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Customer Reviews: Average Rating:  Rating :  - Good, Solid Sony Battery Charger for InfoLITHIUM Batteries
This is a well-designed Sony charger for Sony's "M Series InfoLITHIUM" batteries. If you own a Sony camcorder or digital camera with one of these batteries, you know that one of the advantages of the design is the ability for the device to read the charge level of the battery and provide a fairly accurate display on the device's LCD monitor of how much energy (in minutes) remains on the battery. As with all things Sony (but, to be fair, for most major digital camera/camcorder manufacturers), you will pay far more for each battery than you should, and secondary battery chargers are also overpriced. The benefit, however, is that you generally receive good, reliable performance. Both are true of this Sony device when used with Sony batteries.
This charger is not much larger than an NP-FP50 battery itself, and because the charger only weights 70 grams, it is almost transparent in the travel bag. Compare this with the Sony ACSQ950D AC/DC AC Adapter/Quick Charger for MiniDV Camcorders high speed charger, which easily weighs seven or eight times as much and has a form factor that is six times as large. But make your choice carefully: this charger (the BC-TRM) is NOT a high speed charger like the AC-SQ950, and may take as long as four hours to fully charge a NP-FP50 battery (the AC-SQ950 can do it in far less than half the time, and will do two in sequence).
What this charger offers is very small form factor in an extremely light package, and with universal voltage (you can plug this unit into most any European power outlet with a simple plug adapter without any type of transformer. A bonus is the folding plug design which tucks the protruding electrical plug back into the unit when not in use (all chargers should have this feature). If you require frequent, multi-charging on a daily basis, you might consider stepping up to the AC-SQ950, but it it much larger and heavier, which is the price you pay for its outstanding performance.
Both of these units should operate well if they are not abused, and any can be made to work on vacations where luggage space/weight is at an increasing premium. Everyone has their own preferences, but for me, when it comes to digital cameras, I prefer to use the manufacturer's own equipment (batteries and chargers). If you carefully shop around, you should be able to find a generally reasonable price. I downgrade this unit to a four-star only because of the length of time to fully charge a battery. The quality, size, weight and design are excellent. Happy shooting!
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