HMC150 battery shameful rip-off by Panasonic!

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lifepo4

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I am a lithium battery scientist and today I talked to my battery manufacturer colleague, he told me the true cost of the 5800 mAh is by no means to be more than $30. The standard one comes with HMC150 is 2500 mAh at 7.2V, it is composed of 2 pouch cells rated at 2500 mAh. The 5400 mAh is composed of 2 pouch cells rated at 5400 mAh. Since the pouch cell is standardized at Panasonic, it is very cheap to make them. Then Panasonic will modify the case and connector each time a new camera comes out to rid off copycat. A profit margin about 400-500%.

When Panasonic sells the laptop battery (bigger than camera battery) to Dell or Apple, if it costs them $31.00, they will NOT get more than $31.99 from Dell or Apple, so the profit is about 3-5%.

Now you should also understand why Panasonic charge so much for their P2 cards or SDHC.
 
I'm not at all surprised, but then again, Panasonic isn't a non-profit organization. These are supposedly "smarter" batteries(you being more knowledgeable than I), and they're "supposedly" able to more accurately display their remaining charge and retain their charge capacity longer.

What you're stating really isn't any well kept secret, as look at the pricing of Canon branded batteries and it's been well documented the parts list for products such as the iPod/iPhone are ridiculously cheaper than for what Apple is selling them for.
 
and that is why I am waiting for the ebay generic batteries to be sold, it should not be long, I've had great sucess with the generics in the past I much rather buy 3 or 4 generics than 1 original at the panasonic crazy price
 
The problem is I've already bought all the batteries I need... Yikes!

The cost of using new (to the market) technology!
 
All the camera manufactures make a living by marking up for batteries.. Nothing you can do about.. it is one thing they have complete control over.. Just suck it up and pay for it..
 
Ok, first of all, what do you expect them to do, sell it at the price it cost them to manufacture?

Second of all, no camcorder batteries sell for 30 bucks. My extra canon vixia battery would have cost me 100 bucks if I had bought the canon one. Instead I bought a cheap chinese one for 40 bucks and I am having all sorts of problems with it. A camcorder battery for 30 or even 50 or 60 bucks is unheard of. Don't single panny out, they aren't the only ones if you think they are scamming you. it's buisiness.

And thirdly and most importantly, these new batteries have smart chips to protect from power fluctuations that may corrupt files if they are not written out correctly.

Quote from Barry Green

"The battery was changed for a couple of reasons, which may end up being one and the same. The new HMC150 battery is an "intelligent" battery with a chip in it that communicates with the camera and tells the camera how much power is left, to the minute. The DVX-series batteries didn't have that.

How that comes into play with the HMC150 is perhaps due to the tapeless nature of the camcorder; if the power is suddenly cut off then you might end up with a corrupted clip that needs to be repaired. But with the intelligent battery the camera can sense when power is about to be extinguished and it can close out the file system and successfully save the recording."
 
Oh, criminy! Leave Panasonic alone! Go complain about Anton Bauer.

Don't forget, battery manufacterers need a lot of money these days for the law suits and recall costs for the ones that spontaneously combust.
 
Well, if they're like Sony's Lithium-Ion batts, they'll last forever and you'll never have to buy any more. I bought 2 of the big boys, and of course I have the baby one that came with the cam. That's all I need.

I'm old enough to have used Ni-Cads back in the day. Those sucked.
 
ullanta said:
Oh, criminy! Leave Panasonic alone! Go complain about Anton Bauer.

Don't forget, battery manufacterers need a lot of money these days for the law suits and recall costs for the ones that spontaneously combust.
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FOR SURE! I can't believe the fuss over theprice of the battery. At $250 Canadian it is still a good buy. On my last shoot I used one large and one small battery, shot all day with the LCD out most of the time. Average with the small and large battery was close to 4 hours camera time. That is nothing less than excellent.
I make a living with my camera, and what Barry explained is reason enough for me not to take a chance for fifty or a hundred bucks.
I will be buying one more large Panasonic battery for my kit, maybe two. Cheap power compared to AB or others! I too am old enough to remember ni-cads, I remember about a battery per 30 minute tape ...wehen they were new. I remember two of them would weigh as much as my HMC150.
 
