Why are Astro Saber batteries so hard to come by?

[Zach489]

I always see Jedi batteries on eBay going for about $10 each. Heck, brand new ones with a date code of 050 were on there for $13 each. But not Saber batteries. For some reason I cannot find any OEM Astro Saber batteries on eBay unless their over $50 bucks each. Anyone know why their so hard to come by? I refuse to use aftermarket.

[Tom in D.C.]

For some unknown reason, Motorola's Saber batteries seem to fit best and last longest in actual use. There are a few, a very few, other manufacturers whose Saber batteries some of us trust, with all the rest usually not worth the money. Cell quality can be questionable and, worse, many of them don't fit the radios correctly. As with so many other things in life, you get what you pay for. I'm currently using a Lithium Ion Saber Battery from Cut Rate batteries that's 1900 mAh and about two inches tall which I'm convinced is the same exact unit that Motorola sells under their own brand for over $100. Cut Rate's price is about $72 plus shipping.

[Zach489]

I bought my only Aftermarket battery from Imax on eBay. His batteries are pretty good. Both of my OEM Saber batteries failed on me and had horrible life. But I believe they're both Panter batteries. Go figure... My aftermarket battery WORKS fine, but it has a different feel to it than an OEM one. The texture is different, weight, and it wobbles alittle more than an OEM battery. Which is why I will only stick with factory batteries. I might just bite the bullet and buy those OEM Impres batteries on eBay for $58/ea, but being that I'm too cheap for an Impres charger, it'll do me no good. I will never own an Impres AS charger. I wouldn't waste the money. I have two Astro Sabers that, if are lucky, get used for five minutes a month. But I still cringe at the thought of using aftermarket. I mean.... they're just so........cheesy.

[Tom in D.C.]

There is not much point in owning an Impres battery unless you have the setup to read the battery, which means adding an LCD readout to the charger and/or having a radio that will read out the battery's status on its screen. Note that the LiIon batteries I mentioned are not Impres, though I wish they were, but new, branded, trustworthy Impres batteries still cost a lot more than a standard Saber battery. The answer to the whole question is simply to carry a spare battery in your pack or pocket when you're away from home.

[chrismoll12]

I buy after-market batteries off ebay for a lot of radios, although I treat them as strangers and do not trust or use them as if I was going to rely on them. Although they still work great and do the same thing that my other batteries do

[RadioSouth]

Shoud have been watching the FS column right here in BatLabs Escom just had one at $40. shipped- not gonna beat that. And a word of caution on NOS batteries, that 00- coded battery could be 2010, 2000 or even 1990. On aftermarket the only one with consistent results is Multiplier, the gov't. buys them by the ton.

[Zach489]

I've had multiplier batteries. I've had them for the Jedi series radios. They didn't fit right and looked so cheesy. That's not to say that they're alittle different for the Saber series radios. I had a Low-Cap (from what I remember was a Multiplier battery) come in the other day with an MTS. The battery was cracked in half and the cells and guts were visible. Wish I would've taken a pic and posted it here. I don't know what happened to it but I'm sure it was a result of overcharging.

[motorola_otaku]

I like Multiplier's Saber batteries. Problem is, Tessco quit stocking the short 1100mAh batteries so your only option is the 1500mAh standard size battery which IIRC ran around $55 retail.

You really can't beat OEM for a Saber battery. Unfortunately, this also means they're not likely to hit the used market until they're dead or almost dead. Keep an eye on Jeff's (escomm's) for-sale posts; he has some really unbeatable OEM battery sales up from time to time.

[FireCpt809]

Ive used almost every brand of saber batteries. OEM is always been the best. I have had multiplier as a close second. W&W and Honeywell as the two most biggest P.O.S. Latley I have had good luck with Power products BP4593 Ni-cad on my astro saber that I picked up as an emergency purchase at local place. I also have had excellent results with an Interstate RAD4410 NiMh with fit and long life. I run my batteries every few months through my BMS system I have here. That seems to really help with the lifespan.