GH1 battery recommendations

Blackout

Blackout

Veteran
Just thought I would fill you in that I purchased a couple of pearstone GH1 batteries from B & H and while they worked, they are of a slightly lower mAh and I noticed they did not last as long as the on brand panasonic battery by a long shot.

Anyone have any other recommendations that they have had success with?
 
Yes! The batteries from seller "ricky_cub" are the real deal - and about $20 cheaper than the price at B&H.

I won't put anything else in my GH1 - not worth the risk and I don't think the battery level indicator works correctly with non-Pany batteries.

Here's the eBay link...
 
I got one of the Sterlingtek batteries and they last a long time -- I'm pretty sure they work without the hack, because I'm using a GH13 but I didn't check the 3rd party battery option when I first applied it.
 
Lynchenstein said:
Yes! The batteries from seller "ricky_cub" are the real deal - and about $20 cheaper than the price at B&H.

I won't put anything else in my GH1 - not worth the risk and I don't think the battery level indicator works correctly with non-Pany batteries.

Here's the eBay link...
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So here's the thing with batteries.

Lithium cells are made only by a handful of companies. Everyone buys from them and assembles the packs. All charging control is done by the micro processor in the pack. You won't hurt your device by using a non-oem pack so long as it is the proper voltage. It may not work or last as long but you won't hurt the device. Generally manufactureres grade the cells once they are produced so you may get "b" or "c" cells in your pack. There is no way to know and a lower grade cell may = a reduced run time even if it rated the same as the oem. The processor is programed to shut of the input charge voltage once the cells reach a certain finish voltage or if they over heat. The quality of the housing and of the contacts may be lower but there is no real way of knowing. The big safety issue is in over-charging but that would as a rule happen the first time although any in-pack circuit oem or non-oem can fail and cause overheating or ignition of the pack.

Lithium cells can create a major fire hazzard which is why airlines want them as carryons not checked in a bag that could catch fire in the hold and possible bring a plane down. Many a UPS/FED Ex truck has burned due to a Lithium based battery fire. All it takes is an internal short in the cell itself and the cell can go exothermic creating self ignition of that cell and the rest of the cells in the pack. I've seen it in the lab and it's pretty scary. The cell can actually look like a disposable lighter with a flame under pressure coming out of it. Talk about ruining you day...

If you want to buy an aftermarket pack and save a few bucks but have some recourse if something happens, buy a pack from Lenmar at Best Buy or Radio Shack. It's the same China packs as the no-names but at least they are US based as are the retailers.

You may ask how I know these things; the answer is that I worked for AC Delco, Anton Bauer and a company known as DPP who OEM'd 10's of thousands of packs for Duracell, BJ's Wholesale, Sears & Walmart.

BTW; I have used non-oem's since the '90's and have never had an issue beyond slightly poorer performance.

Lyle
 
The problem is not the brand of the battery, as alylea has explained, the problem is that there are REAL FAKE batteries on the market intentionally supposed to fraud the buyer. As fake as this one:

akk-3.jpg


That's a pic from a Russian forum, the story behind it is that the guy who bought this replacement battery for his HV20 (from a reputable store BTW) suffered from short battery life, like 30 min. The battery died after few weeks, so he cracked it up to see what was inside: a couple of cheap cells soldered together and A NUT to make it heavier.

Well, I'm still not paranoid about it at all. It's not a common thing and these are cheap enough to consider them a throw-away item in case if you buy something like this accidentally.

But this post is just to inform people that there are things like this on the market as well.
 
Lynchenstein said:
Yes! The batteries from seller "ricky_cub" are the real deal - and about $20 cheaper than the price at B&H.

I won't put anything else in my GH1 - not worth the risk and I don't think the battery level indicator works correctly with non-Pany batteries.

Here's the eBay link...
Click to expand...


Nope - they ain't the real deal - at lest, not the one he sent me from Singapore.

I ordered from Mr Cub - three weeks later what do I get? -

A fake battery, in a fake box, with a fake instruction leaflet.

The battery proudly says, 'Panasonic', but the rest of the script is all Chinese. It differs in several respects from the original battery ( case lettering, style, etc)

The box also says. Panasonic' - but it's poorly printed, with slightly blurred lettering, the 'blue' is darker than 'Panasonic blue', and white text is slightly greyish. The bar code & 'CE' sticker (LOL!) thoughtfully provided by the entrepreneurial Mr Cub is printed directly on the box - but looks as if it was originally a sticky label.

