Which battery for my Nikon? I need a new battery for my D5500. B&H offers a Nikon battery (1800 mAh/13.3 Wh) for $40 and a Watson battery (1150 mAh/8.28 Wh) for half that price. I've...

fourlocks Loc: Londonderry, NH

I need a new battery for my D5500. B&H offers a Nikon battery (1800 mAh/13.3 Wh) for $40 and a Watson battery (1150 mAh/8.28 Wh) for half that price. I've never had a problem with B&H products so I'm wondering if there's any reason not to go with the cheaper battery since the amps and watt hours are roughly the same? I'm assuming the Watson will work with my Nikon charger since the dimensions and contacts have to be the same.

If price is no object, is there a superior product I should use in my camera?

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

fourlocks wrote:

I need a new battery for my D5500. B&H offers... (show quote)

There is a big divide here on battery choices. But I'd look again. Those batteries are nowhere close to "roughly the same." The capacity of the Watson battery is between half and two-thirds the capacity of the Nikon battery.

FredCM Loc: Central Illinois

B&H added a Watson battery to the D750 package I bought a couple of years ago. At first I was skeptical, why use a cheap battery in an expensive camera? But I figured B&H wouldn't include it if it wasn't any good. So far no problems with the Watson.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I would only purchase Nikon batteries.

Why??? Just on the outside chance that something were to occur due to the battery, Nikon would not have the argument that due to the battery not being OEM, the repairs are <fill in the blank>.
--Bob

fourlocks wrote:

I need a new battery for my D5500. B&H offers... (show quote)

BebuLamar

fourlocks wrote:

I need a new battery for my D5500. B&H offers... (show quote)

Based on what you said I would choose the Nikon battery. $40 isn't much. The Nikon battery has better specs which is a surprised as I found most third party batteries listed better specs (although they may not perform better or even worse). In this case the Watson battery could be just fine but for the extra $20? I just get the Nikon battery.
I did buy Watson batteries but because Nikon doesn't have batteries for certain old cameras any more. The Watson 's work fine but still I would buy Nikon if I can.

tramsey Loc: Texas

I think it's all related to how much you shoot. If you shoot every day and your pictures are important to you then get the Nikon battery. If you shoot maybe once a week get a GOOD Watson battery with the highest mAh available
and that my friend is MHO

flyboy61 Loc: The Great American Desert

BebuLamar wrote:

Based on what you said I would choose the Nikon ba... (show quote)

For $40, is it a real Nikon battery? And how can you tell?

BebuLamar

flyboy61 wrote:

For $40, is it a real Nikon battery? And how can you tell?

I go by what the OP said. He said it's from B&H and sure B&H has sold some counterfeit Nikon batteries by mistake but I trust that they learn their lesson now.

User ID

rmalarz wrote:

I would only purchase Nikon batteries.

Why??? Just on the outside chance that something were to occur due to the battery, Nikon would not have the argument that due to the battery not being OEM, the repairs are <fill in the blank>.
--Bob

Would anyone need only one OEM battery in case of needing to ship the camera to the official service center with an officially acceptable battery ?

User ID

tramsey wrote:

I think it's all related to how much you shoot. If you shoot every day and your pictures are important to you then get the Nikon battery. If you shoot maybe once a week get a GOOD Watson battery with the highest mAh available
and that my friend is MHO

I buy only Wasabi batteries and only from Blue Nook. Some Wasabis are higher mAh capacity than OEM, about 75% higher. Also Wasabi provides chipped batteries where necessary.

BebuLamar

User ID wrote:

Would anyone need only one OEM battery in case of needing to ship the camera to the official service center with an officially acceptable battery ?

I sent my camera to Nikon for service a couple of times and they told me not to send the battery with it. So they wouldn't know if I use Nikon battery or not.

nicksr1125 Loc: Mesa, AZ

I have 3 Watson batteries for my Sony A7RIII. The only problem with them is once-in-awhile I get an error message that the battery is not a genuine Sony battery & might cause problems. The capacity is not quite as high as the FX100 but, they work just as well.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

I stick with OEM batteries for all my cameras. Compared to the cost of the cameras and the possible expense of repairs due to battery malfunction- well, batteries are not capital investments- they are semi-disposable supplies and I don't mind paying a few extra dollars.

It's not the good old day where if a battery swelled up, got stuck in your camera or leaked- you could drop it off at the local repair shop and have it fixed up for a few bucks. Nowadays, out-of-warranty repairs bring invoices that look like telephone numbers- area code and extension included. And that is if the camera can be repaired at all!

Getting batteries with lesser ampere/hour specs is a false economy. You will just have to buy more spares if you do lots of shooting or long sessions.

DJCard Loc: Northern Kentucky

I’ve learned my lesson using a non-Nikon battery in the field. It failed … my Nikon camera would not shoot after depressing the shutter button. I thought it was the camera until I changed the battery to the original Nikon battery. I’ve never had a Nikon battery fail, at any age.

cmc4214 Loc: S.W. Pennsylvania

I received a Watson battery free with my camera...It does not last as long as the Nikon