I've been seeing some batteries that are questionable on Amazon for $99.00 and some for like $119.00. Just curious as to what makes them so bad if you happen to get one that is not official DJI I've only got the stock battery and have been itching for a new one or two.

EDIT:

Main concern being that if you buy a DJI battery from some company other that DJI, how do you know it's authentic? Because based on some searching via Amazon, I find that most of the batteries being sold ala carte seem to have several reviews (maybe 2-3 percent of the reviews) of the battery being a fake, and only assuming this because of sticker placement or text height but not performance.

with firmware updates dji is blocking knock off batterys from working in the drones.     after market ones aren't made to same quality standards.   if you do find a good knock off and it works and your drone has a failure your kinda beat.    the knock off battery would be seen in logs and even if the battery didn't fail, lets say main board just crapped out, this would be covered under warranty but its not anymore because of the battery.      saving 30-40 bucks isn't worth the risk to you p3p   

It is just not worth the risk to save 20 bucks.

Not worth the risk to the pricey drone.
It's all-ways Better to be safe than sorry. ;-)

RedHotPoker

The thing that concerns me is, that some sellers are listing them as Genuine DJI batteries.
I'm surprised that DJI haven't gone after these sellers.

It is not recommended to use a battery of third-parties.

Hawks100 Posted at 2016-4-28 14:53
The thing that concerns me is, that some sellers are listing them as Genuine DJI batteries.
I'm surp ...

This is exactly my point. I'm wanting to buy a genuine DJI battery that is made by DJI, while saving a couple of bucks. BUT, on Amazon for instance, there are a couple of items that are being sold as a DJI product and a lot of reviewers are uploading pictures of what look like knockoffs. SO, and I believe my question may have been answered in one of the previous comments, how would I know if I'm receiving a legit product from let's say Amazon or Groupon if when I recieve it, it looks legit, comes in a DJI logo box and it works?

I know that people are saying that it's not worth it and to buy m from DJI or Best Buy. But I've heard great things about groupon and I've used Amazon, and to be honest, saving that extra money is worth it too me.

BTW, I would never knowingly buy a non DJI battery.

G_MEZ_G Posted at 2016-4-28 09:40
This is exactly my point. I'm wanting to buy a genuine DJI battery that is made by DJI, while savi ...

I would like to know that to. DJI, is there anyway we can confirm we have an official dji battery once we get it?

G_MEZ_G Posted at 2016-4-28 09:40
This is exactly my point. I'm wanting to buy a genuine DJI battery that is made by DJI, while savi ...

buy only ones shipped and sold by amazon,   they go on sale on amazon for around 120 is the cheapest i have seen

Post #42...
http://forum.dji.com/thread-45170-1-1.html

And Helidirect was selling true DJI P3 batteries for $99 a day or two ago thru Amazon. Might still have the offer going.

quickpoint Posted at 2016-4-28 10:00
buy only ones shipped and sold by amazon,   they go on sale on amazon for around 120 is the cheape ...

BuyDIg has authorized batteries as well. Helidirect is another.

The way I can tell my knock off from OEM is the lights; OEM has 4 'slots' for the lights. My knock-off has arrows for the lights. See my thread:

http://forum.dji.com/thread-45170-1-1.html

I saw one sold by amazon prime last night for $99.  I didn't look like a knock off?! Matter of fact it said DJI OEM batter for phantom 3 S/A/P.  Makes me wonder though.  I have seen some knock off crap get past amazon, so even if its amazon prime, you might need to still be careful.

RedHotPoker Posted at 2016-4-28 01:42
Not worth the risk to the pricey drone.
It's all-ways Better to be safe than sorry. ;-)

Hey, no different to BMW buying ballers who spend $100K on a luxury car, but want to use regular fuel instead of premium!

http://www.amazon.com/DJI-Phanto ... i+battery+phantom+3

RC Depot Hobbies is the company selling the one I'd like to buy. It is fulfilled by Amazon but  not sold by Amazon.

TJ10 Posted at 2016-4-28 14:43
I would like to know that to. DJI, is there anyway we can confirm we have an official dji battery  ...

I bought as I thought a genuine dji battery for my Phantom 3 advance. It worked  fine until recent firmware change. It now  detects that it is not a dji battery and wont let the motors start.
I reported this to Amazon and got a full refund immediately.

fran Posted at 2016-4-29 01:25
I bought as I thought a genuine dji battery for my Phantom 3 advance. It worked  fine until recent ...

Well, that's good to know that the latest update will detect fakes! Do mind saying who the company was that was selling these fakes?

