Customer Reviews

Monster Cable MB 4-DCRC Ultra-High Capacity Digital Camera Power Pack

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

These are very good batteries and I like the charger because it is compact and quick (3 hrs). However, I just learned that Monster just released the ULTRA 2000 POWER PACK™ which are 2000mAh batteries! 4 Power Pack (4 batteries + charger) is retailing for fifty bucks and 4 batteries are retailing for thirty bucks.

My regular alkalines lasted literally hours.

These lasted WEEKS! I swear - I couldn't believe it. If you have a digital camera, this is a must buy! [price] sounds steep - but, even my cheapstake self feel its was worth every penny! Go for it!

It is surely a rare day when I buy a product that does exactly what I want and lives up to what the company says it can do.

Batteries fully charged in three hours, THE ABSOLUTE Winner hands down for staying power, my Toshiba digital would eat any other rechargeable, but with the Monster it lasts thru frame after frame, even with flash.(out performs projected #of frames). These people have made a friend for life!

2 years of HEAVY use - not even one little bitty problem. They've traveled well under harsh conditions, and they still function wonderfully. There you go.

I got this charger over a year ago. Took it on several of my trips. Couple of days ago I found the cover is a little loose, even though all the screws holding the covers were okay. Then I realized what had happened. The cheap plastic screw post were broken under the screws pressure over the year. If they used brass posts, it would never happen. Now the charger still works, but it is held together with wire tie because all four posts are broken.

First, let me cover the most important point: Does it work? Yes.

The praise that most users express for this item is well merited. I purchased this because, like everyone else, normal batteries just did not last. Ten or fifteen photos in, especially if you used flash, and they'd be ready for a change; even the so-called "Heavy Duty" or those marketed as "Digital Camera" didn't make a difference.

Well, both of those terms should be reserved for these power cells; they really are less like a battery and more like a power pack. On my first charge up, which took only 3 hours and 6 minutes - I timed it - I wanted to actually test how many photos one could get.

On my smaller camera, a 3MP Fujifilm Finepix S3100, I got 52 photos, some with flash, most without. Not random snaps to see how many it could record, but actually taking the time to frame them, select composition, etc.

The camera stayed on the entire time using the full LCD rather than viewfinder, took all photos on highest-resolution setting, transferred between auto, manual, and situational modes, charged full flash about 8 times, and went into preview mode. Three hours, 47 minutes later, I got a "low battery" warning - not depleted - low. I stopped then, sure that I had not overpaid.

**Note: These power cells will likely last much longer than 3h47m. Lower resolution may result in more photos. These numbers simply represent an unscientific but strenuous personal test to see what the product would do.


Other notes about the product:

- All parts except for door are made of hard, impact resistant plastic.
- Fold away plug in back makes charger easier to store.
- Red and Green LEDs are very bright, no mistake between charge and full mode.
- Has two "channels", A and B. Seems to charge sets of batteries best; this may have been an issue with another reviewer who reported issues with using one battery at a time.
- Black (body back), silver (body front) and blue (door) looks nice.


I have one complaint, though perhaps it's only one founded in pure puzzlement. The door flips open...to the right. When holding the unit in your hand, with the Monster logo at the top and the LED at the bottom, the door flips open to the right. My guess is that this decision was made so that the door didn't close on your hand when loading, because most people will tilt it in their left hand so that it's facing away from them at about 45 degrees; I know I do.


My final review: 5 out of 5.

Monster is a little pricey, as everyone knows, but it's good stuff. This unit is attractive, works well and is nicely designed. Only one very small drawback: unless you have small pointy fingers, the first battery is a little hard to remove. I use a little plastic relay tool to lever it out, which I store right in the charger. But I stayed with 5 stars for this one.

The charger unit or the batteries (or both) don't work right: I use the batteries one at a time, in rotation to power my Zen MP3 player. Sometimes I put discharged batteries in the charger, plug it in, the light blinks red, then goes off. Only supposed to show either red (discharged, charging) or green (fully charged.) This morning 3 batteries show fully charged, I take one out, it is discharged. All these problems happened with a first unit, I returned it to Monster and after they took their sweet time, got a replacement which works just as erratically. Monster's stuff looks good, but it is the last time I am going to buy their brand.

When I bought a digital camera, I already knew that I would need rechargeable batteries for it. What I didn't realize was how quickly the camera would eat the supplied alkalines. I had taken barely a dozen pictures before they were drained to the point where the camera would no longer operate!

So I looked for a set of rechargeable batteries and a charger and quickly settled on this one because of previous experience with Monster Cable's products.

It performs better than advertised. The initial charge may have taken 3 hours, but subsequent charges have been much quicker. I have yet to drain these batteries to the point where they won't operate the camera. The charger itself is an attractive unit for an appliance, and has an LED indicator that lights up red for charging and changes to green to indicate fully charged. It is compact enough to fit comfortably in the camera bag and the plug folds into the back of it.

I have had good service from it and can highly recommend this charger.

i purchased this item and have been impressed! the power cells hold a charge for a long time!! i have not lost power when using my digital camera with these batteries. i would recommend an extra set of power cells, so that you can always have back up...just in case! but, even after a trip to disney (with lots of pictures), i am still satisfied.