July 16, 2024
I’ve been noticing it more and more… the battery that was powering my Roland FR-8X was starting to give up the ghost, but very slowly. Up until yesterday I had a good 1-2 hours before it would drop in to the red and give me the warning, but the real give-away was how fast it cold recharge, it would get topped right back up in about 15 minutes.
That’s the sign of a bad battery, so I ordered a replacement. The last time I did that, I bought it through Long & McQuade, a Roland dealer, and they charged me a staggering $420 bucks plus tax!
I was not going to fall for that again, and on an off chance, I noticed that someone was making “factory quality replacements” off Amazon, and for a lot less! This one was for just under $227.00CDN delivered to my door… awesome!
It took 3 weeks as it came from (you guessed it), China, but they did something a bit different, they went through a Canadian address and I received it in a couple days after it came in to Canada with an unmarked shipping service, placed right in my hand. I liked that!
I unpacked it and checked it out… same size, weight and shape as the factory original as was the plug. The only difference that I could spot was that the connector wire was about an inch or so longer on the new one.. cool.
I then installed it in a matter of 2 minutes and plugged in my FR-8X to charge up this battery. I am pleased to say that the charge took 2.5 hours to complete, which is pretty much the same as a new factory battery.
Right now I am on about the 2nd hour of use and it still shows a full green charge… I am very pleased! Now I hope this one lasts a good couple years, these don’t grow on the trees but they are better than what I paid the last one!
More to come as I find out how long I can play on this one battery.