I've had acceptable results using Lenmar branded batteries (in the US) with various models of Canon camcorders.

I suspect that the major differences among batteries visible to end users would be uniformity of cell characteristics and quality control, which means some makes/production runs may have a higher failure rate than others. Which names plates are better is anyone's guess.

I suspect that the actual battery cell manufacture takes place in a relatively small number of plants, and these basic cells are than packaged by a variety of companies under different names and with some different features in the internal electronics.

Hi Erik,

I bought a Lenmar LIC970G high capacity battery last week as a second battery for my XH-A1. I paid 64 euros while the official Canon battery was 269 euros. A pretty easy choice, don't you think?

Even if the life expectancy of the Lenmar is less than the Canon, I can buy a lot of Lenmars for the price of 1 Canon. So I would say, go for it.

As for charging your batteries while on the road, think about buying a small 12V/220V inverter which can be used with the 12V outlet in a car. I used that while I was traveling in Australia a couple of years ago and it worked perfectly.

Best regards, Andre.

Hi Erik,

I agree with Andre. I myself got an extra original Canon battery. I also looked around for a OEM battery, but almost every battery I found was not good. Either some contacts at the bottom were missing or the construction of the battery was looking bad.

One time they tried to sell me a battery which allready was falling apart. Next to that the contacts were looking weird. So after a month I decided to buy an original because I had to have one before we went to London.

A few weeks later I saw the Lenmar and that battery looks very nice compared with others. It also slides in to the A1 like the original battery.
Ofcourse there is a small risk when using battery's from other branches. But hey, look around on the internet and you will see that most of the big names in laptops have recalled all their batteries because they were afraid of big problems with those stuff.

I only can advice to be very carefull with your battery's. Don't drop them and when you have to switch: do it slowly...one wrong move and original or not, it could go wrong in many ways.

My next battery will be a Lenmar by the way.

hi erik i bought this battery from ebay (za182 Battery For Canon BP-970G BP970G GL-1 GL-2 XH-A1) and am using it now it came within a week after the payment was cleared just look on ebay this was from honk kong and it works alright.....

Anton Bauer A1 Battery
 

Does anyone know if they are developing a battery that can go outside the camera. I know the little door in the back can come off, and i was thinking they could somehow use the current batter sytle as a conducter and lead to a bigger battery on the outside.

Already done...

See www.antonbauer.com -- note the photo on the splash page there.

Go to http://www.antonbauer.com/elipz.htm for more specific info.

Mickey-

That is a 7000mAh 7.4V battery and I found another one on ebay that's a 7200mAh 7.4V battery and I am curious how large the battery you got is. Is it taking up the entire space inside the A1? or does it have a little more room?

You are truly better off with the Canon batts.

The OEM's that I have tried do not last as long or hold a charge as long.
The contacts on an Impact that I bought acutally rusted. I use that one now on my OC light...which lasts about an hour.

I've also found some OEMS do not "blink" in the canon charger.

I have Canon batts over five years old still operating like new.

Bought a bat on the internet OEM, it works ok, it fits ok and costs 1/5...

Be aware that OEM = Original Equipment Manufacturer; i.e., Canon. Thus an OEM battery is a Canon battery. The non-Canon would be more correctly referred to as third party or after-market batteries which should be OEM-compatible, but not OEM.

Wonder who makes the battery cells for Canon?

I'm betting that the term "OEM" takes a lot of abuse on eBay.

I bought some refurbished Sony batteries, and have had great success with them. I don't think Canon sells refurbs though.

Just a quick reminder, most of the knockoffs get stuck in the A1/G1. Yesterday, a client came in with a battery that melted when he charged it using the cig adapter in the car......it was not a Canon battery. We have clients that are still using their batteries they got with their XL-1 and XL-1s.

Jim Martin
Birns & Sawyer Inc
"there are places to go cheep and places not to go cheep"

quote from someone somewhere

My Impact BP970 has worked flawlessly in my XH-A1 for six months now.

I found OEM batteries for the XH-A1 at youbatt.com priced at $36 for the 950 and $56 for the 970.

I was just curious to see if anyone has ever bought from them?

Here's the links:
http://www.youbatt.com/Canon_BP_950G...p/ybbp950g.htm
http://www.youbatt.com/Canon_BP_950G...p/ybbp970g.htm

Edit:
I can't seem to find any information about them on resellerratings.com, or any complaints on the net for that matter.

As Don pointed out, these are not really OEM batteries. The description actually says "100% OEM Compatible" which is not the same thing.

That's not to say they can't be a good value. I have an Impact-brand battery and have been very happy with it. Lasts for hours in the A1 and holds it's charge. However, my experience has been that the third-party batteries have a shorter lifespan (as in the number of recharge cycles) than true OEM batteries. So maybe, as with many things, you get what you pay for.

-Dan