OMG Do NOT Buy This Grip! Look What Happened!

OUCH!!! I've never seen an equipment failure like that.

Good news, I'll be dumping my Canon grip in a month. (I'm upgrading bodies, and the grip won't fit the new body. Interested in a Canon?

opteka!

Hmm, that's unfortuante, sometimes I find myself in a similar situation, should I go for a cheaper alternative

EOS MAN1 wrote in post #3129735
Sure, here it is:

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Holy crap. I'm sorry to see that. I'm not saying you dropped it, but it looks like it was thrown against the wall or something. If I thought it would help, I would almost write to the company and ask them for another one.

SunTsu wrote in post #3132480
I would almost write to the company and ask them for another one.

"Dear Sirs,
As you can clearly see, your company has sold me crap. Please supply me with another piece of crap by way of compensation."

Buy Canon and be done with it. I'm very happy with mine, with over 15K actuations on my XT.

The BG-E2 has its issues too... I don't know about any of the other grips.

I had a Targus wireless mouse that died after about a week of normal use. Went back to CompUSA and exchanged it for a new one and it stopped working a few days later. I don't think I'll buy any of their stuff, ever...

The break pattern in the plastic is consistent with over torquing the screws.

e r y k wrote in post #3131553
opteka!

No complaints with mine, either. Had it a few months now...it's been bumped and bruised. No problems at all.

Use JB weld... .it's bullet proof, but you have to act quick.. if you're not a model builder or work on cars, then just get the canon model instead.. too much to go wrong.

Interesting, I would definitely contact the company and try and get a replacement. But for what it's worth I have the Targus grip and mine's working fine and I'm thus far very happy with it.

For the little time it would take to contact Targus though I would be calling.

Kurt

bill boehme wrote in post #3132676
The break pattern in the plastic is consistent with over torquing the screws.

I don't know if it is possible that I over torqued the screw to the camera. I can't imagine that I did. Itsn' not like I took pliers to attach it. Like I said, I am very gentle with my equiptment.

EOS MAN1 wrote in post #3134713
I don't know if it is possible that I over torqued the screw to the camera. I can't imagine that I did. Itsn' not like I took pliers to attach it. Like I said, I am very gentle with my equiptment.

I did not mean to indicate that it was your fault. If the plastic is weak, it would not take much stress to cause it to break. I have had a few plastic housings break around the screw holes on various things and I know that it was because of the inadequate strength of the plastic.

Hermeto wrote in post #3129696
Huh, that looks bad!
To be honest, this is the first time I’ve heard of Targus grip.

I've seen them at Fry's... To my way of thinking, this is just another argument to use the Canon grips instead of some cheaply made third-party product.

Do you really feel the price difference was worth it now?

bill boehme wrote in post #3135000
I did not mean to indicate that it was your fault. If the plastic is weak, it would not take much stress to cause it to break. I have had a few plastic housings break around the screw holes on various things and I know that it was because of the inadequate strength of the plastic.

I know you weren't saying it was my fault. I am just wondering if it could have been somehow. I have never really heard of anyone else having a problem like this except another Targus. I am almost sure it is the type of plastic they used. After looking at the plastic extensively, I think it is actually ABS Plastic. It does not looks like Polycarb. Polycarb, even low grade does not simply break like this. I has an extremely high tolerance. It can be bent at exreme angle and it will merely stretch a little without breaking. It doesn't even turn white like most plastics do when they are bent. I think it is a good example of taking short cuts.


I am so mad I didn't get the Canon one originally. I wish I had just for the better wheel feel to. Oh well, now I know. And well, at least one good thing comes out of this. Someone had to be a guinea pig for their product. Now everyone else will know not to get it and hopefully many people will be saved from a crappy product.

JWright wrote in post #3135703
I've seen them at Fry's... To my way of thinking, this is just another argument to use the Canon grips instead of some cheaply made third-party product.

Do you really feel the price difference was worth it now?

If only I was told this before I invested in a cheap crap third party grip. You see, the 'groupthink' mentality is that "third party is just fine" - any dissenters get shot down by the "MINE WORKS JUST FINE!!!!!" crowd. It happens so often. "oooh but but but I bought one cheap one off ebay and it is wonderful I will never pay for a BG-E2".

The BG-E2 owners keep quiet because they know there is nothing to be gained (well, for themselves) by contradicting those who do not believe. I was surprised to see so many BG-E2 owners come out of the woodwork in my 'battery grips cause resistance' thread telling me that their grips work just fine.. I was annoyed at not having asked earlier, or having had a mechanism to obtain such information (because the real owners would be out-shouted as explained earlier).

It seems that he who yells loudest gets heard. This is not always a good thing.

Pixel9ine wrote in post #3132537
"Dear Sirs,
As you can clearly see, your company has sold me crap. Please supply me with another piece of crap by way of compensation."

Buy Canon and be done with it. I'm very happy with mine, with over 15K actuations on my XT.

Amen.

I handled a real BG-E4 (I am a 5D owner too) the other day and was so pleasantly surprised to note that it simply does not budge or wiggle at all, nor does it give 'low battery' indicators where there is none. I sent my generic BG-E2 equivalent in for replacement, when they give me a fixed copy I am simply going to sell it - I am not even going to use it.

Anyway I've now learned that a battery grip IS JUST ONE MORE thing to break or go wrong. I now shoot the cameras grip-less again. I've said it before and I will say it again, the only grip I've ever liked is the hewn-from-granite 1D series grips. Won't find that mag alloy chassis coming apart unless you rip a 500/4.5 off the camera.