Anton Bauer vs. Sony V mount batteries

[Dylan Couper]

Wondering if you guys could give me some input on this...

I'm looking at buying 8 batteries to power lights that I can get with either AB or Sony V mount batteries.
Could you give me your thoughts on:

1) Overall cost? (obviously x8 + 2 - 4 chargers it's going to add up)
2) power for price, which lasts longer at an equal price point
3) compatibilty. Do all current AB batteries work with the current AB mount? Same for Sony V?
4) Life span. Obviously, I want these to live for a long time, which is better?
5) Aftermarket battery options? I'm not tied to a name brand, and if one has better aftermarket choices than the other for power/price, that would swing my dollars. Suggestions of brands to look at?

Thanks for your input! I've owned Anton Bauer before and thought they were OK but am certainly open to giving the V mount a chance.

[Bill Ward]

Hard to go wrong with IDX V-mounts.

[Don Bloom]

Well once I got away from the old NP1's I became an AB kind of guy but the V-locks work just as well. The Sony V lock are about the same price as the ABs but the IDX are less. However, the small IDX is only 71watts but they also have a 110 watt (I think it's 110 could be 100) regardless, I think if I was having to get a new battery set now I would probably go with the IDX since you can get 2 71 watt battery's for not much more than 1 AB Dionic 90 and the chargers are a bit less.
Now having said that I liked the ABs simply because they were and still are considered to be the "industry standard" (I hate that term) since it's very easy to keepthe same battery package no matter what camera you have at the time (of course it used to be they would only fit on full sized cams- today with the adaptors available you could probably power a HV20 with an AB)
It almost gets down to personal choice although the money for IDX is less than for ABs of close to equivalent power.
Long way of saying they're both good-pays your money, takes your choice.