Extra Battery - Canon or Generic???

[dtm212]

I just bought the SD-300 for my honeymoon and want to get an extra battery (NB-4L). I saw the branded Canon unit for ~$40 at buy.com but there are some knockoffs out there for half that.

Are they equivalent? More importantly - are they safe to use? I would hate to fry the camera to save 20 bucks!

Any thoughts/experiences?

One more thing: Is there a battery life display to help you gauge the usage or warn you of impending shutdown? I couldn't seem to find anything in the manual...

Thanks!

[Alnath]

I use a Uniross one as a spare in my G6, it cost £10 off ebay and it was worth every penny.

[gr7797]

I have the SD200, which I believe is the same as the SD300 and the answer is No there is no display that lets you know how much battery you have left. However there is a display that pops up right before your battery dies, which seems kind of useless to me. The battery does last quite a long time though. Why dont you just bring your charger with you and charge it up at night when you get back to your room? Unless you are going to take more than 50-60 photos a day I wouldnt worry about an extra battery.

[David Metsky]

Unless you are going to take more than 50-60 photos a day I wouldnt worry about an extra battery.
I've taken over 100/day while winter hiking (no flash, no LCD, but quite cold) without a problem. The off-brand batteries are rated for more power, so I plan on buying one of those for my backup battery. They seem to work just fine in these cameras.

[gr7797]

Yeah, when I said that I that I get 50-60 shots off, that is w/ the LCD screen on. David is right, if you turn the LCD off u can get alot more shots before the battery fails.

[dtm212]

Thanks for all the replies. That was just what I was looking for. I'll be taking a lot of pictures but I'm not going to be spending all my time on the honeymoon looking at the LCD/viewfinder! I think I'll be able to get away with packing the charger.

And yes, a battery "meter" would be nice, but overall, the camera seems to have everything else a rank amateur like me would ever need.

Thanks again for your help....

[kimnicho]

1st, I am truly amazed at how long the battery lasts - I shot over 20 mins of video and shot ~60 3 Mpeg pictures before it ran low !!!! And I ALWAYS use the gorgeous LCD screen/ I owned the S410 and it seemed like I was constantly recharging the batteries. Anyway, I, too, bought a generic one off of ebay w/o any problems for my SD200 (I bought one for hubby's Lumix Z20 as well). My only advice is "don't buy the cheapest ones" e.g. "two for $10". And make sure it's at least 760 mAh

[dchme]

I picked up one from J&R for under $20 + shipping. It's made in Japan by Power 2000 (VidPro) and rated at 900Mah, a tad higher than Canon's. It comes with a red lanyard neck strap. So far, I've had no problems with it. Initially it seemed to die quicker than Canon's battery, but after a few charge cycles, the battery seems to be better. I've also seen it listed at batterybarn (http://www.batterybarn.com) for a bit few dollars less.

[lafester]

i just got the same battery from battery barn, ordered from amazon.com. they got it to me in less then a week for 19.99 including shipping.

so far i like it... we will have to see how it holds up over time but for $30 less then canon i don't see how you could lose money on the deal.

chris