What's this puny little thing..
For a couple of years now, I have come to dread lugging along that big chunk of expensive plastic that Canon calls a charger for their NP-E3 batteries. It never ceases to amaze me why something so bulky and "ancient" by comparison is packaged with my EOS 1Ds. So when I had the chance to do a long term review of this niffty little 3rd party charger, I didn't hesitate. I distinctly remembered thinking to myself : "FINALLY someone makes a charger which should have been part of Canon's arsenal of acessories from the beginning!"

Initial Impressions of the CD-BCNPE3
The charger sits inside a simple looking box with an A4 sized, single-sided instruction leaflet printed in a 2 page landscape layout. While the instruction leaflet was rather unattractive looking, but this was really all that was needed - everything I needed to know about the charger was clearly described with lots of diagrams. The charger itself felt well constructed and light weight. As can be seen from the photo above, there are just 2 indicator LEDs along with an attached cable.

Using the CD-BCNPE3
Charging my NP-E3 batteries was as simple as the original Canon charger, just plug in, turn on and let it do its thing. Of course, the combination of flashing, on, off, etc of the Red and Green LEDs meant different things and these are clearly spelt out in a table inside the instruction leaflet. For those wondering, there are a total of 7 possible combinations :

• Self Diagnosis
• Self Diagnosis failed
• Battery Charging mode
• Charging cycle completed and Trickle Charging mode active
• Battery voltage too low or too high
• Battery cell temperature too high
• Stand-By mode

Based on my own experience, each of my NP-E3 battery is fully charged within 1 - 1.5hrs, which is pretty similar to the original Canon charger.

My Concluding Thoughts
I have been using the CD-BCNPE3 for the past 5 months since end August 2006 and am really glad for this device which simply makes my bag so much easier to pack! It works as advertised and while it isn't able to refresh the batteries, I would highly recommend it to anyone who needs to travel light or with less bulk. Now you can afford to (and I really do mean it literally in monetary terms as well) leave home with the charger in tow and not worry about not having enough juice for extended shoots.

I have been told that there is a new version of this coming out and I am really looking forward to see what other features are going to be packed in.

Those of you who wish to try out the charger for yourselves may also want to pop over to their website where you can purchase it online (be warned! they have lots of other interesting gadgets for sale too and I will not be responsible if you end up spending alot more than just this charger!!).