Nikon MB-CP11 Battery Pack for Coolpix 8800 Digital Camera

This is a great item, but the buttons don't work on the device. The battery pack does though

An excellent substitute for the custom batteries normally used for the camera. The use of nickle-hydride and normal AAs work very well

I wouldn't have paid full price for this but at a little more than the cost of a spare battery it was a good buy. I have two regular 8800 batteries but when traveling and away from a charger I wanted something I could fall back on and AA batteries are available anywhere. Another reason is I don't know how long Nikon will continue to carry the battery designed for the camera. I already have a JVC camcorder that it is impossible to buy a battery for, leaving me tied to the power cord it came with, as well as a few other appliances with propriatary "rechargeable" batteries that have expired and can't be replaced.

I attached the battery pack to my camera to test it out and using a mix of NiMh batteries was surprised at how long it lasted. As somebody already mentioned, with the battery pack on the camera is does not fit in the Coolpix carrying case, it does fit well in my Lowepro case I used to carry around my 35mm SLR cameras in. The batteries also add quite a bit of weight so you need to consider that if you are doing a lot of hiking.

For less than $20... I thought this must be a piece of junk. But upon receiving and hooking it up to an old CoolPix 8800... I was quite happy and suprisingly impressed. Not only did it make my CP8800 look like a much coolerPix... this darn thing works! It made it much easier to hold the small camera. The vertical shutter feature is good for vertical shooting.

Besides, now all my Nikons have motor drive or battery pack setup. Cool indeed. He, he, he!

With this battery pack, I can make more pictures then before without changing batteries. I also have a better grip while taking pictures.