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Which battery maker is good or bad?

sonoferu

sonoferu

Senior member
Need to get a battery for my wife's Dell Latitude D830. Never shopped for batteries much, so I'm feeling confused by what I see out there. Prices from $16 up to $65. Looks like lots of aftermarket battery makers.

I'm looking at Amazon, and reading customer reviews for

SIB $16
Brainydeal mid-30's
Dell $40
AGPTek $30
Battery Technology $40
Hi-Capacity $28
SG $35
Gaisar $65

Lots of the reviews say things like "This battery is crap!!!" and tales of dying after a month and all that.

The Gaisar had reviews glowing with the long charge it held. But $65 when there are batteries for $30?

I dont know where to begin, with conflicting customer reviews, does anyone here have opinions on brands?
 
i have an agptek in my asus 1005hab netbook. 6 cells and it lasts 5-6 hours on a charge. ive had no problems with it, it was the cheapest battery i could find shipped from usa on fleabay

in my case, 5 hours is plenty and no batteries last forever, so the cheapos are fine. i would imagine i could get 7+ hours with a good brand battery thats twice the price, but again, whatever.

the only real concern is safety, but even the cheapest lithium packs these days have a lot of safety measures built in.
 
I would think, as a know-nothing-about-it, that an original Dell replacement would be the best bet but the Amazon reviews had a number of Dell buyers who lamented that they got the Dell replacement and it died soon or didnt fit [didnt fit??? how could that be??]

The expensive battery there had only 2 reviews but both very positive

Probably more unhappy buyers review things, in any case

so I dont know, I expect a wide range of experiences, and appreciate any input.
 
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The new Dell OEM batteries are very expensive and reviews indicate the new ones don't last more than a year or two. Dell seems to be going the cheap route and using made in China batteries now instead of the made in Japan like they used to but still charging a premium price.

I'm guessing that D830 is about two years old. You can pay $140 for a new OEM battery that will probably last one to two years or pay about $40 for made in China battery with good reviews and warranty that will probably last one to two years.
 
i dont understand my 2007 laptops do not have any battery issues 85%+ time - did they just not use lithium polymer?
 
It's 2 and a half years old, and she complained about losing the charge life just a couple months back, now it's dead - AC only at this point.
 
Obviously dell doesn't make batteries. OEM are going to go with whomever gives them the best deal at the time. One model may have one brand and the next one someone else. The bad part about that is there isn't an easy way to tell who made the batteries without opening them and seeing unless the retailer tells you up front.
Panasonic and Sanyo are two of the top ones

None of the brands listed in the OP are actually battery makers. They just buy the cells and stuff them in the casing.
Some typical cells found in laptop batteries
http://www.batteryjunction.com/18650.html
 
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Modelworks said:
Obviously dell doesn't make batteries. OEM are going to go with whomever gives them the best deal at the time. One model may have one brand and the next one someone else. The bad part about that is there isn't an easy way to tell who made the batteries without opening them and seeing unless the retailer tells you up front.
Panasonic and Sanyo are two of the top ones

None of the brands listed in the OP are actually battery makers. They just buy the cells and stuff them in the casing.
Some typical cells found in laptop batteries
http://www.batteryjunction.com/18650.html
Click to expand...

I've had quite good luck bottom fishing on Ebay for laptop replacement batteries. Just stay with a domestic company. Doesn't mean you won't get a battery from Hong Kong, but at least you have better issues dealing with any problems.
 
But at least seeing OEM on the ad means its a little more likely to fit and work? The more I look into this and poke around [I didnt even know very clearly what OEM meant - I thought it meant from the original manufacturer, meaning a Dell battery] the more it looks like a real shot in the dark, and maybe the best thing is to look at the customer satisfaction ratings of the vendor
 
I learned something about that in school - good servant, bad master?

Are there any stats on exploding batteries? Are they much more frequent in the copycat batteries, than in genuine Dells?
 
can I bug you folks for one more? I happened to mention to my wife that there was one battery in the list that had customer reviews saying it would give long hours. One said he got 8 hours, one said 5. She says she used to get about 2 or 3, and was thrilled at the idea of longer hours and said yeah, go get that one. She is totally untech, and I cant help wanting to ask questions and google about things I dont know about.

So this one calls itself a "super-capacity" battery.

http://www.amazon.com/Gaisar-Super-Capacity-Replacement-Precision-Workstation/product-reviews/B003214YBU/ref=pd_sxp_cm_cr_acr_img?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

Am I right that the thing here is they say it is

7800mAh, 86wHr

and others that call themselves high capacity say

7200mAh, 85wHr

or about that? It's the mAh and wHr that define these things?
 
I don't know about the 8 hours statement but the model you are looking at is a 9 cell and your wife's laptop probably came with a 6 cell which is standard. I could see getting 5 hours depending on what you are doing and the screen brightness.

The oldest review is February 1, 2010 and is a good review so that's encouraging. I would check out that Amazon store's rating.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/seller...6T7YU&isPopup=

And do some research on that brand, Gaisar.
http://www.google.com/webhp?sourcei...=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=7b989c6c17f79c85

The price seems reasonable for a 3rd party 9 cell compatible so if the other things check ok this is problaby a good deal.
 
I looked at hers and it doesnt say 6 cell, but it does say 56wHr, which would seem reasonable, if the 9 cells are in the 80's

So thats the thing if you want extended charge time? Look at the 9 cells and the high wHr ratings? I thought that one with the customers saying they got 5 and 8 hours was because of some kind of "super capacity" as if they were built with a super duper design or more chemicals in the batter or something.

Shucks, most of the batteries I see are 9 cells and most of those call themselves "high capacity".

Sorry to drag this out, it just looks like this is a piece that I didnt know or understand.

The Gaisar seller has 100% happy rating but only 84 sales, most of the others are high 90's, but with thousands.

Geez. I'm starting to think that I will never know, I should just go get one and take my chances

thanks all
 
I got the Gaisar after all, and it looks like it holds a 4 - 5 hour charge. At least at the start. We will see
 
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