Best AA rechargables?

[+GetUpToGetDown]

Hi, I just ordered the Garmin etrex Vista HCx and have been reading that rechargeable batteries are the best way to go. Are there any batteries that shouldn't be used with the unit? Are there any specific rechargable batteries that work better than other? Hold the charge longest? I have read some things about eneloop batteries being really good...how do they work? do they have as much charge as a regular battery?? Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

-Getuptogetdown

[+albsch]

I have the Garmin 60csx and have been using the Duracell AA recharageables for almost a year now without a problem. I use a slow charger that takes about 12 hours to recharge them and they last for about 16 hours when fully charged. Only drawback that I have is that the battery status bar on the gps show that they are fully charged until they are almost empty. It will then drop by one bar and I have about an hour of life left in them so I just change them out when when the status bar changes.

[JackP311]

Just make sure you get something NiMH not NiCD. The NiCD batteries will develop a memory if not drained completely (cycled) before charging. I use energizer accu-rechargables. They were like $15 at wal mart. Have used them for a while in various items and they seem great!

[+EScout]

Recent topic on the subject: Rechargeable Batteries

[Rhialto]

Sanyo's Eneloop or similar.

[+HaLiJuSaPa]

Personally we like the Energizer 2500 MAh green AA rechargables.

[+myotis]

I think the PowerX 2700 are the best

[+Miragee]

Personally we like the Energizer 2500 MAh green AA rechargables.

I did like these . . . and although some of them lasted two years, they sure don't hold a charge now. I have at least six pairs of these. Now, a few of those pairs don't work at all and some others lose their charge in as little as a few days . . .

 

Perhaps if I had not used the 15-minute Energizer charger that came with the first four I got and had used a slower charger they would have lasted longer . . .

 

I'm using the Ray-o-Vac Hybrids now and they are great!

[MedTexPlacer]

Personally we like the Energizer 2500 MAh green AA rechargables.

I did like these . . . and although some of them lasted two years, they sure don't hold a charge now. I have at least six pairs of these. Now, a few of those pairs don't work at all and some others lose their charge in as little as a few days . . .

 

Perhaps if I had not used the 15-minute Energizer charger that came with the first four I got and had used a slower charger they would have lasted longer . . .

 

I'm using the Ray-o-Vac Hybrids now and they are great!

I use the sanyo loop batteries. They seem to last quite a long time.

[eaparks]

Had similar experience with Ray-o-vac 15 minute batteries. After about a year they wouldn't hold a charge at all, maybe 3 days. Had several sets of them - contacted Ray-o-vac and they replaced the bad ones with their Ray-o-vac hybrid NiMh battery. So far I've been well pleased with them... seem to last a long time and don't loose much of their charge over an extended length of time. I'd definitley go with some type of hybrid NiMh. It is a pain when you want to install a new set of batteries that aren't hybrids and they have been sitting around for 4-5 months just to find out they are practically run down when you install them.

[+Thrak]

I have the Garmin 60csx and have been using the Duracell AA recharageables for almost a year now without a problem. I use a slow charger that takes about 12 hours to recharge them and they last for about 16 hours when fully charged. Only drawback that I have is that the battery status bar on the gps show that they are fully charged until they are almost empty. It will then drop by one bar and I have about an hour of life left in them so I just change them out when when the status bar changes.

 

Make sure you have the proper battery type selected in your GPSr setup.

[+Trucker Lee]

Been using some Digital brand from WalMart, lasted several years but no longer take a full charge. Radio Shack brand seem to be doing OK.

[QuigleyJones]

I generally use Sanyo 2500.

[+imajeep]

I think the PowerX 2700 are the best

 

I second that.

[-Oz-]

I have a bunch of energizer and duracell's. I now use the duracell's because of their highed mAh rating. Some of my energizers have started not holding a charge, I can accept that after 3 years though and 100s of discharges they were still worth it especially since a new 4 pack is like $10.

[+GetUpToGetDown]

awesome thanks for the help ill maybe try some different ones

[+benjamin921]

Personally we like the Energizer 2500 MAh green AA rechargables.

I did like these . . . and although some of them lasted two years, they sure don't hold a charge now. I have at least six pairs of these. Now, a few of those pairs don't work at all and some others lose their charge in as little as a few days . . .

 

Perhaps if I had not used the 15-minute Energizer charger that came with the first four I got and had used a slower charger they would have lasted longer . . .

 

I'm using the Ray-o-Vac Hybrids now and they are great!

I too had the same problem but then picked up one of these and brought them back to life. They now last like they used to.

 

I also use some Eneloop's and other LSD (Low Self Discharge) that work very well.

 

If I know that I am going to use the batteries right away, I will use the Energizer's. If not, I'll throw in the LSD's.

[Vlad]

I think the PowerX 2700 are the best

Third...

[WR8Y]

I like the KODAK Ni-MH batteries in the Yellow card at Wal-Mart. They are 2100 maH.

 

(Speaking now as a 26-year veteran of electronic repair):

Just DO NOT use a quick charger if you are interested in making them last - use a 10 to 16 hour charger!

[+LennyTheLizard]

I just did a search on Consumer Reports. Their information was mostly based on digital camera use, but could be applicable to GPSr as well. They found that the best battery was dependent on the application (e.g. high draw frequent use (camera, GPSr, etc) requires a different battery than , low draw infrequent use (remote control, smoke detector etc.)

