What good X61 battery options are there?

[mfbernstein]

My X61 is now about 16 months old. I bought it new with the 4-cell battery. According to the Lenovo battery utility, it now has only 46% of original capacity (just over an hour in real-world use). I also purchased an aftermarket 8-cell battery through eBay. While it worked fine initially, it never fit the UltraBase properly. Unfortunately, it now lasts only around an hour too - and doesn't even properly report the amount of charge (computer shuts off with no warning when showing around 70% charge remaining).

So what good battery options are there? I'm not really interested in paying full Lenovo prices for 'genuine' batteries if the performance is going to degrade so rapidly, but the fit and finish of 3rd party products isn't very helpful either. Ideally, I'd like to get something with a warranty, so I'm guaranteed to have more than just a paperweight in 9 month's time.

Thoughts? Thanks.

[richk]

I've had bad luck with aftermarket batteries on any of the 60/61 machines. (T60/R60/X60, etc) Now, I only deal with real IBM/Lenovo.

[mfbernstein]

I've had bad luck with aftermarket batteries on any of the 60/61 machines. (T60/R60/X60, etc) Now, I only deal with real IBM/Lenovo.

That's what I'd do too, except that my Lenovo battery hasn't been that long-lasting either. If the warranty covered this sort of situation (for at least a year?), I'd be more willing to try again though. I'm not sure though where that would fall...

Thanks.

[mazzinia]

Aehm, isn't the battery warranty from ibm/lenovo good for 1 year ?

[mfbernstein]

Aehm, isn't the battery warranty from ibm/lenovo good for 1 year ?

It does have a 1 year warranty, yes. The problem is, I have no idea what that means in practice. Is loss of 40-50% of capacity over 1-year considered 'normal wear-and-tear' or will they repair/replace the unit in such cases? Cheers.

[dr_st]

Is loss of 40-50% of capacity over 1-year considered 'normal wear-and-tear' or will they repair/replace the unit in such cases? Cheers.

I believe that after such a loss of capacity they will replace the battery for you, because the battery health will be in the yellow/red by then. However, if you have an unusually high number of cycles on the battery (like 400), they might not replace the battery, because it really is normal wear and tear.

This genuine Lenovo battery that lost over 50% of its capacity over 16 months - what brand is it (should say in the power manager)? How many cycles does it have?

[treker]

I have had good service from my ebay X61 battery. Fits as tight as the original one. Lasts just as long. I see no difference at all.

I can buy about FOUR Lenovo batteries for the price I paid on ebay... $35 delivered from HK. But some folks always prefer the brand name. And choice is good!

[mfbernstein]

Is loss of 40-50% of capacity over 1-year considered 'normal wear-and-tear' or will they repair/replace the unit in such cases? Cheers.

I believe that after such a loss of capacity they will replace the battery for you, because the battery health will be in the yellow/red by then. However, if you have an unusually high number of cycles on the battery (like 400), they might not replace the battery, because it really is normal wear and tear.

This genuine Lenovo battery that lost over 50% of its capacity over 16 months - what brand is it (should say in the power manager)? How many cycles does it have?

My 4-cell is a Sanyo. 226 discharge cycles. Manufacture date is May 2007, first use is July which actually closer to 17 months now.

Cheers.

[mfbernstein]

I have had good service from my ebay X61 battery. Fits as tight as the original one. Lasts just as long. I see no difference at all.

I can buy about FOUR Lenovo batteries for the price I paid on ebay... $35 delivered from HK. But some folks always prefer the brand name. And choice is good!

I'm glad they're working well for you. However in my case having a battery which simple shuts off with no warning once it drops below 70% is not really acceptable, so unless there's a practical method of sorting good 3rd party manufacturers from bad (mine worked fine for the first 6-8 months), I'm not anxious to try again.

Cheers.

[dr_st]

My 4-cell is a Sanyo. 226 discharge cycles. Manufacture date is May 2007, first use is July which actually closer to 17 months now.

Not suprising. Sanyos tend to start losing capacity like crazy starting at 1.5-2 years, usually regardless of the actual number of cycles.

I hate Sanyo batteries. All the Panasonics I had hold much better over time. What's annoying is that the Panasonics seem to become less and less available these days.

[richk]

I bought 2 X60/61 batteries from a seller with good feedback in Hong Kong One was totally DOA. On both batteries, the mounting holes for attaching the battery spacer were 2 mm too wide and the spacer could not be attached. If you mounted the battery without the spacer, it would fall out when you pick up the machine, They agreed to let me get a refund for one, and the other was exchanged for a T60 battery, which I could also use. That battery needed a lot of work with a Dremel to get it fitted.

[mfbernstein]

My 4-cell is a Sanyo. 226 discharge cycles. Manufacture date is May 2007, first use is July which actually closer to 17 months now.

Not suprising. Sanyos tend to start losing capacity like crazy starting at 1.5-2 years, usually regardless of the actual number of cycles.

I hate Sanyo batteries. All the Panasonics I had hold much better over time. What's annoying is that the Panasonics seem to become less and less available these days.

Harrumph. Given that Panasonic now owns a controlling stake in Sanyo, I wonder if we can expect better battery performance in the future?

[dr_st]

Harrumph. Given that Panasonic now owns a controlling stake in Sanyo, I wonder if we can expect better battery performance in the future?

I'll be able to tell you in one year, given that I just purchased Sanyo batteries for my and my girlfriend's laptops (due to the lack of anything else on the local market).