Olympus BLM-1 battery test

Hi,

here you'll find the results of a comparison test between the
original Olympus BLM-1 battery and cheap 3rd party alternatives
(purchased on ebay for $5.49):

http://myolympus.org/8080/blm1/

Here are the measured capacities:

Original Olympus battery: 1299 mAh
3rd party battery 1: 1077 mAh
3rd party battery 2: 744 mAh

On the page you'll find the detailed results, the measurement
procedure and also the discharge curves, which show how the voltage
drops when the batteries get drained.

The bottom line is that the original Olympus indeed has the highest
capacity, but also costs 17 (seventeen) times more than the 3rd party
alternatives.
--

Alfred Molon
------------------------------
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Olympus_405080/
Olympus 5060 resource - http://myolympus.org/5060/
Olympus 8080 resource - http://myolympus.org/8080/

Alfred Molon wrote:
[]
Here are the measured capacities:

Original Olympus battery: 1299 mAh

You should send the Olypus battery back! Isn't it rated at 1500mAh? G

As for the 3rd party ones.....

Actually, I have had good results with Hahnel, indistiguishable from
Nikon, but half the price. 1/17 of the price sounds to good to be true,
so it probably /is/ too good to be true!

Seriously, thanks for making the results available.

Cheers,
David

Alfred Molon wrote:
[]
Here are the measured capacities:

Original Olympus battery: 1299 mAh

You should send the Olypus battery back! Isn't it rated at 1500mAh? G

As for the 3rd party ones.....

Actually, I have had good results with Hahnel, indistiguishable from
Nikon, but half the price. 1/17 of the price sounds to good to be true,
so it probably /is/ too good to be true!

Seriously, thanks for making the results available.

Cheers,
David

Well, I went out and did a little shopping. Started with A Merkury
1700mAH from Tiger Direct for about $20 (w/shipping), and pair of 1400s
from an eBay seller for about $16 (w/shipping). I haven't had time to do
extensive testing but I can say that all give me results that appear to
be equal to the OEM Oly. I'm sure there are small differences but with
three extras in my bag I worry little.

Incidentally, I found a quick charger on eBay that will recharge any of
these batteries in less than an hour (it has a nice little led which
even shows the progress of the recharge from deep red to bright green)
for the grand price of about $20. This allowed me to cut the cord on the
original Oly charger (which is smaller than the quick charter) and tuck
it away in the bottom of my bag.

So far on my 5060 I am getting about 25% better results with the
proprietary battery than I was able to get with freshly charged NiMH's
in a friend's 5050, which I borrowed for a few days before purchasing
the 5060 (one hell of a camera). This tracks with my Oly 2020. I'm
getting to like the proprietaries. They're smaller than four AA's, much
easier to load, and if my luck with the eBay ones is any indicationn,
you can't beat the price.

/ron

David J Taylor wrote:
Alfred Molon wrote:
[]

Here are the measured capacities:

Original Olympus battery: 1299 mAh


You should send the Olypus battery back! Isn't it rated at 1500mAh? G

As for the 3rd party ones.....

Actually, I have had good results with Hahnel, indistiguishable from
Nikon, but half the price. 1/17 of the price sounds to good to be true,
so it probably /is/ too good to be true!

Seriously, thanks for making the results available.

Cheers,
David

In article , David J Taylor says...
Alfred Molon wrote:
[]
Here are the measured capacities:

Original Olympus battery: 1299 mAh

You should send the Olypus battery back! Isn't it rated at 1500mAh? G

My guess is that these ratings are made at a lower drain current, i.e.
when you discharge the battery over a longer period of time than just
two hours.

As for the 3rd party ones.....

Actually, I have had good results with Hahnel, indistiguishable from
Nikon, but half the price. 1/17 of the price sounds to good to be true,
so it probably /is/ too good to be true!

Let's put it in these terms: for $11 I got two batteries with a total
capacity of 1800 mAh (vs 1300 of the Olympus). That's a very good deal,
considering that the Olympus costs $91 (= 70 Euro).
--

Alfred Molon
------------------------------
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Olympus_405080/
Olympus 5060 resource - http://myolympus.org/5060/
Olympus 8080 resource - http://myolympus.org/8080/