K&F Concepts V-Mount Battery Review
Josh Diaz reviews the K&F Concepts V-Mount Battery
Buy the K&F Battery Here!
Best Budget V-Mount Battery?
It's been a little over a year since Smallrig released its super-popular VB line of V-mount batteries, which rose to critical acclaim in the video creator space for providing a relatively cheap V-mount battery option that was more consumer-friendly than V-mount batteries of the past while also coming with several modern connections.
But what if I told you I found a battery that does everything this small rig battery does at almost half the price?
Introducing the K&F Concepts V Mount Battery.
It's a new product from K&F priced to be the best value sub-99wh V-mount battery ever made. But does it have what it takes to fight off an increasingly competitive landscape of entry-level V-mount batteries and earn a spot in your camera bag?
Let's find out.
Promised Specs
While other brands like Smallrig offer their V-mount batteries in various sizes, K&F Concepts keeps it simple, offering only one size: 99WH.
They've done this for a reason, as 99WH is the largest battery size you can legally bring onto a plane in North America - And there it is the most popular V-mount battery in the market.
In terms of capacity and power output, you can't go wrong with a battery of this size, as most brands will offer the same specs here. Six thousand seven hundred milliampere-hours at 14.8.V is enough to charge a typical camera multiple times.
One thing this K&F V-mount battery has that some other batteries do not is fast charging. The K&F V-mount battery has 65W bidirectional fast charging, which means it can fully charge and deplete itself in just a few hours, sometimes under 2 hours, which is very fast for a battery of this size.
Looks & Build Quality
Let's talk about the build of the battery.
Regarding the looks of the K&F V-mount battery, we're dealing with something unique and familiar.
Let's start with the fact that the K&F Concepts battery delivers industry-standard performance and capacity while being smaller and lighter than most of its competition, including from the likes of small rigs.
The battery's exterior is covered with a faux carbon fibre wrap, which reminds me of some tactical-themed Tilta products that have held up great over several months of continuous use. I like this approach better than batteries, which come with gloss plastic, as those easily get scratched up.
The battery case is moulded with grooves on the sides so you can securely grip the battery. Cutouts on the rear top and bottom further reduce the battery's footprint in your bag. The cutout on the top houses the small monochrome OLED screen showing you all of your battery information, which is angled upwards to make it easier to see. I like this approach better than when a battery has a screen facing directly out because it's more common for you to look at your camera from above than at eye level, allowing you to see the information without having to tilt the battery upwards.
Connections
Let's talk about the connections.
One of the reasons these small preconsumer-side V-mount batteries have gained so much popularity is that they offer several modern connections which allow you to charge and power a variety of different devices at the same time. The K&F V-mount battery has one USB-C port, one USB-A port, and two DTap ports along the side. It also comes with the standard V-mount BP connection port, allowing you to power compatible cameras and expanders.
The only thing you're missing here is the DC ports that Smallrig uses on its batteries. These ports are great for powering accessories like monitors. However, you can still get that power from the DTap ports using the correct cables.
Digital Interface
Let's take a look at the screen.
While I'm not a huge fan of the tiny little screens on batteries of this type, they're a big improvement over the old style of four LED lights present on older styles of batteries.
A quick press of the power button on the back of the K&F unit will light up the battery screen. From there, you get to see all your information like the voltage, per port power draw, battery level, and approximate time left on the battery. This screen stays lit for about five seconds before shutting off to conserve power.
How is it as a camera battery?
Let's talk about my experience using the battery on a camera rig for the last few months.
If I could sum up my experience with this battery in one word, I would say using it has been tremendous. Not because it blew me out of the water or anything, but because it gave me the performance of other move-expensive batteries at a fraction of the cost.
This battery reliably powered my Sony FX3 and Sony A7siii plus accessories over several long film days without so much as a single complaint of failure. At the end of the day, it still had enough power to charge my phone on the way home.
Excellent performance.
You can also use this battery as a power bank for phone charging. It's great at charging small devices, and it was able to fully charge my Samsung S20+ smartphone from zero to full in only 46 minutes using fast charging while only getting slightly warm to the touch.
There are better batteries you can get if you just want a power bank, but if you're looking for a V-mount battery specifically that can pull double duty, it's hard to argue with the value that the K&F V-mount Battery provides.
Conclusion
Speaking of Value, what kind of value are we talking about here?
The K&F V-mount battery normally retails for around $139.99, with common sales and promotional codes reducing that price to as low as USD 99.99. That's incredible for the amount of battery you're getting here.
Compare that with Smallrig's popular VB99, which retails at 199.99 USD, and it's easy for me to see which battery provides a greater value.
After I had used the K&F V-mount battery for a few months, I reached out to K&F, and they kindly provided viewers of my channel with a coupon code for an extra 12% off on their website.
Link in the description of the YouTube Video!
