****Clone, Fake, Not the Real Deal****

Guy's

I've heard say that "The Devil Makes Work For Idle Hands".

So with that, I'm no closer to sorting that SSD, GPS or DVD-RW, having 24 hours in one day is not enough.

So onto the next tale of woe, I'm looking for a Consensus from those that have considerably more experience with Toughbook's than myself. I purchased a new battery advertised as being the Genuine Article. It arrived in good time, good packing and good price. The packing is plastered with Panasonic Logos, the part number, made in Japan, bla,bla,bla. So it does look the genuine article.

Now, the bottom cover of my CF-29 MK1, my DVD/CD-RW, my DVD Drive, my Power Supplies and the other batteries have the Panasonic logo and are also stamped with the name Matsu***a Electric Industrial Co.Ltd. Osaka, Japan. The new battery looks the business with the exception of no mention of Matsu****a.

I've done a battery refresh and it appears o.k. and holds 6 plus hours on low cpu usage. The cost price was small change so I'm happy to keep it as a spare for those "get you out of trouble moments".

I'm taking the view that if your happy using non-brand parts, then it's your money, spend it as you see fit. If you insist on "The Real Deal" what are you using to measure what's genuine and what's not??

err....err....the Panasonic logo on the bottom of the case has just rubbed off, it's written in chalk, is it really a Dull??

*** there is a foul or abusive language blocker preventing the real name from being spelt, as if Limey's use foul or abusive language

 

I bought a non-panasonic battery almost 2 years ago, still getting almost four hours of run time on it, your mileage may very.

 

On ALL my Batterys on the top left it says

Panasonic
Model No./Modele CF-VZSU29A (mine is a yellow tab)
Battery Pack
Batterie
Li-ion OUTPUT/SORTIE 11.1v 7.65Ah
Matsua Electric Industrial Co.Ltd
Osaka Japan
Made in Japan Fabrique au Japon
I would say its a knock off but if your happy and it works good that's all that counts. The one I bought some time ago only lasted 6 months and died.

 

@Toughasnails:

What You Said on existing Blue Tab and Yellow Tab variety's.

This Yellow Tab say's Panasonic, made in Japan in the spot where it say's Matisus**a on the others.

I can accept that the genuine one's are now past their "Shelf Life"..... Get this, this one will probably last longer because it is actually new!! just not the OEM.

I've said enough for it to be the kiss of death and it will probably go "Ping-Pong" tomorrow.

 

I would not worry on shelf life on these for the 29 ,especially the newer high capacity type
The cf-28 and older we have no choice ,its re cell or china

 

but... how is it working so far? Perhaps a shoddy silkscreen job. Then again, rather unlikely for Panny.

BTW, there's something in your sig that made me curious, "you'd be forgiven for thinking the Toughbook was built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel". This country in question is probably the richest in S.E. Asia, endowed with plentiful natural resources but why would you say Toughbooks are being built there??

Ron in SG

 

Ron in SG:

Tell me what you've been smoking buddy, this is a great laugh.

I'm convinced this battery is not the "Real Deal" so I thought, instead of sending it back I'll keep it for a spare for the the odd 1/2 hour here and there. I couldn't resist giving it a run out, so it's done an hour of heavy work and around 4 hours of light work before reaching my 15% remaining flag.

The idea I had in mind was the reply from toughasnails, if your happy your battery is OEM, tell me what it say's on the label, as he has done.

The reference to Isambard Kingdom Brunel:- He was a famous Civil and Structural Engineer who built things "TOUGH" they are that tough, they are still being used 150 years after his death. I'm not saying my 29MK1 will last 150 years but it's "Tough".

Thanks for joining in, you've cheered me up.

 

Well, Do a search for fake Motorola and you will get an education. I bought a fake Motorola Bluetooth a while back, knowing it was fake. They are so good at the labeling and cloning that unless you have the 2 side by side, you will not know the difference. Good enough that they have been sold by major retailers without the retailers knowing.
With everything being made in China, all the technology is there to make absolute clones. They don't need to use chalk and crayons for packaging. They scan originals and use the same equipment the major company uses to do the packaging and labeling.
Can you scan your battery label and post it? We can compare it with ours and maybe see if it is fake or questionable.
Marketing and big biz ad and remove names from the products all the time. Not having the parent company name on the label would not concern me. Maybe Panny contracted out some excess work and they cant put Matsh* on it, but it is the same as Panny specs.

 

Sorry, my bad. Mis-read it as Brunei!! Need new bifocals and more rest! While we're at it, might as well pass me what you've been smokin'

erm... at least the battery seems to work as it should

 

@Ron in SG:

I can't say what I'm smoking, it's probably against the forum rules, but I'm having fun.

@Deere245:

I get what your saying, so I'll ask the same question without all the dribble in my first post.

Attached are two pictures of CF-29 Yellow Tab Batteries, they were purchased from different sellers on different day's and at considerably different prices. My question is, in your experience of owning Toughbook's do you think they are both OEM parts or, one is fake, or both are fake?

