Buying laptop batteries

[EyeMWing]

I'm looking for a 12cell battery for my HP ZV5000. DP390A is the model number if anyone cares. HP stocks these for $150 a pop. However, over at Amazon, their affiliates have it for $70. "NEW GENUINE HP UNBROKEN SEAL." However, after perusing their feedback, it seems that a few people have gotten non-genuine products.

First, is an off-brand really that bad? Second, are these places mostly just con artists feeding the oblivious public generic batteries and ignoring it when someone notices (because almost nobody who just got >50% off is going to notice that they got the completely wrong product), or are there people out there who genuinely have no idea what a brown box product is and think that they got a generic when they really got a genuine product in ugly packaging?

 

[crzylgs]

if i were you i would shell out for the 150. Those off brands are barely ever worth the risk IMHO. You probably wont get the charge you'd get out of a retail HP battery.

 

[antyler]

good question i want a 12 cell for my hp as well, i dont know if i want an offbrand one.

 

[LouPoir]

eBay - I can get 3 off brands for the price of one made by the manufacturer.

 

[EyeMWing]

I went ahead and ordered one on Amazon from the TechExcess marketplace partner. I'll let you guys know what I find out (and my fellow slabtop owners are salivating over the prospect of decent batteries that don't cost as much as the damn laptop did)

 

[deathwalker]

Yup..lots of Laptop batteries aval. on ebay.

 

[Crism]

I bought a battery for my PCG-R505GL Sony on EBay...works fine

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

FS/FT here if you are lucky. Generally you'll only get the smaller batteries though, as most folks are selling the smaller because they moved to a bigger one.

A Dell 6-cell runs $120 from their website, and don't think coupons ever work on batteries. Bought one here from FS/FT for $45 shipped.

 

[1kayaker]

be picky, but you should be able to get them on ebay

 

[EyeMWing]

What I ended up getting from that TechExcess dealer on Amazon is a Japanese market version of the HP/Compaq 12-cell battery for less than half the price of teh American one (including shipping). Only difference was that the warranty mail-in card was in Japanese and said "JAPAN ONLY" on it - every other bit - packaging, the HP/Compaq trim pieces, writing on the battery, software ID on the battery itself, even down to the 3m adhesive between the trim piece and battery itself is identical. Assuming it works well on this first test cycle (it's charging now) I think losing the 1-year warranty was well worth the monetary savings (how the hell do you break a battery?)