AA battery life

myredracer wrote:
Just a bit of a rant. :(

I have an SLR camera that I use a lot, mostly for documenting restoration of 2 cars I've been working on for a while. I use ordinary AA batteries and not rechargeable ones and normally get a month or two out of them, and I use the flash often.

Put new "super heavy duty" ones in the other day. Lasted about a week for just a few pics. What the heck. I tested the old batteries with a voltmeter first before tossing them to see if one or all needed replacing and also checked the new ones which showed they were good.

Then I looked at the package. A little hard to read maybe, but it says "ideal for low drain devices". Huh?

I know there's no need to pay for overpriced Duracell or Energizer as they're pretty much all built the same way. But a week out of something labeled "super heavy duty" ain't very good.

those batteries are very likely the 1960's carbon zinc batteries not the alkaline batteries common today. That's why the say "super heavy duty" instead of Alkaline. Way less capacity in AH.

I've found the best overall deal on alkaline batteries is either the costco duracell packs when they have them on special or go to Amazon and buy the large packs as well. Actually the lowest cost.

For lithium Amazon bulk packs is again the best price I've seen. Often sold in a single box of 25 or 50 or so usually energizer or other name brand as well.