After purchasing the Olympus 8080 in July 2004 I faced the problem of getting a second battery without paying the ridicolously high prices Olympus is charging for its BLM-1 battery (70 Euro or more in August 2004 in Germany). After hearing positive reports I ordered two 3rd party BLM-1 batteries from an ebay seller in Hong Kong. The cost per battery was US $5.49 per battery and for the two batteries I ordered I payed a total of US $17 including shipping. The batteries arrived in 10 days. To get a more accurate idea of how long the 3rd party batteries last with respect to the original Olympus one, I recently ran a test.
Source from uk: http://www.cheap-digital-camera-batteries.co.uk/olympus-blm-1.htm »
Source from canada:http://canada-battery.org/digital-camera-batteries/olympus-blm-1.htm »