigVinnie wrote in post #18302445
I've seen people say the 3rd party batteries don't last as long. Not my experience.

But even if they did I can buy 3 wasabi lp-e4's for less than one cannon one. So big whoop.

Trouble with third part is that there are some quality ones like Sterlingtek which seems to be every bit as good as OEM and then there are those from Billyjo-Bob's house of cheap batteries (HoCB for short). THose are the ones we see on the news where someones pants catch fire. I have no experience with Wasabi so I can't comment on them but I have several Sterlingtek batteries and have not noticed any difference between them and OEM.

^^^^Not really. The fire issue is with lithium ion batteries. And yes, the Canon batteries are LI-ion, but I have never heard of one bursting into flames. I don't believe Samsung bought Billy-Bob's batteries for the Galaxy Note 7. The e-cigarette and hoverboard fires - Yep, maybe battery supplier, maybe just crappy design. I haven't seen any investigative results.

Lou

It looks as though we are starting to lean toward oem at this point, just by the temperature of the thread. I think k the Watson batteries are terrible. I've had one totally fail with little use. I have one OEM l-ep6 with two green bars after less than 6000 shots, I have one wasabi l-ep6 with little use. Id like one more l-ep6, but would of course rather spend 20 than 60. This thread has me up in the proverbial air. My wasabi has hardly been used, so I can't really critique it too well.

Frodge wrote in post #18302606
It looks as though we are starting to lean toward oem at this point, just by the temperature of the thread. I think k the Watson batteries are terrible. I've had one totally fail with little use. I have one OEM l-ep6 with two green bars after less than 6000 shots, I have one wasabi l-ep6 with little use. Id like one more l-ep6, but would of course rather spend 20 than 60. This thread has me up in the proverbial air. My wasabi has hardly been used, so I can't really critique it too well.

Having read many dozens of threads on this topic here and elsewhere over the last few years, the one 3rd party battery that seems to consistently get high ratings from users are the Wasabis. While I've never used one, at the price it may be a reasonable alternative if it communicates well with the camera.