Non-OEM battery?

If anyone can advise with battery purchase, I'd appreciate it.

I'm wondering if the below battery would be safe to buy?
or is there any safer, comparably priced alternative?

LAPTOP BATTERY for IBM ThinkPad R50 R50E R50P R51 R52 - eBay (item 180573014744 end time May-08-11 23:50:28 PDT)

My thinkpad is fine, but bought refurbished, and without functional battery.

 

I'd recommend buying from amazon.com. One of the reasons is to look at the comments of past product shipments and the battery's value.

Edit: I do agree with LoneWolf 15 and Tsunade_Hime on buying OEM batteries, but you should "look at the comments" to determine if you should buy it.

 

Buy a battery from the Lenovo Outlet. At least you can get a battery you can trust that way.

Non-OEM batteries can be highly inconsistent in quality. You don't always know where the battery cells came from, or if they're as good of quality. There is a higher possibility of corrosion, leakage and (while less common) overheat that could lead to fire. There's also a chance that a non-OEM battery will not last as long as an OEM one, both in runtime-per-charge, and in overall longevity of the battery itself.

If you go through Lenovo's Outlet, you can at least be sure the battery you are buying is refurbished to company standards.

Lenovo Outlet - Batteries

If you can't find the battery you're looking for on the Outlet, there are Ebay sellers of OEM batteries, and while they cost more than knockoffs, they cost less than Lenovo-direct prices. Some products are very much "you-get-what-you-pay-for"; batteries are one of them.

 

LoneWolf15 states it the best.

Avoid non-OEM batteries completely. Buy Lenovo OEM from Outlet or on Ebay from a reputable seller, preferably a US seller with lots of feedback.

 

Thanks. The reason I gave that link, is because the seller showed pics of the inner works, to show exactly what you're getting.

Like, it shows the cells are by Samsung.

Is there any on Ebay that's:
OEM comparably priced as new-non-OEM, and:
With a similar warranty as non-OEM?

To AES:
Any comments on the below Amazon reviews?
Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: Replacement Battery for ThinkPad T40 T41 T42 T43 R50 Laptop

 

you would only find something like that from personal seller as an one off.

 

Many ebay sellers offer warranties on various products till the end of time. How do you plan on holding them to it after the 42 day paypal dispute window closes..

 

one off? not quite sure what you mean

as for the 42-paypal deadline, isn't there a longer deadline for ebay-feedback? though not sure how much.

bottom line - so i guess there isn't much choice, huh?

 

I never had good luck with Non-OEM batteries from Ebay. I think the same would apply to the same battery regardless from where you bought.

The problems I faced were anywhere from not being recognized by the system, dishonest capacities, heating problems, inacurate battery life calcuated. My last non-oem battery for my Evo phone got heated up and swelled and then died.

I have bought Original Thinkpad batteries a couple of times from Ebay. They were open box but new/low cycle and I think I did get a good price. You just have to keep looking daily.

I would *** strongly *** suggest going for Original Thinkpad regardless from where you buy it.

 

The reason for that is that the T40/R50 Series batteries were discontinued in July 2010:

ThinkPad T40/R50 Series Li-Ion Battery Options - Overview
ThinkPad T40/R50 Series Li-Ion Battery options - Service parts

You might be able to take advantage of the Lenovo Options Continuation Program (see either link above), but I suspect the price may be relatively high. If you decide to check it out, you'll need the marketing part number from the second link.

I saw no option on Ebay for an original ThinkPad battery that I would be comfortable with, regardless of price.

Don

 

It's a crap shoot I'm sure but I've always had good luck with ebay non-OEM batteries. I have a Dell laptop battery that has served me well (ebay) - I'm not even sure which is which (stock vs ebay) - they both hold about 4 hr charges. Similar with moto droid battery, and some canon camera batteries. I have been very lucky no doubt - I know some who have struck out. But at the rate I'm going I can afford a dud or two and still be way ahead financially at this point. I will probably continue to roll the dice on ebay batteries until I get burned a couple of times.

Good luck.

 

Although I didn't always feel this way, my current advice on this is that unless you have an existing relationship with a seller you trust, avoid non-OEM batteries.

 

I see... (still scratching head with indecision... not to mention a password-login crisis on the laptop which now takes priority.

Well thanks for the input.

 

Update:

What a letdown. I bought a used OEM battery, charged it 100%, then ran Thinkvantage Toolbox which dx'ed it as only 12% of original capacity.

Of course, I'm returning it.