 

These are the important facts that I gathered:

 

1. The best disposable battery for frequently used electronics is Lithium (Energizer e2)

2. The best battery in general for frequently used electronics is NiMH rechargeables. Unfortunately, they would not pick a particular brand as the best.

 

By comparison for 100 digital pictures:

 

Disposable Alkaline cost = $2.20

Disposable Lithium cost = $1.40

Rechargeable NiMH = $0.015

 

due to the fact that the NiMH can be recharged 100's of times. Even though one set will not likely last as long as a disposable battery, they recommend keeping several batteries that are always "at the ready".

[+Team_Wilson]

Energizer, Sanyo, and Powerx are all good brands. There are plenty of others.

The key is to use a high quality charger that will fully charge your cells without overcharging them.

[+Thomas & Dingo]

Use PowerX for awhile, but lately I have been using plain AA batts from Costco (in bulk).

[revrnd]

I like the KODAK Ni-MH batteries in the Yellow card at Wal-Mart. They are 2100 maH.

Are these the Kodak batteries that are labelled as "Up to 2500 mAh"?

Edited October 31, 2007 by revrnd

[+MtnGoat50]

I like the KODAK Ni-MH batteries in the Yellow card at Wal-Mart. They are 2100 maH.

 

(Speaking now as a 26-year veteran of electronic repair):

Just DO NOT use a quick charger if you are interested in making them last - use a 10 to 16 hour charger!

I'll second that. I bought some Energizers and a 15 minute charger. The batteries would come off the charger so hot you could barely hold them. They worked well at first but after a month or two, if you didn't use the batteries right away, maybe put them in the pack as spares, they'd be dead in one of two days.

 

Now I have a Powerex, 4 battery charger (electronic with individual ciruits for each battery) that has a 100 minute and a 3 hour setting. It cost double what the energizer setup did but it seems to do a good job and the batteries are lasting a lot longer.

 

Previously I used Costco batteries, bought them by the brick. The size of the bag of dead batteries I would put in the recycle bin every month was embarassing.

 

I try to use rechargeables when ever I can.

[+GetUpToGetDown]

I bought some Eneloop batteries....they say they are mAh....what "kind of battery is that?? Alkeline, Lithium, or NiMH?? My GPSr(Garmin eTrex Vista HCx) has a setting to select which kind of battery I am using (I'm assuming its to set the battery meeter). Thanks for the help

[+Dawgies]

Personally we like the Energizer 2500 MAh green AA rechargables.

 

Yep!

[+DonB]

I like the KODAK Ni-MH batteries in the Yellow card at Wal-Mart. They are 2100 maH.

Are these the Kodak batteries that are labelled as "Up to 2500 mAh"?

The Kodak batteries you want say on the top of the package "digital camera battery" and near the bottom the package says something like "lasts four times longer", and are 2100 mAh. They don't come right out and say so but I believe they are Kodak's version of the new hybrid batteries. Our Walmart has them for $7.88 for a four pack.

[eaparks]

I'll second that. I bought some Energizers and a 15 minute charger. The batteries would come off the charger so hot you could barely hold them. They worked well at first but after a month or two, if you didn't use the batteries right away, maybe put them in the pack as spares, they'd be dead in one of two days.

 

Had the exact same experience with the 15 min. Rayovacs. The fast chargers (15 min.) destroy the shelf life of the batteries very quickly.

 

Called Rayovac and told them what happened and they replaced them free of charge, including shipping, with their new hybrid battery which has done very well. Received the replacements in 4 days, couldn't beat that for Customer Service.

Edited October 31, 2007 by eaparks

[Archangel_UK]

Got a trickle charger which works both in the car and at home

[+Team_Wilson]

I bought some Eneloop batteries....they say they are mAh....what "kind of battery is that?? Alkeline, Lithium, or NiMH?? My GPSr(Garmin eTrex Vista HCx) has a setting to select which kind of battery I am using (I'm assuming its to set the battery meeter). Thanks for the help

 

They are NiMH. They just use a new chemistry that results in slower self discharge. The "mAh" is the capacity rating (milliamp hours)

[Ferreter5]

The key is to use a high quality charger that will fully charge your cells without overcharging them.

Amen to that! I used to have a cheapy low-end charger and I was never very happy with it. Since then I've been using my Maha charger for several years now and it's done a great job. This one is not exactly the same model number that I have but it's the same thing. I've been very happy with it.

 

 

I have enough rechargable batteries that I'm usually not in a hurry to get them charged up so I almost always slow-charge them and I've never really had any issues.

Edited November 2, 2007 by Ferreter5

[+Red90]

The NiCD batteries will develop a memory if not drained completely (cycled) before charging.

 

Actually, that is not true. It is an urban legend. The real reason you want NiMH batteries is that the capciaty is quite a bit better than NiCD batteries.

[+RRLover]

The NiCD batteries will develop a memory if not drained completely (cycled) before charging.

 

Actually, that is not true. It is an urban legend. The real reason you want NiMH batteries is that the capciaty is quite a bit better than NiCD batteries.

They all have their place, NiCads don't have the shelf life but 'dump' their current quicker than the others

so are better for things like those little helicopters from Radio Shack and R/C cars and things of that nature.

Edited November 2, 2007 by RRLover