Ravpower Camera Battery Review + USB Chargers

Most people are aware of the price discrepancy between OEM camera batteries and third-party batteries that are readily available from online stores such as Amazon.

For example, the OEM Canon LP-E6N batter for the Canon 5D Mark IV costs about $60 for just the battery, but you can buy a pair of third party batteries and a dual charger for about half that price from third parties.

This month I have been testing out third-party batteries sent to me from a company called RAVpower. I was already familiar with the many USB battery packs that they make, but until recently I actually wasn’t aware that they also make camera batteries for many different camera models.

In most cases the dual battery charger is similarly sized to the single battery charger that comes with most cameras.
The chargers have a micro-USB connection. Hopefully soon they will change this to USB-C as it becomes more and more prevalent.

For my review, I tested their versions of the Canon LP-E6N battery and the Sony NP-FZ100, though they also make various batteries for Nikon and GoPro.

What I liked about these batteries is that the dual slot charger that comes with them is powered by USB and includes skinny, lightweight cables too. This makes it really easy to use the charger in your car, or in your camera bag when connected to a simple USB battery pack. Using something like this 26800mAh RAVpower battery pack, you would be able to recharge a camera battery roughly ten times. That would be a whole week of shooting for most people!

You could also connect the charger to a small solar panel, providing you with a lightweight charging solution on long off-the-grid treks. In the past I have used Goal Zero solar panels for this purpose, and wrote about usb charging camera batteries with solar power in a previous article. You could definitely switch these RAVpower charges into place instead of the USB charger mentioned in that previous article.

Using USB creates a very compact charging solution that can easily charge many batteries simultaneously in your camera bag or car.

The USB dual charger is also impressively thin and lightweight, and you can use it to charge OEM camera batteries if you already have a few of those. In fact you can buy the charger on its own if you simply like the sound of that, but would prefer to use your existing batteries.

The other thing that is worth pointing out is the RAVpower batteries are actually a higher capacity than the OEM versions. For example the OEM Canon LP-E6 is 1800mAh, but the RAVpower version is 2000mAh which means you’ll get more shots per charge.

LEDs to tell you when the battery is fully charged.

Overall I was impressed with what I saw from these products. You get an awful lot for your money, and I really likes the USB charger. In the past I have purchased Wasabi Power third-party batteries for many of my cameras, but I much prefer the smaller, USB charger charger that comes with the RAVpower batteries and I think this will be my go-to solution in the future when I need spare batteries.

Photo of author
Professional photographer based in Yukon, Canada, and founder of Shutter Muse. His editorial work has been featured in publications all over the world, and his commercial clients include brands such as Nike, Apple, Adobe and Red Bull.

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11 thoughts on “Ravpower Camera Battery Review + USB Chargers”

  1. Thanks for the review. Curious what’s the A/C charge time for 2 LPE6N batteries vs 1 on the OEM charger?

    Reply
    • It’s a good question. I’m not entirely sure how to check this without watching the charger to see when the lights go green. I don’t have time for that…

      Both the OEM and the Ravpower output 8.4v. I’m guessing therefore that the OEM charges one battery twice as fast as the Ravpower charges two batteries. But I’m not too sure on how that works…

      Reply
      • hi Dan! Thanks for the review, i’m going to get a ravwpower charger for nikon.

        about the charging time, why don’t you just put a gopro or smartphone in timelapse mode with a clock near the charger and check the time when the led goes green? you wouldn’t need to stay there and check directly

        Reply
  2. Really wish they’d do a charger for Panasonic Lumix batteries as well, but I’m glad they have it for some products!

    Reply
  3. Hi Dan.
    Personally I would strongly advise against charging in a bag, a Li-ion battery can get quite warm while charging, remove the airflow and they could get seriously hot, not a good thing, excess heat can at the very least shorten the life of a battery and at the worst start a runaway reaction, you know, the one that causes phones to burst in to flames!

    Cheers, Graham.

    Reply
    • Hi Graham, can you point me to info about excess heated degrading battery life? I’m curious… FWIW, I do not believe the power of a USB charger is enough to warm a camera battery past a normal temperature. They do not charge at the same rate as an AC charger.

      Reply
  4. Hey guys! I am excited because I purchased 2 double sets of batteries with 2 chargers less than the price of one canon battery. 4 batteries 2 double chargers = 69 bucks 1 canon lpe6nh battery =79.99 bucks. I also purchased 2 canon batteries and battery grip from canon total was $550. So I can shoot all day and night! 7 batteries whoopee!

    Reply

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