Battery: buy, send to be rebuilt, other?

[cure]

My battery, which had been reduced to the still useful function of a highly portable Uninterupted Power Supply, stopped charging altogether the other day. (The orange light would flash continuously with the battery in place so I pulled it out according to instructions elsewhere in this forum.)

I would actually be happy enough spending very few dolloars replacing the battery with another to served the same UPS function. But I see no obvious source for doing so. (A dead battery on Ebay may well be perfectly dead.)

Alternatively, I can spend $40 or $50 before shipping and either send the battery out to be professionally rebuilt or buy one of the three new battery types that seem to be floating around (a search of 'thinkpad 600 battery' on pricegrabber.com wil turn them up).

I am, however, entirely uncertain of which is the best option. A new battery from IBM risks being rather old. In theory IBM should be in possession of proprietary information that would enable them to build a better battery. IBM competitors are using newer cells, with higher amps, and probably better chemistry. And the rebuilders are hopefully doing the same but packaging it back into the IBM designed circuitry and shell.

Any suggestions as to the best option, experiences with one or more of the alternatives, theories upon the matter generally, etc. would be greatly appreciated.

Thanx.

[whizkid]

Lenovo is still selling brand new batteries for the 600 series for a "clearance" price of $59.

I bought four of them in July, and they were stamped as being made on July 7, 2005. So they really are brand new, and at an excellent price.

They work great. In a 600X with SpeedStep (which I have), it can be difficult to get to full speed unless you use an IBM-branded battery.

But I have also purchased generic batteries (always brand new) from other vendors, and have always been happy with their performance.

I've never had one refurbished, so can't speak to that.

[GomJabbar]

At least on some 'refurbished' batteries, the refurbisher collects dead batteries, opens them up and checks the cells. The bad cells he throws away, and the 'good' cells he uses in the refurbished battery.

[Jald]

I bought on 4 months ago, sending the old after receiving the new one. Battery capacity is now 4400mah instead 3200 ma and it is working fine and lasts 2h30 ..
Good luck

[Biggs]

I bought on 4 months ago, sending the old after receiving the new one. Battery capacity is now 4400mah instead 3200 ma and it is working fine and lasts 2h30 ..
Good luck

Where did you get them?

[Lomax]

Haven't bought any yet but CMP Batteries (China) sell new batteries (own manufacture) for many different laptop models at very good prices on eBay. I have been in contact with them via email and both they and their products seem perfectly genuine. Oh, and the 600/E/X batteries are actually 4200mAh, as opposed to 3200mAh for the original ones...

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZcmpbatteryQQhtZ-1

HTH,

Lomax

[Jald]

I bought my battery at http://www.batteryrefill.com/
I received a refilled battery and send them back my used one. New capacity is 4400MAH instead of 3200.