Vendors / manufacturers always ask for reviews immediately after one receives their product - too early for the purchaser / end user to have made a thorough and accurate evaluation of their product. I would expect any & all products to be in perfect condition and function perfectly when first received.............but what about a month from receipt........or a year from receipt............or yes, even a few years after receipt? How is the product performing after a period time, use and testing - THIS my friends is the million dollar question!

As the headline indicates, I am basing this review of Sterling Tek's replacement battery (for the Canon LP-E6) more on their battery that I purchased back in April, 2011 - well AFTER time, use and testing. Well, it's very good. Much less expensive than the Canon product and do believe that the STK battery actually does contain more mAH (rated @ 2600 as opposed to the Canon 1800 mAH) making for stronger power.

My experience "has been" (past tense) with the STK replacement - it charges quickly using the Canon wall mount charger, it holds a charge much longer than the Canon battery and after many, many, many re-charges, my Canon 7D camera battery indicator is showing a 99% efficiency after a full re-charge. And, oh yes, for those nay sayers who might say that the camera will not recognize this STK battery or that the camera will not give you a true and accurate reading on this battery - WRONG, WRONG WRONG. The camera (or at least MY camera) has no problem what-so-ever recognizing the STK battery and I firmly believe the camera is showing totally true and accurate status on the battery's performance. So, based on the STK LP-E6 replacement battery that I bought back on April of 2011 and continue to use, I would say the STK is an EXCELLENT product.

As to the ( 2 ) STK Canon LP-E6 replacement that I just recently bought in June, 2014, I see what appears to be an even better product. The battery's come packaged in their own individual boxes, inside a small plastic pouch, and yes, they do include that little plastic base plate (that I noticed many people overly concerned about).............and most importantly both batteries charged quickly and both batteries showed a 100% charge and the Canon 7D battery menu shows a performance rating of 3 green bars (the maximum number of bars). Bottom line: ( If ) these recently purchased batteries hold u as well as the one I bought almost three year ago, I would rate these are SUPERIOR.

PS: Do us a favor folks - Do not give product reviews on something that you just received and have not had time to test it after months and months of use.................SOMETHING SHOULD BE EXPECTED TO WORK OR PERFORM perfectly when it FIRST received.................but how is it after a year or two or three? This is the question!

IT FIT

The STK LP-E6 generic battery can best be described as "good for the price". I waited a couple of months before writing my review to ensure they would be good after the first few days and that they are. Compared to the Canon batteries though, they are certainly of lower quality and reliability. Some key differences:
Canon - battery charger accurately indicates charge status (1/2/3 blinks); battery charge level indicated is always stable and consistent; no sudden drops in charge level.
STK - When charging in Canon charger it works, but charger starts at 3 blinks no matter the charge level; charge level indicated on camera is inconsistent (may say 100% when you turn camera on, drop to 90% after several pictures, and then go back up to 100% after it sits a while); although I have tested these batteries out to hundreds of shots on my 70D, I wouldn't trust the battery if it was my only one and I was doing anything important unless it started out fully chaged because at lower levels it tends to drop off quickly.

But only time will tell how these hold up, as several reviews state that they just die after a while. My original 4 year old Canon battery in my Rebel T3 still gets hundreds of shots on a charge and I've never even opened my backup battery. The original LP-E6 in my 70D is now over a year old and also still performs like new, although the indicator on the camera shows that the recharge performance has dropped down one level. So even at a fraction of the cost, if these batteries don't last more than a year it may be cheaper in the long run to pay extra for the OEM version.

In summary - if you can afford the $60+ Canon OEM battery then it would be my first recommendation because you can always trust it to work, and work for years. If you are on a budget, then you should just buy 2 (or more) of these for half the price of the Canon battery and carry backups. The one bonus you get with the STK brand batteries is excellent customer service, which helps offset the lower reliability and consistency of the batteries themselves. Probably because they know the quality is hit and miss with these batteries, if you have any issues they just replace them (and quickly!) with a new set and hope you remain a loyal customer.

I waited to really test this battery before I posted a review and not just say it arrived on time and it worked coz I took ten shots of flowers growing in the backyard. That is so far from what I need this battery for. I do event photography and street fairs and festivals in the San Francisco / Bay Area and use a Canon 7D and the newer Canon 7D mark II. I use battery grips on both units and I use high capacity cards on both as well. (I have a bunch of 128 gb CF cards and a couple of 128 gb SD cards). When I go to street fairs and festivals, I am there for the whole day and take thousands of shots. I finish at least three cards and almost always use up a set of batteries before the day is done. Honestly I didn't have high hopes for this battery, and if it did survive the long events I go to, I only expect it to last three to four months before it degrades a notch or two on their life meter reading. I bought three batteries last November 2015, and it did arrive on time. Kudos to the seller. The cheap price was a double edge sword so to speak as it is both an attraction and a warning. The phrase "you get what you paid for" reverberated in my head but I took a chance. I reasoned with myself, thinking that it is cheap enough that if it lasted me two events then it paid for itself. It's late March 2016 now as I'm writing this, the three batteries that I bought went through at least ten events. It took forever for it to run out of juice in my old Canon 7D. In one instance I used two 128 cards and still have some bars left to take more pictures. That impressed me! However I was a little bit dismayed when I used it on the 7D mark II with the GPS on. It had a shorter life. But to be fair, I also used two original Canon batteries on the 7D mark II with the GPS on and they too didn't last long as well. I went online to discover that using the GPS is the worst thing, it drains the battery so fast. So it only means that it was just a "normal" drain when I use GPS on the mark II. Four months has passed and those three batteries are still going strong nothing wrong with them as far as I know. I will update this four months from now if anything happens. So in the end, my unscientific study of these batteries that were used (and still going to use) and tested in the real world, has my highest recommendations to buy. There might be one or two units shipped out there that are bad but those things happen. Thank goodness that all three of the batteries I have are great, I indeed feel that the STK batteries paid for itself already. If it lasted a year I'm very happy with it. IF it lasts for two then I'll be shocked in a good way. Come on it's 13 bucks each, that's $39 for three and not $40 (the lowest price I've seen) for one original Canon battery would cost!

The R7 wont do 15FPS on mechanical shutter with this battery. It works fine with the OEM battery. The canon manual does say this so its not a shock. Battery life seems decent so far.