Buyer Beware: Counterfeit Canon Batteries

Insane Prices on Accessories

Let's face it. Canon overcharges for literally every accessory that they make. Batteries are at the top of my list for overpriced yet essential items when it comes to digital cameras in general.

I've gone through a lot of Canon EOS cameras over the years and for the most part they've used the class LP-E6 battery, which cost nearly $100 if you got the authentic Canon brand. However, they did take more shots, and held a lot more charges than the generic ones. That being said, it never stopped me from buying generic batteries like Wasabi brand because they are just so damn cheap.

That All Changed...

I started noticing with my last Canon camera that with every firmware update, more and more off brand batteries would not work. It got to the point where nearly none of my non-Canon branded batteries would be recognized by the camera. Although, oddly they all continued to work as long as I used the grip. So basically, all of my old cameras ended up with the grip permanently attached. Whatever, I get that they are trying to stop 3rd parties from eating into their main cash cow, batteries.

Last year, I bought my first mirrorless camera, the EOS R. I immediately loved it! The first thing I noticed though, is how it burned through the battery like no one's business when I shot video. I started charging up all of my old LP-E6 batteries, and figured out which ones that the EOS R would recognize and used them. But I noticed something peculiar. You see, I hadn't noticed this at the time, but the battery that came with the new mirrorless camera wasn't a standard LP-E6, but an LP-E6N!

It turns out that even though the batteries looked identical, the LP-E6N was able to charge inside of the camera with a USB cable attached. How handy! However, the regular old LP-E6 will not.

So after a few firmware upgrades, pretty much none of my batteries will work at all in the EOS R. The only one that I can use is the one that came with it, the LP-E6N. So finally, a month ago I broke down and did a search on Amazon for authentic LP-E6N batteries.

Seems Legit...

The first items that come up are a few generic batteries which are obvious. These are followed by some generic LP-E6 chargers, and finally some Canon branded LP-E6N batteries.

Oh, cool! They are $100 apiece of you buy them direct from Canon. So I went again and ordered them. They were marked Amazon Choice after all.

I got the batteries and didn't use them for a little while until I had a project. I eventually charged them up outside of the camera, and began using them. Once they died, I plugged in the camera via USB and walked away. When I came back later, they weren't charged. I thought to myself, huh, I must have left the camera in the on position. If you leave the camera on, they will not charge.

So a few more days passed. I made sure the camera was off, and charged them. Or tried to, at least. No joy.

WTF is going on?

Finally I decided to look at the specs of the battery inside of the camera. The camera showed them as being LP-E6N. Wow! These are the best fakes ever.

They look and feel completely authentic. But they are completely fake. The camera knows it, and will not charge them.

I immediately wrapped up the batteries and returned them. Meanwhile, I had a look at the reviews, which I should have looked at to begin with. Lots of good reviews! Presumably by people who did not try to charge them inside of their camera. However, sprinkled amongst those reviews are dozens of people stating that these are not geniune, and are actually LP-E6 relabeled as LP-E6N.

Not only that, but the packaging looks completely authentic. Down to the labels and hologram. These are incredibly well done fakes.

Upon further investigation, I also came across this listing. Here, you can see that the battery is shown individual rather than in a 2 pack. Interestingly they are charging exactly 50% what the other is charging for 2 fake batteries.

Of course, scroll down to the reviews, and lots of people are complaining about how they received just plain fake batteries, or that they were labeled as LP-E6N, but counterfeit.

Conclusion

After searching far and wide through Amazon, there is not a single LP-E6N battery available that is not a counterfeit. They are ALL fake. So just a word of warning, if you want to charge your batteries inside of your camera, you won't be able to with any battery purchased on Amazon. I have been in contact with them and am working on getting them all delisted.

I don't mind 3rd party batteries, and I am all for them. But I am not OK with companies making fake Canon batteries that do not even function properly, but they still charge 50 bucks apiece.

I hope this helps someone!