I was looking around town yesterday for an extra battery, and someone directed me to Batteries Plus. I went in looked around and of course didn't find any Panasonic batteries.
I asked the guy behind the counter, and told him I was looking for a Panasonic VW-VBG6. He looked it up in his system and saw that they have some equivalent "coming soon." He did not know, and could not find out during the weekend, when exactly soon was or answer any questions about the proprietary chip in the battery.
He said that there are only a handful of battery manufacturers in the world, with people putting their own names on them for what they need. He said he would expect this battery to be exactly the same as the VW-VBG6, but to say Rayovac on it instead of Panasonic.
Now, 'coming soon' is nebulous at best and does not mean we will see said battery 'soon' or ever, for that matter. Of course, there is no way to test a product that isn't out yet. It may be that there is hope on the horizon for competitively priced batteries though.
I am waiting on more information now.
I asked the guy behind the counter, and told him I was looking for a Panasonic VW-VBG6. He looked it up in his system and saw that they have some equivalent "coming soon." He did not know, and could not find out during the weekend, when exactly soon was or answer any questions about the proprietary chip in the battery.
He said that there are only a handful of battery manufacturers in the world, with people putting their own names on them for what they need. He said he would expect this battery to be exactly the same as the VW-VBG6, but to say Rayovac on it instead of Panasonic.
Now, 'coming soon' is nebulous at best and does not mean we will see said battery 'soon' or ever, for that matter. Of course, there is no way to test a product that isn't out yet. It may be that there is hope on the horizon for competitively priced batteries though.
I am waiting on more information now.
