XL Battery - How are they going in production?

[Rob Castiglione]

I just got my quad battery system and have to say that I am really impressed with it so I am seriously considering swapping over from v lock battery power system. What I would like to know is how they fare in real production? Are they a practical alternative to V Locks? What is the real time that people are getting out of a single battery and how many do you recommend for a day's shooting.

[Bob Rudis]

I decided to embrace the Quad Battery Module System. I purchased 2 XL's and on first use I found that XL battery interferes with inserting and removing the SSD Card. Ouch. Between this and the lack of a pTap, I'm giving up on the whole system. So I would say stay with the Red bricks, it works.

[Björn Benckert]

We got the quad and the XL's and small volts... only thing missing is a 12 volt out. But I bare with red unit they get the new adaptor module out.
I think in the long run the more non 3rd party solutions we get the better. when the other modules start shipping then I think everyone that sits with a battery plate in the back will have some struggle.

[Glen Powell]

I have two XL's and 4 REDVolts that I've been using in the quad module - and yes the XL's block the side SSD, but the regular REDVolts don't. Not a huge problem and we try to keep the regular REDVolts on the SSD side.
Hot swapping batteries without shutdown is more important than taking off a battery to get the SSD out - I work mainly advertising and you wouldn't believe the client / agency whining when picture goes down in video village… they think you're hiding something.

So far I've been getting 3.5 hours out of two XL's if you drain them fully; but hot swapping it will run forever. The # & size of batteries that I have with 1 quad charger gets us through a shoot day easily, but I have a second charger coming.

Dtap power out, or the lack of, isn't a deal breaker for me since I don't run extra focus / zoom motors, and I'm either in studio with a 17" monitor on a stand beside camera; or I'm somewhere remote where I'm not lugging an extra onboard monitor that I would need to power.

So overall it works for my style of shooting - but I still have Vmounts and a x plate to attach as well if really needed.