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They list the price.
You either buy it or not.

I got a great camera with a small battery for less than MSRP.

I'm cool with that.
 
We will "justify" any price, for anything we want or need! It's just human nature!

Panny batteries? What a deal! LOL
 
Seriously who cares? The cam is suppose to be a revenue generating tool.. could care less if the batteries costed $50 less each.. that amount means nothing when you compare to how much you are able to make from a gig using the camera.

What really bugs me is the fact that the HMC is a flawed camera in the cold.. that is something that prevents me from doing a good shoot.
 
It's a free market. They can charge whatever they want. Besides, I have never had any good experiences with any aftermarket batteries for cameras in this price range. I'd rather for out $150+ for a Panasonic battery and know it's not going to lose half it's life in a year, then go cheap and take a chance of the battery crapping out unexpectedly in the middle of a shoot.
 
It's all part of the investment that is made if you do video production for a living . It's an accessory like light kits , microphones , monitors , stands , editing systems , etc . Prices on this type of equipment have gone down quite a bit in the last few years yet some folks want stuff to be even cheaper . These companies have to make some money on these products or there would be no research and development and we wouldn't see cameras like the HMC 150 at these affordable prices. Bottom line , if you don't like the prices , don't buy .

Dave
 
While I would like to see them charge less, it is their right to charge what they do. I knew what they cost before I bought the camera.

Oh, did I mention that I would like to see them charge less?
 
Sorry, but this is ridiculous.

Look, the price of Las Vegas real estate tripled from 2003 to 2005, does that mean that all of a sudden the cost of building houses has skyrocketed? When a house that cost $119,000 when new, is selling for $400,000 -- is that a "rip off"? Shouldn't it still sell for $119,000?

And then when that same house went from $394,000 in 2005 to $250,000 in 2007, what do you say about that?

So I'll say it again -- the cost of manufacturing an item has little to nothing to do with what its worth is to the end buyer. It is, in fact, that very disparity that makes a free market economy work!!!

To the original poster: if you are a lithium battery scientist, as you say, and you think you can make a $210 battery for $30, what the hell are you doing complaining about it on a web site? Why don't you get into the battery business and start selling those batteries for $40? Surely you'll find that $10 per battery is enough of a fair profit to cover all your R&D, and you'll sell every one you can make, and you'll be a hero to all the impoverished proletariat out there who are struggling against these horrible, unjust, monopolistic battery manufacturers. Sounds like a win-win, and certainly a better use of time than bitching on a forum.
 
Barry_Green said:
Sorry, but this is ridiculous.

Look, the price of Las Vegas real estate tripled from 2003 to 2005, does that mean that all of a sudden the cost of building houses has skyrocketed? When a house that cost $119,000 when new, is selling for $400,000 -- is that a "rip off"? Shouldn't it still sell for $119,000?

And then when that same house went from $394,000 in 2005 to $250,000 in 2007, what do you say about that?

So I'll say it again -- the cost of manufacturing an item has little to nothing to do with what its worth is to the end buyer. It is, in fact, that very disparity that makes a free market economy work!!!

To the original poster: if you are a lithium battery scientist, as you say, and you think you can make a $210 battery for $30, what the hell are you doing complaining about it on a web site? Why don't you get into the battery business and start selling those batteries for $40? Surely you'll find that $10 per battery is enough of a fair profit to cover all your R&D, and you'll sell every one you can make, and you'll be a hero to all the impoverished proletariat out there who are struggling against these horrible, unjust, monopolistic battery manufacturers. Sounds like a win-win, and certainly a better use of time than bitching on a forum.
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LOL this is one of the greatest things I have ever read on the forums! :beer:
 
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