duane klipping Loc: Bristow iowa

Use non OEM batteries for 7 years and have NEVER had a failure, fire, camera fried or a meteor hit to this day.

So if you buy a Ford do you only use Ford batteries, tires, oil? If you get in a fender bender most insurance companies use non OEM parts. Why? One simple reason, to save money. If I can buy 4 or 5 for the price of one guess which one I am buying.

If one would stop being paranoid or brand loyal you can save money and get filters or some other item which will actually improve your photography.

What battery you have in your car?

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

While I don't disagree with your overall point, it should come with a warning. What's missing from your logic is the need to educate yourself about which non OEM replacement parts are best to use in any situation, and which ones you are better off sticking with OEM.

For instance, not every non OEM car part is the same quality as the original OEM part. While some are, some are not. When it comes to replacing car parts, insurance companies don't care about what they view as small differences in quality, they only care about making your car whole at the lowest cost. However, depending on the part, the car owner, may notice an obvious difference in quality.

Its the same with camera batteries. Some third party batteries like Wasabi seem to work well at a significant savings, but some other brands may not recharge well, or may not last long, or they may communicate poorly with the camera, or they may even occasionally cause damage due to leaking. As a result people need to educate themselves about which non OEM camera batteries are best to use, and which should be avoided. Since information on alternative batteries is based almost entirely on anecdotal evidence provided by other users rather than by professional reviews, many, is not most, people stay on the safe side and use OEM camera batteries only.

Here is an interesting article on the subject. Its a bit paranoid perhaps, but it does highlight the fact that with OEM batteries you can be pretty confident about the quality of the batteries your are getting, and with third party batteries there is potentially far more risk to go along with the substantial savings.

https://www.howtogeek.com/395172/should-you-buy-off-brand-camera-batteries/

As with all purchases of consumer products, Caveat Emptor

topcat Loc: Alameda, CA

What makes you think that a battery would damage your camera. I have never heard of this happening.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

There have been lots of incidents with third batteries over the years and I've had a few myself. There are a few brands that do not play well with my Canon 7D Mark II, as an example. There has been a variety of known issues with some, but not all, third party batteries. Batteries do more than provide general power, they are also communicate with modern cameras like DSLRs Some third party batteries have temporarily disabled some camera features such as communication with a battery grip. Some cameras don't track remaining power accurately with various third party batteries. Some third party batteries get fewer shots per charge than OEM batteries, and some have a shorter life span. Finally, some users of third party batteries have reported battery leaks which can damage a camera.

While damage to a camera is not an everyday concern, over the years there have been a number of reports of that happening. How many other people have had that problem but did not report it online is hard to say. But, the other issues I mentioned are far more frequent. This is not to say that one should not use a third-party battery. Lots of people have very good luck with them. However, there is the real potential that's some brands of batteries in some cameras will not give the user the same performance as an OEM battery. Generally, if you are going to use third-party batteries, one should stick to those from a company like Wasabi and a few others, known to be reliable and which have caused few, if any, problems.