Batterys

[+Tupperware Hunters]

woolys are selling a charger and four energiser recharables for £14 quid i got one for my gps and it is quite good how many others use recharhables and do you think they work well ?

[+Flackadder]

I hate rechargables. Find them more of a pain to use. Though no doubt someone is going to mention the enviroment :-)

[+Gralorn]

Have found them superb, and got mine cheap at the Aldi when they were doing a pack of 4 for £1.99, the charger was excellent as well, never had a problem since.

[+walkergeoff and wife]

I use rechargeables - got mine on eBay! I always carry a back-up set of normal AAs so that if the rechargeables run out I can keep going. I find that they go fine for a long time, but when they do 'give up' it is very sudden!

[+Snosrap]

I bought a charger and eight 1600 mAh NiMH batts today at Maplins for just under a tenner.

[+Mr Nibbler]

I use a variety of rechargeables from 1,400 mAh to 2,500 mAh and only keep disposables for emergencies.

[+Mad H@ter]

We always use rechargeables, but only NiMh and not NiCd which are useless in the GPSr. The only thing I would say against them is that once I get the low battery warning you have almost no time before the GPSr gives up.

[Dave from Glanton]

I use rechargables in my GPSr all the time (NiMh, 1500 mAh) and no real probs.

[+The Red Squirrels]

When I sent my (older) Garmin in for repair they asked if I'd been using rechargables and advised against their use. They operate at a lower voltage and could have been responsible for component damage.

 

If you do choose to use rechargables I'd go for those with a longer life (e.g. 2000 mAh or above). Cheaper ones are often as low as 1300mAh.

[+t.a.folk]

We use rechargeable NiMh and disposables as a back-up for when the rechargeables suddenly die when caching .

From our experience of using rechargeables over many years for various none caching applications we don't buy cheaper brands because we have found they don't keep their charge for as long and the number of recharges is a lot fewer .

Currently we have cheap rechargeables (that were a presnt )in one g.p.s. and more expensive ones in an identical g.p.s. that gets used more frequently . Despite the more frequent use the expensive ones need rechargeing less frequently on a ratio of about 3: 1.

Both sets are 2,200 mAh .

When a visit was recently made to Garmin at Romsey to replace a broken battery connection (free )

the person who mended it noticed rechargeables were being used and they said that is what they would recommend to use .

Edited August 22, 2005 by t.a.folk

[+Bill D (wwh)]

I use NiMh AA for my camera and NiMh AAA for my Palm, and they're fine. For both of those, I carry one pair of NiMh in the equipment, and one pair charged as spares.

 

I used NiCad AA (four) for my MLR gps for two and a bit years and they were fine, but over the last few months they've been losing the ability to hold a charge and I bought four NiMh on eBay today for a fiver including postage.

 

I tried NiCad AAAs in my Geko and wasn't impressed. They don't seem to hold a charge for any length of time if they're not used, and as the Geko is my spare that isn't much use!

 

So all in all I think NiMh are excellent, and in future I'll be sticking to them rather than NiCads.

 

Oh, and yes, I carry alkalines for spares as well just in case.

[markandlynn]

We use2300 nimh rechargeables bought ours from 7day shop also got memory cards (cheaper than ebay) just look through the bargains page. We currently have about 20 on the go (kids toys etc) and we have a car powered charger bought from them as well

[+Learned Gerbil]

I use 2300mAh (Maplin 8xAA plus AAA to D and 9V charger for £20) and 2000mAh batteries (Lidl 8xAA plus AAA to AA charger for £10). I carry about 8 non-rechargeable AA with me as backup - but the 16 rechargeable AA are usually enough for a day out with GPSr, decent camera and external flash.

[+2202]

I use rechargeables and have a charger connected to the cigarette lighter in the car so I can give them a boost before venturing forth. They do die a slow death though.

[+Flackadder]

I may have had a change of heart, if it were not that I get all my AA batteries for free. If I had to pay for them, rechargeables may have been the way to go. I ahave a plane spotter friend who always uses rechargeables in his scanners etc. Has about 40 that are kept charged up ready for action.

[+sTeamTraen]

For NiMH batteries, it's worth getting a good (microprocessor-controlled) charger, which can really do a good job of squeezing every last mAh in there. Cheaper chargers are OK for NiCD batteries, but you will lose quite a lot of the benefit of NiMH.

 

For alkaline users: if you have friends with digital cameras that run on alkaline batteries, ask them to give you the batteries when the camera says they are "dead". There's usually loads of juice in their for low-current applications (such as most GPSr devices).

[+Tupperware Hunters]

many thanks for your replies i will use them but also cary disposables as backup closing thread thanks