Some aftermarket batteries lack this chip so they don’t work in the camera, don’t tell the camera how much charge is left in the battery, or the branded charger might not charge the battery. For example Canon puts a chip into batteries for their DSLR cameras (60D, 7D, 5D Mark II, 5D Mark III, C100, C300, etc) that tells the camera how often the battery was charged, the amount of charge, and that it is a Canon branded battery. fully functioning) for cameras that take this battery (LP-E6).Some concerns I’ve read on forums are specific to modern cameras that try to force you to buy their branded batteries. Digging into the reviews of Wasabi’s battery for 5D Mark II & 5D Mark III and others shows that starting in early 2013 the chip was fully decoded (i.e. But Wasabi is now putting chips into their batteries so this probably is no longer an issue. There have been some instances when their older models didn’t tell the camera how charged it is. (Remember: the camera manufacturer wants to make money off their batteries, so they might force you to buy more batteries by limiting each battery.)įrom what I’ve read on forums and end-users, Wasabi Power batteries work on every camera. (Note: the Wasabi GoPro Hero 3 batteries look and feel so much like the branded GoPro batteries that I really suspect that they were made by the same company.) Not only that, the battery manufacturer might make the battery even better for the aftermarket company since they aren’t restricted to meeting certain specifications that the camera maker wants such as weight, size, charge, life-span. That battery manufacturer might also make batteries for Wasabi Power, meaning that both the OEM battery and the aftermarket battery come from the same place. In fact, since most camera manufacturers don’t make batteries, they have to outsource the batteries to another company.Ī company that only makes batteries can probably do it better than one that makes cameras AND lenses AND other things. Furthermore just because the battery’s brand doesn’t match the brand on the camera doesn’t mean it isn’t just as good. As I did research to answer these questions for myself, I realized a few things: Question #1: Comparable to OEM Batteries? YES These are very valid concerns and I personally asked these questions before I bought my Wasabi batteries. Are they good enough to use since they aren’t OEM batteries?.

(At the bottom of this post I highlight the batteries they sell for some of the hottest cameras on the market.)īut with aftermarket batteries, two discussions seem to emerge: In looking through the list of batteries that Wasabi Power produces, they have a serious corner on the aftermarket battery market. The side benefit of getting a charger with every 2-pack is that if you have a stack of batteries you can charge them all up faster (the charger is basically free since a two-pack is only double the price of one battery). Since their price was so inexpensive and included two batteries and a charger, I figured it was worth the risk to try it out. (I’ve worked with other GoPro models so I already knew this I just figured they would have fixed it by the time the made the GoPro Hero 3 Black.) Back when I looked for a charger for GoPro batteries, the ONLY one I found was Wasabi Power. I had my new GoPro Hero 3 Black in hand but was shocked that GoPro batteries still have to be charged via the camera. With all this discussion of batteries, I must back-up and mention the MAIN reason I stumbled across Wasabi a year ago. So much so that I’m planning on outfitting my other cameras with Wasabi.

I’ve been using Wasabi GoPro batteries for a year now ever since I got my GoPro (first one was a Hero 3 Black), and have been very happy with them. (Here’s a complete review of aftermarket accessories for GoPro Hero 4 for users wanting to expand the usability of their GoPro Hero 4.) Wasabi Power tops the list for not only the best GoPro batteries, but also batteries for Canon, Nikon, and other cameras. But in their greed these camera manufacturers have created a niche market for aftermarket companies who make accessories. One reason for this mark-up is that camera companies make a huge chunk of their money off of consumables, of which batteries and media are the biggest two. Again, GoPro batteries are not an exception to this rule. Since most cameras on the market require proprietary batteries, manufacturers can charge ridiculous prices for their batteries. A popular camera that suffers from this is the GoPro Hero 4 Black, mainly because making the camera small is more important than battery life. Batteries By Any Other Name: GoPro Hero 4 and MoreĪ side effect of cameras being able to do more - resolution, frame-rate, larger memory - are that these cameras tend to drain their batteries much faster.

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