3rd party NP-F970 type batteries

P

Pgale

Well-known member
So with the need to buy a load more NP-F970 style batteries for the O7Q, I just wanted to ask what 3rd party batteries people are using?

I have original Sony and some Hahnel NP-F970 equivalents that are chipped and report battery level OK etc. Only been using them for a couple of months though, so no long term idea of how good they are. They are a fraction of the price though. The only down side I can see so far is the exposed contact arrangement, plus the contacts are quite loose and slide out a little! Not the highest quality.

So any other recommendations for chipped NP-F970 equivalents?

Thanks.
 
I got two of these 770s (the smaller ones) for my 7Q. They work really well. They don't communicate with the FS700 so you can't tell remaining battery life, but on the 7Q it gives a very accurate Voltage reading, so it's good for that. I bought them because they had good reviews. $28

http://www.amazon.com/Capacity-NP-F...=sr_1_8?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1395340357&sr=1-8

Battery life and charge times seem very similar to the official Sony version.
 
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The NP-F series have been around a loooong time, and are apparently not that difficult to "chip". I've bought a ton of these things off Ebay over the years, and I've never run into one that is NOT chipped...

HOWEVER, when you go generic, there are a few potential gotchas:

A genuine NP-F970 contains six (6) Li-ION cells inside the large plastic housing. VERY frequently, the cheap generics only contain 2, or at best 4 cells inside the housing. This is easy to confirm using a genuine Sony NP-F970, and an accurate postage scale. The generics are often noticably lighter, and of course do not ever meet their expected / listed mAh capacity (expected run-time). There is no way to know in advance if you are getting a generic with all 6 cells, or a cheaped out version with just 2 or 4 cells.

Many of the so called "genuine" Sony NP-F970 batteries sold on Ebay and other sources are counterfeit. This is not easy to tell at first glance, because both the battery and the packaging look very authentic. B&H & Adorama always provide genuine product.

The easiest way to tell genuine from counterfeit is if you are using a Sony AC-VQ1050 dual charger. This particular model has a red LED that indicates "quick mode". ONLY genuine Sony NP-F970 and NP-F770 batteries will initiate quick mode. ALL generic batteries will be charged in normal mode, which takes considerably longer. Unfortunately, the newer AC-VQ1051 no longer has a quick mode indicator, however the results are the same - genuine batteries charge fast, generics take noticeably longer.

Indeed, this is the downfall of all generic NP-F970s and chargers other than the 2 noted above... the generic batteries take quite a while to charge, some never quite reach 100% charge (ie you mount them on the camera & they show 98%), and many are actually much less than their rated output.

I tend to use genuine batteries on my cameras, and the cheaper generic batteries on lights and other accessories. My take on this is if you are going to go generic, you might as well go cheap... what is the savings in getting a $70 generic that can't fast charge, when you can get a genuine Sony that will fast charge (with the appropriate charger) for say $30-$40 more???
 
Oh, one last thing... I've bought a number of generic NP-F770 batteries, and so far they have always contained the four (4) cells that they should contain (just as a genuine Sony NP-F770 contains 4 cells). I've usually been able to find these under $20 on Ebay, and they tend to perform as well or better than the generic NP-F970, but in a smaller package - since so many of the generic NP-F970 are just empty space where the last 2 cells should be.
 
Thanks everyone. I'm in the UK - so will have to source here for these.

JuanDiaz - whats the difference in charge time with the rapid charge if you can remember?

I have a hawk-woods 4 port charger but guessing thats a standard speed charger. They're certainly slower charging than all my other batteries it seems.
 
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