Li-ion is indeed dangerous, but I do not think that third-party batteries are built without the necessary safety circuits.

This is actually the most important problem with counterfeit batteries. Third-party ones bear a brand name, just not the one from Nokia. Even if the manufacturer is in China, they do not really want to be associated with customers going in flames.

Counterfeit goods are illegal, and bear no name (or rather a false name). If they fail, and they do, the manufacturer is nowhere to be found. Besides, for this counterfeit battery, the manufacturer invested great expense to have a counterfeit hologram made and a label quite similar to the original printed. Yet, it costs about the same as a third-party. On what do you think they have saved?

I should say that I have a relatively good experience with third party batteries, and not only for Nokia. You take your luck, some fail (one 1 in 4 or 5 in my limited experience), but mostly they are similar to the original models. When they cost a third of the price or less, I am willing to take the risk. They can even cost a bit more if they are sold under an European brand (which means I have a usable warranty and they will get into real trouble if the battery goes in flames).

Besides: it says here that there had been 83 complaints in two years in the US about exploding cell phone batteries. How many cell phones are there in the US?

I think I have more chances to be hit by lightning or a meteorite.


(Actually: not quite, I know.)

I've seen some batteries on Amazon that say they're OEM for around 25-27 us dollars, however I saw this recently and gave it a thought, has anyone had experience with Lenmar and if so how was it?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Lenmar+-...=1218106627185

The only thing that worries me about ordering this is that in the product description is says 1320mah but if you look at the pic it only says 1000mah...interesting...

"On average, 90 people are killed every year in the U.S. by lightning. [NOAA Technical Memorandum NWS SR-193]"

Quite so.

That would worry me as well. This is the reason why I did not buy third party batteries (that and the original appeared to be only marginally more expensive): they only appear to be 1000 mAh and not 1300 or so.

Edit:
It seems that the 1000 mAh batteries are Li-Ion and the 1300 Li-polymer. The second technology is more efficient. Probably, this is also the reason why the counterfeit batteries do not work properly, depending on the exact technology, the voltages can be a tiny bit different for Li-Ion and Li-polymer.

I had the same issue, purchased a BL-5J from a local phone store for £6.00. Thought i had grabbed a bargain until i realised that the battery dies after half hour and the battery life is unstable.

Its best to stay away from imitation...if you really need a new battery buy an official N900 battery from Nokia

I just bought a genuine battery off ebay for £6.49. I have bought batteries for my 6600 and n80 from the same seller in the past and although the batteries are genuine they tend to be from returned faulty phones rather than brand new. I have found this to be a cost effective way of buying genuine nokia batteries and have reccomended it to friends too. On occassions where batteries have had an issue (ie not holding charge) the seller has given a prompt replacement or refund and the second battery has had no issue. So, you don't have to pay a vast sum to ensure a genuine battery, just be careful who you buy from!

I had the same issue with a battery at ebay for 10€ .It also only had 980 mAh instead of 1290 mAh. Sent it back immediately. So if you are from Germany, dont buy from top-shop-muenchen !
Then I found another shop that sells original batteries for 14€.

There is no way to be certain if the battery you buy from eBay really is from a returned, faulty phone. Does better English skills, a more personal writing style, a 99.3 instead of 98.3 rating guarantee that it's not a counterfeit battery? Or a higher price than the obvious fakes? Not at all.

Personally I prefer to buy products with a 3rd party brand rather than buying brand products suspiciously cheap. If they have a brand, some sort of brand pride exists on some level.

Also, importing fakes is illegal.

In the UK posting any fake/counterfit item is illegal.

I gave up using ebay for 'bargins' a while back. There are too many fake items around when looking for phone bits, clothes, and general electronics (e.g. headphones.)