Rechargeable Batteries

duracell recharger "pairs only"
will do four at a time

Ya you can get duracel or energizer "smart chargers' that charge 2 or 4 at a time, AAA or AA. In terms of batteries, look for the highest mAh capacity you can find. It says on each battery. I found some duracell NiMH AAs that were advertised as 2450 mAh. That's the best I've found. However there are other specialty brands you can order online that have even higher capacity. Unfortunately, The 'bundle' packs that include both charger and batteries often come with fairly low capacity batteries ie 1400 mAh.

I have a Maha/Powerworks http://www.mahaenergy.com charger and batteries one of the smarter chargers. I have the one that will charge D size for three years, not cheap but it goes with us camping and is powered by the solar panel.

My comment here may be unpopular - I used rechargables for a while but, since I didn't keep them on a charger all the time, they were frequently mostly discharged when I needed them. Then I'd need to charge 'em up. So now I buy a bulk box of AA or AAA quality alkaline cells. They will last much longer in storage than will the rechargables. So now everything works and if it doesn't, I just put in fresh alkalines.

Now I use batteries in low current situations - like LED flashlights and walkie talkies. If I had anything that had high current draw, like a helicopter, then for sure I'd use rechargables.

We've been using energizer for the past 4 years without a problem. My charger charges 2 or 4 at a time. I'm always impressed with them.

one word. eneloop. best rechargeable ever. 3 years 85% capacity. enough said.

pair it with a lacrosse charger, can do individual batterys full discharge and recharge.

i have close to 50+. best thing invented ever

Alfred622 wrote:
My comment here may be unpopular - I used rechargables for a while but, since I didn't keep them on a charger all the time, they were frequently mostly discharged when I needed them. Then I'd need to charge 'em up. So now I buy a bulk box of AA or AAA quality alkaline cells. They will last much longer in storage than will the rechargables. So now everything works and if it doesn't, I just put in fresh alkalines.

Now I use batteries in low current situations - like LED flashlights and walkie talkies. If I had anything that had high current draw, like a helicopter, then for sure I'd use rechargables.

My experience was the same. I bought a bunch of them, but the performance was poor and I ended up going back to buying high-quality alkalines that perform better and have a much better shelf life.

All58Parks wrote:

Alfred622 wrote:
My comment here may be unpopular - I used rechargables for a while but, since I didn't keep them on a charger all the time, they were frequently mostly discharged when I needed them. Then I'd need to charge 'em up. So now I buy a bulk box of AA or AAA quality alkaline cells. They will last much longer in storage than will the rechargables. So now everything works and if it doesn't, I just put in fresh alkalines.

Now I use batteries in low current situations - like LED flashlights and walkie talkies. If I had anything that had high current draw, like a helicopter, then for sure I'd use rechargables.

My experience was the same. I bought a bunch of them, but the performance was poor and I ended up going back to buying high-quality alkalines that perform better and have a much better shelf life.

read the post above, they work period. i use them in every single thing i can, they are not the old school rechargables

LittleBill wrote:
one word. eneloop. best rechargeable ever. 3 years 85% capacity. enough said.

pair it with a lacrosse charger, can do individual batterys full discharge and recharge.

i have close to 50+. best thing invented ever

+1 on the eneloops. I got the eneloops from Costco along with a charger and have been using them for 5 years. Excellent batteries.

LittleBill wrote:
one word. eneloop. best rechargeable ever. 3 years 85% capacity. enough said.

pair it with a lacrosse charger, can do individual batterys full discharge and recharge.

i have close to 50+. best thing invented ever

The Eneloop batteries and the Lacrosse charger are exactly what I was looking at. Good to hear I was on the right track.

For those of you that complained about the batteries not holding a charge in storage for very long, that was my experience too. These new batteries appear to be much better. One of my main concerns is forgetting they're in the charger and they end up ruined. This Lacrosse charger appears to prevent that too.