[_MB_]

Has anyone taken a plunge with grips like this?

Battery Vertical Grip for Canon 20D 30D 40D BG-E2 NEW on eBay, also, Other Digital Camera Accs, Digital Camera Accessories, Photography (end time 12-Dec-07 13:00:00 GMT)

Canon's own grips are always that little bit too expensive for me to shell out for when I have the means and I've often considered these things. You get the odd bit of feedback on ebay but I tend not to put too much weight on this as its often very soon after receipt so no issues like an exploding battery have happened yet.

Am I paranoid? Should I just bite the bullet and spend 100 quid on a piece of plastic with gaps for batteries?

[ChrisRabior]

I was tempted to get the Opteka, and read a lot of people were really happy with it. It's the few that had the nightmare stories that kept me away from it. All in all, I'm thrilled to death with my BG-E3 for my XT. I wasn't happy about what it cost me to get it, but in the end it was certainly worth every cent. Btw, shop around, you can probably find one for a lot cheaper than what the big name stores are asking. Mine was quite a bit less than stores around here wanted. Hooray for the internet I guess.

[silkstone]

It looks tempting at £41 and HKSupplies have been around for a long time.

Some of the early Canon BG-E2 grips had a problem with (lack of) rigidity - the contacts within the battery compartment could be intermittent due to weight and flexure. That would be my main concern about this one. I'd also wonder about the overall quality and feel of the thing - after all, you've paid for a camera with good build quality, so would you be happy to strap on something less?

[morlandroger]

My wife bought me a BG-E2 last year. Permanent fixture since i figure I am always going to carry a spare with me anyway. She shopped around online and found it considerably cheaper that way. Still a lot more than the fakes though.

[Rob Barron]

Onestop do the BG-E2 for £88.99 including postage and many of us on here can testify as to their good name and service, despite being in HK. I have bought lots of things from them and have found their service excemplary.

Frankly i wouldn't consider saving £40 on this product by going for a cheaper version worthwhile BUT I entirely recognise that if it's a tight budget and a choice of a cheap one or nothing then i would go right ahead and get one. I do think the very noticeably stronger build is worth paying for in this case. I would definitely buy the cheaper batteries though, Canon's price is frankly ludicrous. They want more for a battery for my camera than I paid for a brand new, Honda battery for my Accord! You can get two for a tenner of cheapo ones and I have got four that see regular service and last just as long or longer per charge than the Canon ones.

In terms of whether the item is worth having, I hate using my camera without it now as it makes portrait orientated pictures so much easier.

Cheers,
Rob

[M1ke A]

I got a Canon BG for my 20D and thought the build quality was (and still is) rubbish.

There's probably not a lot of difference in the quality of these other items so I guess it does come down to how tight your budget is.

On the battery front, I wholeheartedly agree with non oem batts. I got two noname units for the 1D and they've been faultless, and considerably cheaper. Also got four 511 batts for about the same price as one Canon and again have had no probs with them.