Cheap as chips battery grip, worth a punt?

[shed driver]

I was looking for a second battery for the camera when this came up on ebay - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Meike-MK-5D3s-BG-E11-Bat...

Anyone used one before - there seem to be some rather mixed reviews around.

SD.

[whiteonyx]

i use one on my nikon, gives a far better grip on the camera in either vertical or hosizontal hold

[leggly]

I have one that has had constant use for the past two years.

[Tony1963]

At that price, buy it. If it isn't up to the job for you, sell it on for little loss, and either forget about it or buy the OEM grip. If it suits you, winwin!

[Simpo Two]

I tried a couple of grips 'cos they looked cool; in practice I didn't like either of them and they went on eBay. Marmite IMHO

[Nigel_O]

My youngest son bought me a Meike battery grip for my D810 - fits well, matches the style of the Nikon body very well, comes with two battery caddies (one for a second Nikon battery, the other for eight AAs). It has the primary controls (shutter, thumbwheel) and most importantly, it costs a fraction of the price of the genuine Nikon grip

I'm sure a Nikon grip would fit even better, be more solidly built and possibly have some extra functions, but I'm not sure it could be worth five times the price.

[Revol]

I've had 3rd party grips for my camera and as mentioned they're good for the money but OEM stuff is on a whole different level of build quality.
TalkPhotography is good for classified sales if you don't mind used kit. I got lucky and picked up an OEM grip for the same price as a new 3rd party one.

[kybo]

Nigel_O said:

My youngest son bought me a Meike battery grip for my D810 - fits well, matches the style of the Nikon body very well, comes with two battery caddies (one for a second Nikon battery, the other for eight AAs). It has the primary controls (shutter, thumbwheel) and most importantly, it costs a fraction of the price of the genuine Nikon grip

I'm sure a Nikon grip would fit even better, be more solidly built and possibly have some extra functions, but I'm not sure it could be worth five times the price.

Mirrors my experience and sentiments exactly - had my grip (Meike for Canon) for 3 years now and has worked without issue.
The only thing I have found is that the 2 cheapo batteries don't give you the reported FPS of the camera.

Other than that, I'd buy another.

Thx,
Scott