Stop buying stuff with internal/non-replaceable batteries!

[newfoundmass]

I just posted in the Black Friday post about how I picked up an old Rode Rodelink Filmmaking Kit for wireless audio because I refuse to purchase a system with internal batteries. 

 

Today Chris Judd just released this video about the topic.

 

There are a multitude of reasons to care about this, whether you just care about the financial side or you care about the environmental side (or like me, both!) The value just isn't there and the e-waste it creates is unacceptable. Stop buying this stuff and make it known why! 

[zlfan]

it is no big deal. does not affect the final results. 

[newfoundmass]

47 minutes ago, zlfan said:

it is no big deal. does not affect the final results. 

Yes it does. If the battery dies and your $300 Wireless mic no longer works, that affects the final result. We shouldn't be spending money on items that don't have replaceable batteries and will end up in a landfill. 

These companies could very easily make it possible to put in new batteries. They just refuse to, because they want you to keep purchasing the latest iteration. It's wasteful, in a multitude of ways. 

[IronFilm]

Quote

"Dear Audio Companies"

 To be fair, it's only the consumer grade companies that do this. 

Generally speaking not a single professional level audio company does this. 

(with very rare exceptions, such as the built in batteries of the Tentacles, but you can buy replacement batteries for them as Curtis Judd mentions, that you can then DIY the replacement) 

[newfoundmass]

2 hours ago, IronFilm said:

 To be fair, it's only the consumer grade companies that do this. 

Generally speaking not a single professional level audio company does this. 

(with very rare exceptions, such as the built in batteries of the Tentacles, but you can buy replacement batteries for them as Curtis Judd mentions, that you can then DIY the replacement) 

The use of internal, non-replaceable batteries continues to increase. For now it's not being done in professional grade equipment, but it very well could start and likely will. And these consumer and prosumer products are increasingly being used on smaller and medium size professional productions.

Look at cell phones and laptops. My $1,000 Samsung phone is less than two years old and it's battery life has decreased significantly. The battery will die and make this phone useless sooner than the usability and functionality of the phone will, maybe before I even pay it fully off at this rate! 

My MacBook Pro M1 Max is 3 years old. The battery too has started to hold less of a charge. It too will be rendered useless by the battery dying before anything else on it goes. 

Just more stuff that will end up in a landfill. 

[Ilkka Nissila]

Even if the battery is not user-replaceable, often it can be replaced in service. I have had my iPhone's battery replaced twice. A surprisingly inexpensive and quick operation. Non-replaceability of the batteries can help improve weather sealing as there is no hatch that could leak in water and dust. However, personally I would still prefer user-replaceable batteries in equipment that needs it. I also think powering all the (wired) kit from a single battery would make life in many ways easier so that there are fewer batteries (and fewer chargers) to deal with.

[ND64]

So not buying any BT headphones? 

[Davide DB]

2 hours ago, ND64 said:

So not buying any BT headphones? 

Why can't we see the middle ground? Nobody's saying we all have to go naked hermits now. It's just a matter of being aware that the problem exists. And it's not enough to be right on a forum for the problem to go away.

83 millions of BT earbuds in one quarter.

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/your-wireless-earbuds-are-trash-eventually/

 

 

 

[newfoundmass]

3 hours ago, ND64 said:

So not buying any BT headphones? 

We absolutely should cut down on headphones that don't have replaceable batteries, yes, and ask that companies either make batteries easily replaceable or offer a program where you can send in your headphones to get the battery replaced.

[JulioD]

19 hours ago, IronFilm said:

 To be fair, it's only the consumer grade companies that do this. 

 

No it’s not.  
 

The biggest name in pro sound timecode clocks. 

https://ambient.de/en/products/acn-nl-l-nanolockit-timecode-logging

[zlfan]

On 11/24/2024 at 10:14 PM, newfoundmass said:

Yes it does. If the battery dies and your $300 Wireless mic no longer works, that affects the final result. We shouldn't be spending money on items that don't have replaceable batteries and will end up in a landfill. 

These companies could very easily make it possible to put in new batteries. They just refuse to, because they want you to keep purchasing the latest iteration. It's wasteful, in a multitude of ways. 

I experience this battery issue on still cameras like Nikon d1x and video cameras like c300 og.

you just need to input the setting every time you use it. it is not convenient but no big deal. 

on c300 og, you can save all of the major settings on the sd card, and restore it when you use the camera. 

on d1x, I think you can do similarly. 

but I never do this. I just manually set up and shoot. once you are familiar with the camera, it is easy to do so. 

 

[Ilkka Nissila]

13 hours ago, newfoundmass said:

We absolutely should cut down on headphones that don't have replaceable batteries, yes, and ask that companies either make batteries easily replaceable or offer a program where you can send in your headphones to get the battery replaced.

