Lindich: Get up to speed on aftermarket batteries

Q: My fiancee and I are going to Europe for our honeymoon next month and we need some extra rechargeable HP Pavilion dv6-1100 Laptop AC Adapter batteries for our digital camera. We will take lots of pictures, and the battery that came with it might not last the entire day in some cases. I have seen aftermarket OLYMPUS LI-10C Charger batteries selling for much less than the manufacturer's batteries. Given the big difference in price, how do they compare?

A: Generally speaking, aftermarket batteries are not as good as the original Acer Aspire 5715z Battery. Generic or third-party batteries can be a good value, though. You may get about 75 percent or more of the performance of the original Acer Aspire 3020 Battery, for 25 percent of the price or less.

There are a lot of batteries on the market and performance varies widely.

Recently I have been using replacement Acer Aspire 3680 Battery sold under the Wasabi Power brand and have had excellent results. Wasabi battery and charger packages in particular are an excellent value. When I wrote about the Samsung TL350 a few weeks ago I suggested that anyone purchasing the camera pick up at least one extra Sony Np-f970 Battery as the tiny battery might not get you through a whole day of shooting.
On Amazon I found a Wasabi package for the TL350 that includes two KENWOOD TH25 battery and a charger for only $19.99, and the charger includes a car adapter for charging on the go.
I spent a day in New York City with two Wasabi Toshiba Satellite a300-1mc Battery and the original Samsung battery and took around 700 images, as well as a dozen videos.
The batteries performed wonderfully and I could not tell any difference between the Wasabi batteries and the original Toshiba pa3465u-1brs Battery.
An extra charger always comes in handy as well, especially with the TL350 that typically charges batteries in the camera with a USB cable. Now I can use the camera and charge a Fujifilm Np-40 Battery at the same time.

Q: We have lived in the same neighborhood for 20 years and consistently get poor radio reception, no matter what radio or antenna we use. On the other hand, the radios in our cars always get great reception. I really want good radio reception. Should I buy a car radio and convert it into a tabletop unit?
A: It could be that something in your home is causing interference and your car is outside, so immune. I'd test this first with a handheld radio, using it outside next to your car outside to see how it works. Regardless, I doubt that converting a car radio is the answer. I think with the right radio and/or antenna you will be fine.

I would start with the antenna. If you can't put an antenna outside it has been my experience that for FM reception an ordinary pair of unpowered $10 TV rabbit ears will often outperform more expensive powered units. For years, rabbit ears for FM have been one of my most cost-effective recommendations.

more tags: Dell Inspiron 6000 Adapter, Sony Np-bg1 Battery, Acer Aspire 5715z Battery, Acer Aspire 6920 Battery, Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W150/R Charger , Motorola RADIUS P210 battery, FUJIFILM FinePix Z35 Charger, Hp Compaq Business Notebook 6715b Battery, Panasonic Nv-gs37 Battery, Toshiba pa3107u-1brs Battery, Pentax Optio 330 Battery, Canon Lp-e10 Battery
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