Replacement battery
- Thread starter montignac
- Start date
Yes, plenty of us have, but I would say it all depends on your camera. If you have the D5100 you would need to find a battery that has the chip in it, or otherwise you would need to hack your camera to accept batteries without a chip. For a $40 (USD) Nikon battery though would you not rather have piece of mind?
Horoscope Fish
Senior Member
I've bought numerous third-party batteries from Amazon for my Nikons over the years, and all without issue, but they've all had brand names. I think it's one thing to save a few bucks on a third-party component from a reputable vendor like Amazon and another to buy one that costs pennies on the dollar from who knows who on eBay. The application of a little common sense can go a long way in my opinion.
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Horoscope Fish
Senior Member
I see you're in France so I don't know if it helps you any or not, but Amazon.uk has the EN-EL14 (for your D5100) for £22. Wasabi batteries have been awesome in all of my Nikons over the years. Highly recommended.
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rocketman122
Senior Member
as a pro who has contact with tons of other pros who use tons of gears and use them all the time, ive yet to hear of those photogs who bought a 3rd party battery and it had an issue. im quite suspicious and skeptic of those who write negative feebacks. ive not come across a person face to face who complained. on the internet anyone can say or be anyone and no one can vouch for authenticity. I do believe that there are nikon/canon spies and fanboys who post false feedbacks as well. I bought a grip with no name and use it for hundreds of shots per wedding on my D600 (and video as well) and no issue whatsoever. the nikon charger charges it. I even mix nikon and 3rd party (1 in camera and 1 in grip) and works without an issue.
Horoscope Fish
Senior Member
I've worked at a college in the Visual and Graphic Arts division, which includes photography, for almost fourteen years now and in that time I've see a *lot* of third party batteries for student loaner cameras being used day in and day out, year after year. I also get to talk to a lot of professional and semi-professional photographers on a regular basis and my experience has been the same as above: If there were issues with third-party batteries I can assure I'd have heard about it, and I haven't.
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rocketman122
Senior Member
Im sure there are defective batteries out there. but we dont hear of the tons of happy users. mostly the ones who are dissatisfied will raise their voices. like others have said, go by a name brand wasabi dtse or others and youll be set. if nikon charged a fair amount for their grips and batteries, there is no doubt that many would pay the extra dn go with theirs but they ask insane prices for them. costing 5 times as much for a grip. I dont see why its fair they should ask such a high price for it. people say the nikon is sealed and made of metal. no its not metal and yes, it possibly could be sealed better. I never felt that I needed such a high level of water protection, but thats just me. whether it truly is better, no one has tested it, so IMO, its all hearsay.
I got me the third party batteries for all of my cameras (D5100, D7000 and Olympus PEN - for Oly I even purchased a third party charger which perfectly charges the original battery too, while the original charger perfectly charges the cloned battery), and I didn't have ANY problems with any of them. I remember also obtaining such batteries for my mobile phones - NEVER had any problems with them. My friends (photographers living and working in my hometown) also have tons of such batteries - I have NEVER heard any of them complaining...
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Nikon and other big name companies rely on brand recognition to justify their insane prices. They depend on a certain type of customer that prefers to stick to a name brand product rather than 3rd party products. There are such people out there! 
That being said there ARE better 3rd party products out there. One just has to shop carefully and beware of unreasonably low prices. Buyer beware still applies.
That being said there ARE better 3rd party products out there. One just has to shop carefully and beware of unreasonably low prices. Buyer beware still applies.
rocketman122
Senior Member
Nikon and other big name companies rely on brand recognition to justify their insane prices. They depend on a certain type of customer that prefers to stick to a name brand product rather than 3rd party products. There are such people out there!
That being said there ARE better 3rd party products out there. One just has to shop carefully and beware of unreasonably low prices. Buyer beware still applies.
We would all love to buy only nikon gear. but after dishing out for the camera and expensive lenses and flashes, the battery grip is a not a priority and people dont have the amount nikon asks for these add ons. so when it comes to it people rationalize and say "better a third party then nothing because I cant afford the nikon right now and I need a grip/battery"
like when buying a PC. you invest a lot in the processor the MB the ram, the GPU and when you get to the power supply, people seem to prioritize that last (besides a case)
stick to a name brand, & you can get great products for less. 3rd party products have a come a long way. you dont have to feel like youre skimping on quality or features.