Which company makes headphones and does not offer battery replacement? I would think this is a basic thing that can be done in service. Of course if the headphones are 10+ years old, it may be that they don't have the part and assume that those headphones are probably worn out anyway from being tumbled around.

 

I googled and found some videos explaining how to replace the battery in my WH-1000MX4 headphones, and the part seems to cost 25€.

[eatstoomuchjam]

1 hour ago, Ilkka Nissila said:

Which company makes headphones and does not offer battery replacement?

Apple, among others.  With Airpods, you can spend $49 per Airpod for "battery service," but from what I've been told, they just swap them out for entirely new Airpods and recycle the old ones.

[newfoundmass]

I don't understand why people accepted this to begin with.

2 hours ago, Ilkka Nissila said:

Which company makes headphones and does not offer battery replacement? I would think this is a basic thing that can be done in service. Of course if the headphones are 10+ years old, it may be that they don't have the part and assume that those headphones are probably worn out anyway from being tumbled around.

Most don't. My cousin bought me a pair of wireless Anker bluetooth headphones and while they still hold a charge fine, I was disappointed to find out they don't have a battery replacement program. They were $150.

[Davide DB]

2 hours ago, newfoundmass said:

I don't understand why people accepted this to begin with.

Most don't. My cousin bought me a pair of wireless Anker bluetooth headphones and while they still hold a charge fine, I was disappointed to find out they don't have a battery replacement program. They were $150.

83M x 4 = over 300 million of BT earbud in 2023. Most of them are low cost devices that people simply throw away.

[IronFilm]

On 11/26/2024 at 3:33 PM, JulioD said:

No it’s not.  
 

The biggest name in pro sound timecode clocks. 

https://ambient.de/en/products/acn-nl-l-nanolockit-timecode-logging

Literally in the same comment I said this just afterwards, giving an example of an exception to this is Tentacle:  

On 11/25/2024 at 7:53 PM, IronFilm said:

(with very rare exceptions, such as the built in batteries of the Tentacles, but you can buy replacement batteries for them as Curtis Judd mentions, that you can then DIY the replacement) 

Tentacle, who are an even bigger player these days now when it comes to TC boxes than Ambient!

[Ilkka Nissila]

13 hours ago, Davide DB said:

83M x 4 = over 300 million of BT earbud in 2023. Most of them are low cost devices that people simply throw away.

I hope that you mean people take to recycling centres which handle toxic electronics waste (this is at least in my country a free service).  You should not throw electronics into the regular garbage.

[JulioD]

11 hours ago, IronFilm said:

Literally in the same comment I said this just afterwards, giving an example of an exception to this is Tentacle:  

 

Literally you said only consumer grade stuff. 
 

That’s two examples now by your own admission.  You’re making my point.  
 

Ambient isn’t consumer.  They are the gold standard for time keeping.  
 

Tentacle might sell more clocks but they aren’t who Arri go to for putting clocks in their cameras.  

[IronFilm]

7 hours ago, JulioD said:

Literally you said only consumer grade stuff. 

As I said, in literally my next sentence is (emphasis added for clearity): 

On 11/25/2024 at 7:53 PM, IronFilm said:

Generally speaking not a single professional level audio company does this. 

(with very rare exceptions, such as the built in batteries of the Tentacles, but you can buy replacement batteries for them as Curtis Judd mentions, that you can then DIY the replacement) 

Very very clearly my statement you're referring to I wasn't claiming is a 100% ironclad rule of nature, I was very aware exceptions existed and I even highlighted a specific example myself. 

7 hours ago, JulioD said:

Ambient isn’t consumer.  They are the gold standard for time keeping.  

Never said they are consumer grade gear. But I'll put them on par with Tentacles, as they all hold time for the day just as well as another. Mozegear or BETSO or Ambient or Tentacle or whatever, will do the job just the same in the end. I wouldn't single out Ambient above all others as "the gold standard", I can't see where the argument for that is. Because they have the biggest market share? Nah, that's Tentacle. Because they're an older company and a historical argument is being made? Nah, Denecke takes that throne.

7 hours ago, JulioD said:

Tentacle might sell more clocks but they aren’t who Arri go to for putting clocks in their cameras.  

Ahhhh.... the argument is because a camera company chooses Ambient. By that logic then Sonosax is better than Sound Devices / Aaton / Nagra / Zaxcom combined.

[KnightsFan]

As much as I care about e-waste and longevity (which are VERY important to me), the deal breaker on non-replaceable batteries is that if it dies on set, you have to wait to charge it. There's no way I rely on internal battery systems, even if the company has replacement programs.

I'll go one step further, and say that it's also frustrating that there are competing standards for batteries. One device uses AA, another AAA, every camera is different. I want to just buy one type of rechargeable battery, one set of chargers, and power everything.