Customer Reviews

Contour 2350 ContourHD Battery

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I recently ordered the VholdR 2350 CountourHD Battery as shown on the image as a factory battery only to be shipped a RageCams aftermarket battery?!? Everything in the description showed the factory battery but I did not receive it! The comments on the receipt say "(Not the same one shown)." What kind of shady business practice is this???

I own 2 genuine vholdr batteries now for my 1080HD system. People are having problems with poor quality aftermarket batteries. The genuine vholdr runs for a tad over 3 hours - enough to fill the 16GB disk easily with room to spare.

As with any new battery, you should charge it and drain it 3 times to "wake it up" upon receipt. This, and keeping it in a charged state, will prevent premature failure.

Now to tell if you bought a genuine product - the packaging is very distinct - clear plastic box folded from thin sheet plastic and meant to be hung on a rack. The box is much larger than the battery, and includes a small instruction card. Finally, both the box and battery carry the VholdR logo. Any other cheap packaging indicates a cheap battery. I bought mine from amazon and got the real thing which works fine with their system.

Technical specs: 1050 mAH Li-Ion, with 3 terminal sensor for charging properly.

Finally I don't want to stereotype that all non-OEM accessories are sub-par but as far as batteries go for cellphones, I have a motorola that will run 4-5 days while so called "super-aftermarket" batteries can barely keep it alive 30 hours without any use. Given these are the same size batteries I'd expect the real product to be essential here. I have designed products with Li-Ion batteries and met with the companies in China who make them - they are not ashamed to inform you that statistically one in 100,000 cells will fail explosively. That's 10 parts per million fail rate. But put 10 cells in a laptop and now it's a 100 part per million fail rate on laptop batteries since they have so many cells. So far this li-ion problem has only been improved, not eliminated, so stick with products designed for your system. As for other batteries, my GM car has an interstate battery that I replaced, and my honda has the factory battery which lasted 6 years.

not real impressed with the battery i got. it is a second because i ride all day long, but it doesnt last nearly as long as the one that came with the camera...

Poorly designed for the application and contradicts it's advertising. It's design inherintly exposes it to excessive wear in a very short time through just normal usage. The battery is wrapped in a plastic layer that easily pulls apart just trying to remove it and swap batteries. It doesn't do well in cold temperatures such as are normally experienced while snow skiing. It's ok above 25 degrees, but below that the power-on time drastically shortens. I get about 2 to 2 1/2 hrs of "on" time, not recording time, while I'm skiing. I probably get about 30-40 min of record time, but that's just an estimate. Honestly, I don't think you can really get much better battery life elsewhere, but it's something to be concious of when purchasing. I have two batteries and would consider a 3rd if they weren't so easily damaged.

Contrary to the other review from Robert Martin, I can attest this is from Vholdr. The case and battery clearly say it is ContourHD, by the company Twenty20, the makers of VHoldr. The 2350 has the exact same charge and capacity as the one that came with the ContourHD (3.7V 1050 mAh). Make sure you buy directly from Amazon and not one of their third party sellers (who could sell knock offs).

First of all, Amazon.com ROCKS as items usually arrive in 1 day!
Enough of that. I was nervous about the battery I was going to receive based on the reviews. With my experience with Amazon being great I decided to order it. It turns our that the battery is the real deal, genuine Contour in a seal container with an SKU # 2350 that is a 3.7V and rated 1050mAh, which is identical to the one provided with my camera. Since I just opened it up and it's currently on the charger I cannot testify to the quality/duration of the battery.

That being said, I want to let you know that I'm a nutcase when it comes to batteries. I have over a decade of research into batteries, including talking directly to three major manufacturers (Duracell, Eveready & Rayovac) in regards to the truth behind each chemical make up and their pros and cons. In the early 90's I wrote a 3 page guide on battery use and care. One piece of advice I will pass along is that the battery life ratings are always deduced when tested under optimal conditions. In other words, 1) a fresh battery, 2) properly charged, 3) ideal conditions when loaded (being tested), 4) usually minimal drain is applied (in the days of VCRs this meant no; RW/FF; Stop; Start; Eject; Pause, etc. just straight "Record" in ~70 degrees F.) What this comes down to is do not expect the full 3 hours that the battery is rated at in the real world. This is due to multiple factors such as after the first 1/2 year your battery is no longer "new". You most likely will be using your device hours or even days after charging and batteries, which by their nature lose a fraction of their charge every day. You will most likely be in colder or warmer climates than tested conditions and you will most likely start/stop and turn your unit off/on several times, all of which will shorten the battery life.

In summary, I always lived by my suggestions that I would give to my customers which was to "Take 3 times the amount of batteries that you will think you will need". That advice has always served me well and has saved my behind many times. For instance, I'm going to shoot ~2 hours worth of video on Sunday and it is something that cannot easily be duplicated as many factors have played into making this shoot possible. Even though the original battery is rated for 3 hours I purchased the spare to achieve me 3x safety margin. Wow. OK I'm finished. :O)

This is a great Battery! It is exactly the same one pictured, so you know it came from Contour and not some knock off! Comes fully charged and ready to use! Currently being used up too 45 mins and every seems to be recording fine!

First, battery would not hold a charge. Then, when I tried to remove it from camera, it was stuck (latch hung on the printed 'wrapper'). After carefully freeing it up, I also noticed the end cap was barely attached and literally fell off as I was handling it. I would note that the original (supplied with camera) battery seems to work OK.

It's great to be able to shoot a lot of video with my Contour. The spare battery makes sure I don't miss a great shot.

Oh my gosh, it was ridiculously hard to get the old battery out! I bouhgt the extra battery so I could "field swap" and double my recording time, but I'm not sure if I EVER want to do that again, much less outside my home. I thought for sure I ruined the battery and maybe the camera too.

Maybe I can rig some tape or dental floss to allow easier removal...