Aftermarket battery and charger

I'm trying to set my mom up with an extra battery and charger for her new Optura 400, and am going in circles due to some uncertainties I have. Here's a few specific questions:

What's the deal with the two series of batteries (NB- and BP-)? How different are these two series? Will a charger that works with one necessarily work with the other? This is an issue because some aftermarket chargers advertise they're for one series (e.g., the NB-2L), but don't mention the other.

Does anyone have the official capacities for the 4 batteries listed for this camcorder (NB-2L, NB-2LH, BP-2l12, BP-2l14)? Canon lists estimated play time, but I wanted mAH values so I can compare to aftermarket batteries.

Some of the aftermarket batteries advertise increased capacity (e.g., 1000mAH instead of 570 mAH), even though the battery appears no bigger than the stock size. Is there a danger to this? Are these likely to be any less reliable, more prone to problems of any type? How much is too much?

Any recommendations for specific chargers, or general guidelins such as whether its important to go with slow or fast charge units?

Any feedback would be appreciated!

Thanks

Well the http://consumer.usa.canon.com/ web site doesn't seem to want to show battery specifications, or at least I could not find anything.

In the Optura 400 manual I did find the spec on the NB-2LH as 7.4 VDC 720 mAh. Perhaps extrapolating would give you an approximation of mAh.

Rich

For my MVX35i (Optura 500) i ordered two NB-2L (not LH) for a few Euros at ebay - these work well (and have longer power as the original NB-2LH). :cool:

Thanks for the info so far. It looks like the NB-2L must be 570mAH and the NB-2LH is 720mAh. The numbers aren't really that important I guess - I'm just trying to understand some of the differences and trying to make sure I don't do something stupid - like getting an BP-series replacement battery and charger only to find out that I can't charge the supplied batt4ery (NB-2LH) with it. Or finding that the higher capacity aftermarket batteries tend to explode or something. That would be bad! (I don't know this, I'm just imagining!)

Jens, I had a similar thought to go with NB-2L batteries. Some of the aftermarket ones are so inexpensive (I've seen them for $13 US) you could get several. Then you would have only one series to worry about (no charger compatibility issue), plus you avoid the slightly awkward feel of the larger battery. On the other hand, having a longer lasting battery can be very convenient in terms of shooting time. That's what I have now on my Optura 100MC - original battery plus a 2x sized battery.

If I could just verify that the chargers will handle both series it would make it a lot easier to inform my mom what to get.

So I'm still thinking about all this.

I believe that the capacity of the batteries is rated as follows
NB-2L 570mAh
NB-2LH 720mAh
BP-2L12 1200mAh
BP-2L14 1450mAh

In my experience the capacities marked on non-Canon batteries are not reliable but they are available at very low prices. So my approach was to buy a few from different sources. NB-2L marked 800 or 900mAh were similar in capacity to Canon NB-2LH while a BP-2L12 marked 1400mAh was almost twice the capacity but more bulky. My personal preference would be for 2 NB size rather than one BP size.

Thank everyone for your inputs. I ended up buying both the charger and battery on ebay. Here's what I got:

BP-2L12 eqivalent battery. 7.4V, 1300mAH. ~$14 (including shipping).
CANON NB-2L BP-2L12 BATTERY CHARGER SET ~CAR/Travel Kit ~$14 (including shipping)

Actually, I was impressed at how inexpensive the aftermarket units can be. And of course, a little skeptical too - so I'll have to keep an eye on them and let you know if there are any problems! But so far my mom is using them and hasn't reported any problems.

A couple notes: Some of the less expensive batteries were rated at 7.2Volts instead of 7.4, and the ads made a point of saying basically "its pretty much the same thing." That sounded a little TOO "generic" for me. The one I went for one was rated at 7.4V, didn't have too exaggerated of a capacity (mAH) claim, and specifically listed features like overcharge protection. As for the charger, I found one which specifically claimed it would work on both the NP-2L series and the BP-2L12 series, so that solved that issue.

For anyone else looking, here's the links for what I bought:
battery-
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3836855028
charger-
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3837084856

Thanks

Thanks for the update LaserDude.

That vendor has an eBay Store at:
http://stores.ebay.com/Battery-Merchants_W0QQsspagenameZl2QQtZkm

Which has a lot of battery's listed. I am very tempted to try one.
They list a "Sony Compatible NP-FM90 NP-QM91 Li-Ion 3900mAh Battery Compatible w/Sony's Infolithium feature (communicates remaining charge level w/camera)"

Rich