Ask Slashdot: Where Can I Find Good Replacement Batteries?

An anonymous reader writes: I have an old phone with a battery that barely works anymore. My current phone's battery is mediocre — I can put up with it, but I've been thinking about getting a new one. My four-year-old ThinkPad holds less of a charge than I'd like, and less than it did when I bought it. In all these cases, the only thing holding me back from buying a new battery is that I'm not sure where to find a good one. Searching for my phone's battery on Amazon (or any major online retailer) yields a dozen results, all fairly cheap. But which are reliable? They all seem to have varying reviews, ranging from "Perfect official factory replacement!" to "Garbage knock-off, worse than the battery I replaced." Part numbers don't seem to help, as the knock-offs replicate those pretty well. I ask you, Slashdot: where can I find a good replacement battery?

More details, please

[unitron]

Tell us exactly what model phone and exactly what brand and model battery.

That way you have a better chance of catching the attention of someone with experience with what you need.

Otherwise I wave you in the vague direction of Batteries+

from experience.

[Anonymous Coward]

Go anker, they have worked very well in the past for my phones. Avoid andida, 2 sets of batteries Went bad in 32 days

Re:For 3rd party batteries, I've had good luck wit

[Anonymous Coward]

Came here to say Anker. I purchased 2 replacement batteries for my phone (Galaxy s2x) + standalone battery charger as a bundle from Amazon.ca for $28 delivered.

Batteries work great, and the standalone charger seems to be able to charge any kind of battery I can throw at it.

My first attempt at ordering a battery on ebay for $9 was a washout - took a month to arrive, and was complete crap when it did.

Re:For 3rd party batteries, I've had good luck wit

[Sowelu]

I can second Anker batteries, mine worked fine. I can't say I'm as thrilled with their wall-wart router, but that's probably more on me. Two data points isn't too useful, but if I had to recommend someone, I'd say "Anker didn't suck for me". No bigger help than looking at their Amazon reviews though.

For 3rd party batteries, I've had good luck with

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll second Anker. I have a couple spare batteries for my phone and they work great, good enough that I've been using one as my primary battery for the last few weeks because I am too lazy to swap it out with the OEM one.

Always buy spares when you get a new phone:

[w0mprat]

A tip: When you get a new smartphone these days, buy one or two spare batteries while they are widely available, and well before the device is deprecated and hard to find a good battery for, let alone an official one. Store your spare li-ion batteries with a half charge, and/or just alternate use of the batteries. Spare accessories are also a nice selling point if you upgrade and want to sell your old phone on ebay, or to a friend.

Li-ion batteries lose about 20% of their lifespan every year, I've had plenty that die faster, perhaps due to much more intense cycling and usage. Having spares you rotate means you'd still have most of your battery range after a year of ownership.

I prefer eBay myself. They have the most selection

[chaosdivine69]

The trick to using eBay is that the seller needs to have a lot of positive star ratings and has a recent selling history - as in they do this to make money, it's how they eat. Not someone with a 6 star rating who hasn't sold anything for months to years. The more perfect a score (closer to 100%) rating the better. The more decent ratings the better. Also, this is critical, read the seller feedback, they're short, but they scream volumes. When searching for items, search for words like "genuine OEM" or "original (brand here) battery". Lastly, when paying, use PayPal since they cover your ass if/when a seller doesn't come through. It has happened to me before twice in like 7 years and PayPal has helped me out and refunded my money both times. I love eBay and have been using it for years. You can find some really obscure stuff and can land some great deals if you're patient, persistent and careful. No one likes getting fleeced or screwed over. Do you homework and you'll get exactly what it is you're after. One last thing, don't be afraid to email the sellers and ask questions. If they don't reply, don't buy from them. You can even be bold and ask to negotiate price (within reason). You'd be surprised what you can get if you're nice, respectful and within reason. My thoughts anyhow...

Re:For 3rd party batteries, I've had good luck wit

[FuegoFuerte]

I'll second/third/fourth this... I had an HTC Arrive (Sprint's WinMo7 phone), and bought a couple Anker batteries and a charger. I switched from the HTC battery to one of the Ankers as my primary battery, because it lasted substantially longer. I still carry the universal charger when I travel, as it can charge my camera batteries, anything that charges over USB, etc. It's a little finicky to get it to contact the battery correctly sometimes, but overall it works quite well and is far more flexible than any other charger I've seen.

NLee the Engineer reviews

[mattack2]

I'm not sure if he reviews all different types of batteries, but "NLee the Engineer" reviews tons of rechargeable batteries (and other stuff, as you'll see at the link) at Amazon, and he seems to really know his stuff.

Basically, after you've found what you're looking for, his reviews seem to be very knowledgeable. He'll knock bad products and give good reviews to good ones.

His link:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/p... [amazon.com]

Re:Always buy spares when you get a new phone:

[Ichijo]

Store your spare li-ion batteries with a half charge

And at 0 degrees C [batteryuniversity.com].

Non-replaceable component

[DrYak]

So which phones would that be where the batteries cannot be replaced?

Apple's iPhone are designed with battery that should not be replaced by the end-user. The only official policy is that you should bring a phone with a dead or dying battery to the shop for replacement, whereupon the salesperson will try to persuade you to buy a new phone because replacing the old battery is almost as expensive as the newest shiny toy.
You can try to replace them, but it's non trivial, you need to actually disassemble the phone, which might void your warranty.

Compare with any other brand sold in Europe:
You just to :
- buy a replacement (either the original part from any phone shop, or by a 3rd party like mugen [mugen.co])
- power off the phone
- open the battery lid (just pushing a button)/swap the batteries/close the lid
- power on
- don't forget to throw the battery in the appropriate recycling bin instead of putting it into trash.
That's it.

(Please note: air-mailing lithium batteries has a special regulation. Some postal service just refuse to handle them "on security ground", even if they are standard conformant, the proper paperwork is filled, and (like everyphone battery, unlike some modelling batteries) the protecting electronics are actually embed inside the battery itself. That's plain stupid. And it might block your possibility to return the battery for RMA)