Site Supporter Registered: November, 2012 Location: North Wales Posts: 2,870 1 user found this helpful | Review Date: March 6, 2018 | Recommended | Price: $30.00
| Rating: 7 |
Pros: | good replacement, long lasting charge. | Cons: | see updates | | What's the difference between a generic D-Li90 and a pentax D-Li90, particularly since they both have made in China on the back? Same chems inside, plastic case, circuit board, emanating from some manufactory in the east. Well, if you've ever tried some real cheapo cells, as I have, then you may have found, as I did, that treating items like this as a commodity may not work. After a few months half of that job lot of rechargeable AAA's had already been binned!
However the no-name generic D-Li90 battery I acquired off ebay 3 years ago has done well enough. It's still going ok, it was the original Pentax one that began to really lose its capacity to hold charge - that was at least a couple of years older mind you.
I did quite a bit of browsing pondering the dilemma. One thing was sure: the pentax own labels at £60 odd were OTT price wise. Sorry pentax but no deal. Then I spotted one of these, "new other", on ebay. I had already had good experience with Ansmann AA's and AAA's so the brand name had value for me. And the price was advantageous - near half the typical new price indicated above.
So far: A1 Lasts at least 50% longer than the still adequate generic.
In a commodities market where it is next to impossible from the outside to distinguish the good from the rubbish and the price differences have an arbitrary or profiteering character, a trustworthy brand name that reassures as to quality can pay dividends. I can suggest Ansmann is a name you can look out for.
UPDATE 1/20. Both this battery and my two other ones are showing deteriorating performance. They all work but I have to swap them in and out much more frequently. A mornings photography with a fair amount of use of Live View will often use up a batteries charge on my k3.
UPDATE 2021. Since I posted this review there has been a fair bit of discussion on batteries. In particular, photogem has been reporting on his inspection of both generic and pentax batteries. He has found that:
- the 3rd party batteries, including these ansmanns, don't have a proper thermal sensor, or balance charging.
- Only the pentax originals have the sensor and a balance charging BMS. Earlier pentax batteries have japanese cells, later ones chinese. Only the pentax chargers have control board that monitors the thermal sensor, and adjusts the charging if the battery temperature rises.
The pentax batteries and charger are better designed for consistent performance and longevity, and a risk with the generic battery/charger combos is battery swelling. Photogem has gone a long way in answering my initial qq above. This ansmann marked down. https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/22-pentax-camera-field-accessories/42336...batteries.html https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/210-pentax-k-3-iii/427215-battery-question.html | |
Veteran Member Registered: March, 2010 Location: south west Posts: 775 | Review Date: September 28, 2020 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: N/A |
| good review ... but couldn't find the DL-190 on Ansman's website! probably discontinued ... https://www.ansmann.de/en/search?q=DL-I90 | |