Hawk-Woods BP-75UX 75Wh 14.4V Lithium-Ion Battery with 2 x D-Tap Ports

Good fit; service life TBD

It's been about ten years across a wide variety of brands to explore the best BP-U60 category battery. It has come down to an inevitable tradeoff among purchase price, runtime from full charge, and how many charge cycles are obtained before the battery is permanently worn-out. The factory Sony batteries have the highest price, the lowest capacity, and the longest service life. Background. Experience began with an EX-1 camera in run & gun newsgathering, which continues presently with its younger sister, the PXW-x200 using the same BP-U series. Lots of on time, presenting a predictable, constant load in conditions repeatable over a long period of time. Assessment. The Sony factory batteries would be best if I never could buy more batteries. I still have batteries I got with the EX-1 that can take a charge and provide enough duration for unexpected, temporary camera backup. Of greater utility in my environment are aftermarket batteries whose greater capacity means I don't have to carry as many to cover the duration of an assignment. The far lower purchase price can yield at least three such batteries for the price of one Sony. Tradeoffs include checkered quality control, and shorter total lifespan before an unacceptable (but inevitable) loss of capacity from full charge. The Hawk-Woods reflects a new set of variables to test. It costs nearly as much as the Sony, but has far greater capacity (run time). Build quality is really good, with the fit as good as the Sony in both the factory chargers and the camera itself. This review will be updated after a number of charge cycles, to see if the total service life and reliability are significantly better than other aftermarket brands of similar capacity costing far less.