Chime in and express your thoughts, it may help others to decide if there getting a good deal or being shafted.


http://forum.notebookreview.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=62182&stc=1&d=1299166631

http://forum.notebookreview.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=62183&stc=1&d=1299166631

 

In my opinion, which isn't always worth a lot, I think they are both real.
I have a cf-vzsu29a and a cf-vzsu29. I don't have a cf-vzsu29as. My batteries both came as used. 1 in a unit and 1 separate. The labeling has subtle differences on both batteries. On mine the barcode is on the far right of the large label. under the code is a 4 character alpha numeric code. 72wb on 1 and the other is something similar. A date code I presume. Both of your batts have a very similar code 1 is 88ja. While the clones would have the large label, I highly doubt they would bother with the smaller date code label. I bet Panny has different plants and/or label differences over different years. Compare the fit and finish of your batts. Do they look identical? Even with the label differences, mine are identical.

 

I just checked a few OEM toughbook sellers and the battery made by Matsua Electric looks to be the real deal. Also I noticed on the other one the french is backwards without the " / " . (Sortie / Li-ion OUTPUT) Not that it makes much difference . In Canada the French people get very ticked off on stuff like that.....you have to live here to understand . I am not making fun of the French...trust me, I am just stating a fact.

 

I did notice the reversed French on that one line. I was kind of thinking it may have been for a different country. That was the one tiny thing that did seem odd.

 

The battery on the left is labeled identically(except for model # and capacity) as the battery that came in my brand new CF-30 MK3, the one on the right just like the 4 year old battery in my CF-30 MK1. So both formats are genuine Panasonic at least.
CAP

 

Anyone here figure out the date code?

 

Exactly the same on my yellow tab OEM Panasonic batteries.

 

@CAP:

Good info, my next question was going to be can somebody with a CF-30 MK3 check what they have got. And the reason being,

Prior to late 2008, Panasonic existed as a Brand name of M-a-t-s-u-s-h-i-t-a Electric, and as such, Panasonic never designed or manufactured any products. A subsidiary of that company was M-a-t-s-u-s-h-i-t-a Battery Co.

M-a-t-s-u-s-h-i-t-a designed and manufactured the "Full Monty", which is why all my existing power supplies, batteries, drives etc,etc,etc. are labelled both Panasonic and M-a-t-s-u-s-h-i-t-a (The Brand and the Manufacturer).

With the change in the name to Panasonic Corporation, it's inevitable that at some point in time the name M-a-t-s-u-s-h-i-t-a Electric is resigned to the history books, and in doing so, create a change in the label.

I agree with deere in that if your hell bent on setting up shop to clone others products, with current technology it shouldn't be too difficult so getting the label format right with the wrong information is a poor show. So what are the cells like?

Some may be of the view that if it works, it works, so whats the problem? The problem being you do here stories about non-genuine products either overheating and the resultant failure of other components in the system or worst case scenario, exploding when charged. Which is not good if you run the battery refresh utility overnight. So the way forward here is I'll sleep in the North Wing and run the refresh utility in the South Wing.

Out of interest on the bottom of the CF-30 MK3 (I'm jealous) below the serial number bar code does it have reference to M-a-t-s-u-s-h-i-t-a or Panasonic Corporation or both or neither?

 

What's the matter; having trouble writing " Matsushïŧa Electric Co., Ltd."?

Just gotta know the " ŧrïcks of the ŧrade."

 

"Panasonic Corporation Made in Japan Fabrique au Japon"
You seem to be on to something.
CAP

 

@TC:

Good trick, and I'm still having trouble, Matsus-h-i-t-a

@CAP:

Nothing sinister or untoward, just a sensible explanation as to why two OEM components have different labels i.e. Power Supplies, for a CF-29 you can have two OEM parts, one is tagged as Matsus-h-i-t-a the other is Panasonic Corporation. The simple explanation here is that the one tagged as Panasonic Corporation was made for a CF-30 after the Global change, both are OEM parts that fit a CF-29.

I'm edging towards saying the same about the batteries being interchangeable with the CF-52? That still doesn't explain the French spelling being wrong and with the Japanese being as meticulous as they are, it's surprising.

As an aside, I'm using the acronym OEM to mean Original Equipment Manufacturer and not as a recent advertisement stated, " This is a genuine Panasonic Power Supply and not an OEM"......what?

 

Two hints:

1) Take a close look at my spelling; and,

2) Think "Windows Character Map"

Caveat: DO NOT use your newfound knowledge to intentionally violate Board Rules WRT pοrn and prοfanïŧy.

 

The smut-Nazi Bot can kiss my scaly green backside, D!ck Cheney and Matsush!ta notwithstanding. I feel it is entirely appropriate to DISCUSS things like pr0n and use a LITTLE coarse language from time to time; as long as we're not POSTING pr0n or dropping the f-bomb all over the place.

Besides... if you can't cuss someone out without resorting to the really crude language, you really need to grow your vocabulary.

mnem
Spitz-n-spartin', fillibarting, frick-n-in' slack-jawed, 3-toed sonufa dirty ratzen-fratzin' ugly mudsucker anyhow...

 

Matsushïŧa ŧrïck of ŧhe ŧrade learnŧ, good one, ŧhanks.

Holy Matsush!ta, my ribs ache.