I have read as long as the battery has Phantom on it ,it should be a DJI. There are many that don't appear to say that on them. Again, you could be looking a picture of what you think is a DJI, but might end up getting something else. Would it be safe to say that if you but from a reputable dealer like Amazon, or authorized DJI store it should be ok?

We'll see. I just ordered one! Wish me luck

quaddron3 Posted at 2016-4-28 08:02
Hey, no different to BMW buying ballers who spend $100K on a luxury car, but want to use regular f ...

I have a 100K BMW and use Premium fuel.... I also use DJI batteries in all of my aircraft.. So what's your point?

There a plenty of legit sales on P3, I1 batteries on Amazon right now!

Rich

G_MEZ_G Posted at 2016-4-28 13:51
We'll see. I just ordered one! Wish me luck

Post a photo if you are not sure what you got. We can help you determine if it is real

Lot's of legit sales right now on Amazon for both the P3 and I1....

Rich

I, for one, don't get the idea of "use DJI battery ONLY". Oh, and saying that you should only use premium gas because you have an expensive/luxury/import is just plain wrong. Let me explain...
Batteries:
First of all, it is my drone. I paid for it, I own it and it's  up to me what battery I want to use. I might want to strap a whole bunch of batteries on it to get some extreme flight time and it's really my business. I own this toy and I want to be able to play with it (without breaking the law). I used to own a P2V+ and I had three batteries for it. OEM that came with the drone 5200mAh, aftermarket 5400mAh and another aftermarket with an OLED screen that displayed a whole bunch of useful info. After numerous flights all I could say is that the OEM one was the worst one. It provided the least flight time and I just didn't like it from day one. The 5400mAh knockoff was much better with a lot longer flight time and came in at number two. The battery with the OLED screen provided the longest flight time and best performance along with some very useful features like capacity, cell voltage, discharge current, charge current, remaining time until full, flight time etc. I loved it and I was hoping I will get one just like it for the P3.
A friend of mine is still using all those batteries and he is very happy with the aftermarket ones. They are close to two years old now and are still performing a lot better that the OEM one.
If it's a matter of warranty then it's easy to determine what battery was used from the flight logs and if the problem was caused by the battery. DJI might even include a disclaimer that your warranty will expire the moment you use an aftermarket battery... and guess what, I would still use one!
I'm very much disappointed in the fact that DJI is locking us to OEM batteries which are not the best out there but come at a premium just because it is a genuine DJI product. I'd rather use higher quality knockoffs that are cheaper only because they don't have the DJI logo. Thank you very much.

Premium gas:
It's a myth that gets repeated over and over that "premium" gas is really premium. IT IS NOT. It's simply meant to be used in different engines but it is not better. It depends on type of engine, its design, engine tuning, compression and so on. Generally larger, lower compression engines use lower octane rating fuels while high performance and high compression engines use higher octane rating. So, just because someone has an expensive luxury car doesn't automatically mean he has to use premium. If that engine was designed to use 87 that is what should be used. Anything more is just a waste of money that puts an even bigger smile on the faces of the oil companies.
Don't get fooled by the advertising companies trying to convince people into thinking that regular (87 octane) is somewhat inferior to premium (93). It is not, it's just different and meant for different engines. As a side note with worth mentioning that the lower the octane rating the higher the energy content. This means that the same volume of regular 87 has more energy in it than the same exact volume of premium 93.

So, yes, I do prefer aftermarket batteries that are of higher quality than OEM and I do use lowest grade gas that my engine was designed for. It's in the manual, read it and you might be surprised that you've been wasting money all those years. ;)

Every battery I got from amazon so far is a true DJI.. But yes, it would be nice to be able to confirm the serials with DJI and make sure it truly is right. After all if it's not direct from DJI, how do I know? Come to think of it, is my DJI a real DJI? I did buy it on amazon... and to be honest... no, no.. I know you all exist, even though this is a DJI forum!

GT

James'ik Posted at 2016-4-29 09:11
I, for one, don't get the idea of "use DJI battery ONLY". Oh, and saying that you should only use pr ...

If youre drone is still under warranty and you need to make a warranty claim, then DJI will dump you as soon as the flight log reveals use of a non-DJI battery. And they can do that, no law preventing them from doing so.

gtokarsk Posted at 2016-4-28 18:12
Every battery I got from amazon so far is a true DJI.. But yes, it would be nice to be able to confi ...

Good to know! I'll definitely post pictures if I can ever figure out how to upload pictures! I always get an error

G_MEZ_G Posted at 2016-4-28 22:48
Good to know! I'll definitely post pictures if I can ever figure out how to upload pictures! I alw ...