The instructions are also poorly printed, slightly blurred text, and in a variety of European languages except English.

It's all fake. Fake, fake, fake.....

The battery does work (let's give Mr Cub *some* credit - but quite what's inside that fake plastic case is anyone's guess. I haven't measured the terminal voltage, so let's be kind and assume that it is actually 7.2 volts...

I've nothing against 3rd party batteries - but Mr Cub advertised these as genuine Panasonic, and even reiterated his claim to an enquirer on his listing.

I'm not sure what the Chinese equivalent is of the Hollywood western red Indian phrase, 'Him speak-um with forked tongue' - but whatever it is, Mr Cub is doing it.....
 
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Framerate said:
Nope - they ain't the real deal - at lest, not the one he sent me from Singapore.

I ordered from Mr Cub - three weeks later what do I get? -

A fake battery, in a fake box, with a fake instruction leaflet.

The battery proudly says, 'Panasonic', but the rest of the script is all Chinese. It differs in several respects from the original battery ( case lettering, style, etc)

The box also says. Panasonic' - but it's poorly printed, with slightly blurred lettering, the 'blue' is darker than 'Panasonic blue', and white text is slightly greyish. The bar code & 'CE' sticker (LOL!) thoughtfully provided by the entrepreneurial Mr Cub is printed directly on the box - but looks as if it was originally a sticky label.

The instructions are also poorly printed, slightly blurred text, and in a variety of European languages except English.

It's all fake. Fake, fake, fake.....

The battery does work (let's give Mr Cub *some* credit - but quite what's inside that fake plastic case is anyone's guess. I haven't measured the terminal voltage, so let's be kind and assume that it is actually 7.2 volts...

I've nothing against 3rd party batteries - but Mr Cub advertised these as genuine Panasonic, and even reiterated his claim to an enquirer on his listing.

I'm not sure what the Chinese equivalent is of the Hollywood western red Indian phrase, 'Him speak-um with forked tongue' - but whatever it is, Mr Cub is doing it.....
Click to expand...

Wow - I had no idea, and I own one of these fakes too - pretty good fake I guess. It seems to work as well as the one that came with the camera - so far at least. I've ordered two more and I'm waiting to receive them. I'm not about to rip apart the one I have, but with two more in hand I may...
 
Lynchenstein said:
Wow - I had no idea, and I own one of these fakes too - pretty good fake I guess. It seems to work as well as the one that came with the camera - so far at least. I've ordered two more and I'm waiting to receive them. I'm not about to rip apart the one I have, but with two more in hand I may...
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Are your boxes the same? - slightly blurred printing, very dark blue, with greyish text (that should be white)?

Ah well - it didn't blow the camera up, and that's what counts ;)

I'm only miffed because I thought that I'd buy genuine batteries for a change - I've paid about £8 more than a 3rd party-without-pretensions - but it would cost at least a fiver to send it back, hence I might as well keep the thing and chalk it up to experience.

The cynic in me wonders whether that's Mr Cub's business model - he gets almost double the cost of an unashamed fake, and his only extra cost is the boxes (and he's obviously using one of the cheaper printing firms in his area ;)

So he gets £8 more than his rivals selling fake batteries - and perhaps hopes that his customers won't feel it's worth returning it.

However, Ebay rules are changing, and it's bad news for Mr Cub - soon, you'll be able to get a refund if an item is fake - but you won't have to return the item fist.

That'll teach him a lesson ;)
 
I'll take a good look at the new boxes when they arrive... the singpost.com tracking status still says:

 "ITEM DESPATCHED TO OVERSEAS" destination: Vancouver...

Last update Sept 4. Soon I hope.
 
Screw this I'll just fork out the extra money on the panasonic official battery.. but that is a ripoff price for that battery.. just saying..
 
Blackout said:
Screw this I'll just fork out the extra money on the panasonic official battery.. but that is a ripoff price for that battery.. just saying..
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Yes, they're even more dishonest than Mr Cub ;)

I'm not saying that Mr Cub's batteries don't work - but I am saying that the one he sent me was faker than a fake thing faked by a professional faker.

