laptop battery kaput - compatibles worth the risk

[lilelvis2000]

My HP battery is becoming flaky. Charges okay but at about 40% the laptop just shuts down suddenly. Done this a few times now so time to replace it.

An original replacement costs a fortune - I think I found site wanting £100 for it. Probably more than what the laptop is worth!
Cheapest compatible is £35 but I read these are very much hit and miss really as regards quality.

Any experiences or tips.

[jmo21]

try Ebay?

I got one for my Dell for £45 inc p+p

[Spacecadet]

there are supposed to be some techniques involving sticking the battery in the freezer which is supposed to help restore the battery to a nearly new condition.
Can't say that I have first hand experience though!

[yorkshireman]

How old is the laptop?

Have you tried getting HP to replace under warranty?

[Platypus]

I bought an HP compatible battery for a laptop. Actually IIRC it purported to be genuine, certainly it has all the HP markings, but was bought on eBay, shipped from China. After 8 months, it's kaput.

Of course, you may be luckier.

[lilelvis2000]

Laptop is over four years old. And hasn't really been used all that much. For about a year I kept the battery out of it because it was sitting on my desk plugged in. Recently I've started using it on the road and noticed that every third or fourth time it would suddenly shutdown.

Performance has dropped quite a bit over the years too. It hardly manages to keep the laptop going for more than 1 hour now. (when it makes it all the way through)

Anyway, I'll just have to take my chances.