Problems with images? They are probably too large, there's a size limit, ind if you PS says .98MB they will still reject it, it need to be like .97MB file size or less, to upload to a post ;) Hope this helps.
As for batteries, it still hurts at current $99 shipped from amazon, but then again, it's an expensive aircraft, I am not going to even consider putting it at risk with a battery.. and yet paying $50 less than from DJI or $25 less than some other Ebay and even Amazon sellers is nice...

RichJ53 Posted at 2016-4-28 18:27
I have a 100K BMW and use Premium fuel.... I also use DJI batteries in all of my aircraft.. So wha ...

You didn't get the point?

Point is there are people out there who are cheap but lose sight of their perspective in the grand scheme. Someone who spends 100K on a luxury car (that will also depreciate really fast) and yet cheapens out on premium fuel to save a few hundred dollars per year on the fuel side of things, but risk thousands of dollars of repair damages to their vehicle down the road is losing sight of what matters.

Not only are they losing sight of the fact their brand new luxury car will depreciate a lot (thus losing them money fast anyway that they signed up for on day 1), but their repair costs and loss of performance/fuel economy might hurt them also by not using premium fuel. Seeing forest for the trees. They splurge big on a depreciating asset but then want to pretend to be frugal by using regular gas instead of premium.

It wasn't a statement about BMW buyers, but somehow I don't think you got that point.

So it ties in with phantoms. Someone spent $1K on a drone. Then buys cheap batteries and risks losing the $1K drone to save $60 per battery.

What about the topic of "Grey Imports"?

You know the situation - a reseller in (e.g.) the UK has connections or family in China, and buys a batch of Chinese-market genuine DJI batteries that have no English text on them.  They get their connections/family to "legally" ship them into the UK (paying relevant taxes and duties at UK Customs).  BUT because they bought them in China, their wholesale price is significantly less than buying the export units wholesale from DJI.

The batteries are genuine DJI, but made for the Chinese marketplace not the export marketplace, and are priced at point of sale accordingly.

If you buy one (or more) of those batteries, will DJI-EU's warranty disclaimer stand up?  After all, the drone was flying with a genuine DJI battery ... just not one for the marketplace where the purchase/flying took place.

... and no, I have not done it (but might) and it was not the cause of my P3A falling out of the sky when under 2 months old.

Geezer

To determine if the battery is genuine or not, you could put the battery in the Phantom and fly up a couple feet and then land. Afterwards, upload the flight log to HealthyDrones. Under the Battery Tab you should be able to see info about the battery manufacturer.

quaddron3 Posted at 2016-4-29 20:15
You didn't get the point?

Point is there are people out there who are cheap but lose sight of thei ...

I'm not sure why wanting to spend less money for the exact same thing being sold by 2 different parties is being cheap and in your eyes loosing perspective? In your BMW Scenario, lets say you have 2 gas stations across the street from each other. One is selling their supreme gas for 15 cents more than the other. Are you being cheap if you buy your supreme gas from the gas station that has priced it less? You still end up with supreme gas.

Anyways, I am not and will not buy a cheap knockoff battery, BUT I will buy an authentic DJI battery that is priced less than the competition, and I don't think that is in any way losing perspective.

connorschulte Posted at 2016-4-29 22:35
To determine if the battery is genuine or not, you could put the battery in the Phantom and fly up a ...

Good information. I will definitely do this.

quaddron3 Posted at 2016-4-29 05:15
You didn't get the point?

Point is there are people out there who are cheap but lose sight of thei ...

Your tight I did not get your point. Thank you for helping me understand... I agree with you completely!

Rich

connorschulte Posted at 2016-4-29 10:35
To determine if the battery is genuine or not, you could put the battery in the Phantom and fly up a ...

The DJI app will prevent flying if it is unauthorized battery. Period.

FAS1 Posted at 2016-4-30 01:30
The DJI app will prevent flying if it is unauthorized battery. Period.

I haven't seen anything official but sure hope this is the case!

G_MEZ_G Posted at 2016-4-29 15:30
I haven't seen anything official but sure hope this is the case!

Did you not watch the video I posted?

FAS1 Posted at 2016-4-29 15:37
Did you not watch the video I posted?

Just watched it. Thanks for posting!

Funny, a guy in thei UK is selling 5x none DJI batteries on eBay. He says in his description,that since the last update,he can't  start up the motors.
Goes to show, you get what you pay for.
Fake batteries don't say 'Phantom' on the side of the battery, they say 'PHA-3'

FAS1 Posted at 2016-4-29 12:30
The DJI app will prevent flying if it is unauthorized battery. Period.

That is incorrect, a company could make an Unoffical Battery and it would work until DJI patches that specific battery with a FW update. I've also seen software for Unoffical P3 batteries that allow you to hook the battery up to your computer and 'un-patch' itself.