Customer Reviews

Canon BP-522 Extended Lithium Battery for Optura Pi, ZR 80, 85, 90 Camcorders

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I love my ZR45MC, but it really requires this extended battery.

The battery that came with my ZR45MC is woefully inadequate for anything but a handful of brief cameo shots. Also, the charge doesn't hold for any extended period of time. You may pull out your ZR to catch a great moment in time only to find that the battery has discharged while idle in the camera bag. Not using the LCD does help the situation quite a bit.

This extended battery makes a good primary battery and seems to go more than twice as long as the normal one. Also, you can then use the original as a backup (as long as you refresh it's charge occassionally :-) ).

The battery is great, but Amazon offers the accessory kit with the same battery, plus a mini-dv tape and a carrying case for the same price. The case is useless for the ZR series, but might come in handy for some other purpose.

Just so you know, the BP522 battery can be used for the entire ZR series from ZR20 up to ZR90. (I checked the Canon website to verify.). An extended battery is definitely needed because the one provided with the camcorder has such as short battery life. But you can buy a generic battery made by Energizer (ER-C590) for $60-70 at the typical home electronics stores (i.e. Circuit City and Best Buy). You can also go online and find 2.5 hour batteries for as low as $35.99. Can't say whether they last as long as this one, but my Energizer did last for about 3 years with intermittent use (filming my kids...you know how that goes...lots of taping for the 1st year and then less and less as time goes on...).

The life on this battery is so much longer than my stock battery for my camcorder (Canon ZR70), I no longer have to worry about keeping it charged. I can also use my viewscreen more often instead of doing everything through the eyepiece. My camcorder experience is improved because of it and I can focus on the video and not worry if my battery starts to run out.

Up to you, but I would buy a generic branded battery of the same type (Lithium BP522). I bought a generic battery and it works just as well -- saved me $50 !

I charge it up and it works. I've had it for a few years and I'm still using it. The capacity is much greater than the stock battery. It fits well, and although it is rather heavy, it doesn't fall off of the camera.

Getting an extra, larger-sized capacity battery for your camcorder is a must considering a lot of batteries bundled with the packages right now are the smallest-capacity ones. This is true for the Canon ZR70 MC camcorder. This battery offers extra juice without the hassle or fear of constant battery drainage compared to using the one that came with the camcorder. I now use the smaller capacity as a back-up and the larger one as the main battery. From what I understand, this battery also works with different Canon camcorder models. Very happy with this purchase!

I gave this item a low rating because the product I received, was not the product advertised and for which I paid $71.72, including tax. The battery was listed as a 3000 MilliAmp-Hr capacity, the battery delivered was a 2200 MilliAmp-Hr capacity. I had passed on the 2200 MilliAmp-Hr battery offered on other websites because I wanted a full capacity battery like the one that came with my camera. I don't know who did the switch, but this is clearly a case of illegal "bait & switch". I had an important project to film (i.e. grandson's wrestling match), so I had to use the battery as soon as I received it. Be aware, what you order may not be what you get.
J.koch, HB Ca