But, such is Panasonic's insatiable greed, that is *still* more acceptable than a tiny $90 (UK) battery for a camera.

My advice would be to buy third party batteries - but to buy them in the full knowledge that they are not Panasonic products, and to avoid Mr Cub and his 'genuine' Panasonic batteries - which appear to be the usual 'no name' third party stuff in a badly printed Panasonic box. ;)
 
Batteries have finally arrived - comparison to OEM GH1 battery

Batteries have finally arrived - comparison to OEM GH1 battery

Ok, I received my two batteries from Ricky_Cub (it took nearly 4 weeks). Other than the boxes being pretty trashed due to having been stuffed into the padded envelope, they arrived AOK.

The boxes look pretty authentic to me, and I don't notice any blurred printing or other obvious signs of fakery, though I don't have an OEM box to compare them to.

The enclosed printed instruction sheet looks equally authentic. It appears to be a professional print job on the thin type of paper I'm used to seeing these things printed on.

The batteries themselves came in little sealed plastic baggies. In the attached photos I've shown the two batteries from Mr Cub beside the original from my GH1 kit. As you can see the labels are very different but appear professionally printed and applied. The battery cases are slightly different (e.g., the "Li-ion BATTERY PACK" lettering is slightly deeper on the Cub batteries) but overall the quality seems identical.

I've since charged up both new batteries and my virgin GH1 (non-hacked with 1.2 body firmware) recognizes both of them and shows the battery indicator.

I'll be using them both over the next few days and I'll compare the life of each to my OEM battery.

Perhaps these batteries are from the Asian market which may explain the differences in labels? I don't know, but I'm not too suspicious based on what I can see. They look pretty good to me.
 

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Lynchenstein said:
Ok, I received my two batteries from Ricky_Cub (it took nearly 4 weeks). Other than the boxes being pretty trashed due to having been stuffed into the padded envelope, they arrived AOK.

The boxes look pretty authentic to me, and I don't notice any blurred printing or other obvious signs of fakery, though I don't have an OEM box to compare them to.

The enclosed printed instruction sheet looks equally authentic. It appears to be a professional print job on the thin type of paper I'm used to seeing these things printed on.

The batteries themselves came in little sealed plastic baggies. In the attached photos I've shown the two batteries from Mr Cub beside the original from my GH1 kit. As you can see the labels are very different but appear professionally printed and applied. The battery cases are slightly different (e.g., the "Li-ion BATTERY PACK" lettering is slightly deeper on the Cub batteries) but overall the quality seems identical.

I've since charged up both new batteries and my virgin GH1 (non-hacked with 1.2 body firmware) recognizes both of them and shows the battery indicator.

I'll be using them both over the next few days and I'll compare the life of each to my OEM battery.

Perhaps these batteries are from the Asian market which may explain the differences in labels? I don't know, but I'm not too suspicious based on what I can see. They look pretty good to me.
Click to expand...



Yup - them's the critters ;)

Odd that my box was in exactly he same condition - are squashed boxes a Ricky Cub trademark?....

If the box is he same as mine, look carefully at the printing. The white lettering looks slightly grey/blue (ish) I can see that on your photo.

The dark blue is too dark - noticeably darker than official 'Panasonic blue' (check your camera box) and (although I can't tell from the pics) I'll lay odds that the box printing *is* a bit blurred if you check carefully.

I see you've got the same 'printed on' sticky label with the bar code on it. Actually, I'm not certain about that - but I have a feeling that the genuine label would be stuck on., indicating that the box was photocopied, label and all.

Mine also worked with v.132 firmware - but I think a lot of copy batteries do.

Bottom line - they might be perfectly good batteries - and they certainly beat paying through the nose for Panasonic ones. My gripe is that he sold them as genuine when (imo) they ain't.

I don't care that they're 3rd party - just that he didn't sell them as 3rd party.

Anyway, we've got hem now, and I'm sure they'll be fine.

Having said that - I don't trust it enough to use it for altering the firmware ;) - I had a nightmarish vision of Mr Cub's battery suddenly shorting out while version up was in progress....
 
Forgot to add, I could swear that the Ricky Cub battery is slightly lighter than the Panasonic original.

We don't have any digital kitchen scales - but if you do, perhaps you'd check out the weights?
 
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