What u guys think of Hercules DSLR Battery ?


Odyssey-Boy

Senior Member
Oct 19, 2009
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Hercules DSLR Battery

Was amazed when I was poisoning myself at camera shops. Bought this battery off the shelve to use it as spare when I'm doing paid shoots, where back up equipment is a must. Wanted to look for Phottix Titan since it was once a popular battery, but sad to say I was told that it has been discontinued. Nonetheless, since I am just looking for a third party battery, I ended up with this Hercules Battery made for my camera, Canon 550D, LP-E8 and not to forget my Canon 5D Mark II.

What it made me to write this review is after using this battery for 2 weeks, while I am at my own studio, doing product shoots. I didn't really care much about these batteries, as long as it's usable. That's all. However, after 2 weeks, I was amazed by this little guy, Hercules DSLR Battery. Well, let me elaborate more in the further paragraphs below where I share my pros and cons, my personal likes and dislikes about it.

Now, first of all, let me do a specification review. I guess when most of you guys are looking for battery related items/products, you guys will wanna know, how many shots can this battery survive, how many hours can this battery survive, or even whats the life span of the battery.

Here it is, I did a comparison test when using this battery with my Canon 550D. Note: during, this test, i did not use any pop-up flash or live view shooting, so it may vary on each own's body as well.

Recorded for Original Battery LP-E8: 500+ or - around 495 to 505
Recorded for Hercules Battery LP-E8: 490 + or - around 485 to 495

I was amazed as my battery indicator was going strong even after days of massive shooting.

However, as the Hercules DSLR battery is afterall, a third party battery, I'm not optimistic to the exterior appearances. Like the plastic casing, comparing to the original ones, side by side, it's obvious to see which is original and which is a 3rd party OEM ones. Nonetheless, I believe this part can be improved, the casing of the battery. Moreover, the plastic packaging it came with was superb, it does have a professional "look" though.

Well, here's how it looks like,

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I would not risk to use 3rd party battery . Canon Battery will just be great . Im not sure if there is warranty if 3rd party battery damage the camera .
 

Actualy, I'm planning to buy this brand of batteriesand used them as back-ups. I heard they also have microchips inside so it will work like the original ones (not sure about this though). Can anyone confirm?
 

As long as you are not putting into battery grips, using a third party battery should be fine.

Really? You can put Third Party Battery directly into the camera, but not into battery grips? any reason for this mate? Or was it because using 2 batteries might over-power (voltage) the camera when used on a battery grip (either 3rd party or Original BG)...any experience or story to tell?
 

bought the Hercules Lpe6 Battery not too long back , i would say not bad for this brand , yes it was the microchip ver , i am able to charge with the original charger and able to read , so far i am left with 40 percent after taking more than 700 plus pic , the battery life span seem to be quite longer than i expected . Well in general , not bad for a third party battery
 

bought the Hercules Lpe6 Battery not too long back , i would say not bad for this brand , yes it was the microchip ver , i am able to charge with the original charger and able to read , so far i am left with 40 percent after taking more than 700 plus pic , the battery life span seem to be quite longer than i expected . Well in general , not bad for a third party battery

Mate, are you using it with a battery grip?
 

Not too sure about hercules batteries.

My experience with 3rd party batteries (not hercules) in original nikon battery grip is that the camera body will report the 3rd party battery as drained and will shutdown before any shot can be taken. It's kinda weird but it might had been because of the battery.
 

so far have being using other 3rd party battery for the last 2 years on my nikon d300 - so far all seem ok - i mixed all type of cap and batteries ( orginal and third party ) until i forgot how many , well my orginal grip still works today as a hard working horse. now i dont even know weather it orginal or thirdparty i use on my grip . just take out and charge and put back
 

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As long as you are not putting into battery grips, using a third party battery should be fine.

Don't quite get you here.I have used this battery with a BG and it works perfectly fine...
 

Really? You can put Third Party Battery directly into the camera, but not into battery grips? any reason for this mate? Or was it because using 2 batteries might over-power (voltage) the camera when used on a battery grip (either 3rd party or Original BG)...any experience or story to tell?
Batteries in the grip are connected in parallel, not serial. So it adds up the capacity, not the voltage.
 

Cowseye said:
Not too sure about hercules batteries.

My experience with 3rd party batteries (not hercules) in original nikon battery grip is that the camera body will report the 3rd party battery as drained and will shutdown before any shot can be taken. It's kinda weird but it might had been because of the battery.

I tot I had explained quite clearly??
 

....My experience with 3rd party batteries (not hercules) in original nikon battery grip is that the camera body will report the 3rd party battery as drained and will shutdown before any shot can be taken.......

he is referring to this
 

yes, from what i heard from the shop owner, this battery has a chip, same as those original batteries. it can be use to recharge with original battery charger, and it does not short circuit the camera be it in the camera itself or the battery grip.

what member cowseye mentioned, could be those other third party ones which do not have the chip in it, thus the battery could not communicate with the camera system.
 

Hi all i'm new into this field.. I bought my first camera Sony Slt-A33 recently and the battery life drain fast.. Will there be any problem in using a 3 party battery for my camera? i have seen some post for a new battery named 'Chromage'.. which one is batter for 3rd party battery? or any other brand suggestion? thank you for the comment.. :)
 

had a friend who was quite disappointed with chormage as the capacity does not seem to match . He bought a Lpe6 battery - after a full charge the photos taken was only around 300 plus photos
 

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yes infact i bought the chromage lpe6 battery at first , was quite disappointing the no of shots taken so gave up this chormage brand , so went for the Hercules battery and now quite happy with it as mention i was amaze of the shots taken