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Finally, great rechargeable batteries...


Source_GPS

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As a GPS retailer and active gadgeteer, I am always looking for an alternative to alkaline/lithium batteries in my energy-demanding devices. After using rechargeable batteries 15 years ago, I was turned off to their reliability and longevity (these were the days of nickel cadium). However, I have since formed a different opinion.

 

After searching for several weeks and doing extensive research on rechargeable ni-mh (nickel-metal hydroxide) batteries, I came a across the online company, All-Battery.com (www.all-battery.com). They have an extensive selection of batteries and chargers and offer a plethora of different combination packages you can choose from. I wound up choosing 2 separate packages that gave me a total of 20 AA batteries and 8AAA batteries (enough to power my GPS's and flashlights) as well as an 8 bay charger and a 4 bay portable charger. Total cost - $57. And these are not those cheap 1800mah AA batteries on Ebay. These are rated at 2600mah. I should also mention that the 8 bay charger will condition and charge 8 batteries in 4 1/2 hours while the 4 bay quick charger will charge 4 in just under 2 hours.

 

I have to say that I am very pleased with the products and their pricing and would recommend them to my fellow GPS enthusiasts. We all know those GPS's suck the juice out of batteries and I know I am tired of spending $30+ dollars a month on replacing them.

 

Finally, a cost effective solution without sacrificing run time.

Edited by Source_GPS
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Yes ni-mh rechargable batteries are awesome, I've been using them for years in my GPSr & digital camera :) One thing I've been wanting to get is the charger/conditioner, that combo is hard to find at most stores I shop in.

 

Even though ni-mh doesn't have as bad of a "memory problem" as nicd's did, I'd think a charger/conditioner would still maximize their useful life

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There are several excellent choices in Hybrid rechargeable batteries now. I used Energizer rechargeable batteries for about two years, but have switched to Rayovac Hybrid batteries now. They work great and I got those for a reasonable price at my local Target store. :D

I agree , I have been using the Rayovac Hybrid batteries the last couple of months and they work great and also bought them at my local Target store :)

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I have heart a lot of good things about Sanyo Enneloop batteries. Anyone has experience with those?

 

regards,

Hans

The Eneloops and the Rayovacs are pretty much equivalent, and one is as good a choice as the other. I've been using the Eneloops simply because I found them before the Rayovacs and like to stick with one product. The Rayovacs and Eneloops don't have quite the capacity of some of the other Nimh's (they advertise 1900 to 2000 mAh vs upwards of 2600 for some of the others), but have the advantage of much slower discharge times in storage. So if you are normally using batteries within a day or so of charging them you may want to stick with the higher capacity batteries; but if you want to have batteries that are still good a few weeks to a year after charging, then the new ones are a better choice.

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I have heart a lot of good things about Sanyo Enneloop batteries. Anyone has experience with those?

regards, Hans

I have 20 of them right now, and have gotten rid of (left for swag) my remaining rechargeables & chargers.

They hold their charge for a long time, so are useful even when pulling them out of the camera bag 3 months later. I won't go back to 'regular' rechargables any time soon.

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I have heart a lot of good things about Sanyo Enneloop batteries. Anyone has experience with those?

 

regards,

Hans

 

I've been using Eneloops since they've been introduced in my eTrex GPS and aviation gear that take AA batteries. Highly recommended, and they won't lose a charge over time like other high-output NiMh batteries (2700 PowerEx) I use for my dive camera and strobe. I wouldn't use them for high-drain devices like digital cameras if you're going to shoot a lot of photos over a short period.

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Yes ni-mh rechargable batteries are awesome, I've been using them for years in my GPSr & digital camera :rolleyes: One thing I've been wanting to get is the charger/conditioner, that combo is hard to find at most stores I shop in.

 

Even though ni-mh doesn't have as bad of a "memory problem" as nicd's did, I'd think a charger/conditioner would still maximize their useful life

 

Thomas Distributing has a number of charger / conditioners

 

http://www.thomas-distributing.com/index.htm

 

Perry

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I have heart a lot of good things about Sanyo Enneloop batteries. Anyone has experience with those?

 

regards,

Hans

I have the Sanyo hybrids, some Rayovac, and some made by Kodak. The Sanyos were a little higher priced then the others and I haven't had them long enough to check out their claim that they will only lose 15% of their charge in a year verses the others claiming six months. The extra six months isn't that important to me and I wouldn't pay extra for that feature. As far as using rechargables I will never buy another one that isn't a hybrid, in fact I have given a lot of my regular rechargables away to family members.

Edited by DWBur
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Yes ni-mh rechargable batteries are awesome, I've been using them for years in my GPSr & digital camera :lol: One thing I've been wanting to get is the charger/conditioner, that combo is hard to find at most stores I shop in.

 

Even though ni-mh doesn't have as bad of a "memory problem" as nicd's did, I'd think a charger/conditioner would still maximize their useful life

 

Thomas Distributing has a number of charger / conditioners

 

http://www.thomas-distributing.com/index.htm

 

Perry

 

Been buying stuff from Thomas for years. Prices are reasonable and they always ship promptly. Highly recommended.

Edited by FiFo
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Does anyone have any experience with how well they hold up to the cold? For instance sitting in a flashlight and radio in ready pack in your car over the winter.

For any item just "sitting," I'm not sure the rechargeable batteries, even the Hybrid ones, are the best choice, especially in the cold. Lithium batteries are the best choice for really cold weather.

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Does anyone have any experience with how well they hold up to the cold? For instance sitting in a flashlight and radio in ready pack in your car over the winter.

 

If Nimh batteries are stored at a lower temperature if they self discharge slower and keep their charge longer, but they will not work as well when they are cold. They would have to be brought to warmer temperature. Some people store there charged batteries in the freezer to get them to last longer, and then warm them up to use them.

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The Sanyos were a little higher priced then the others...

I got mine at Costco in a set of 8 AA and 4 AAA and some weird C and D sleeves (which I will never use) and a 4 bay charger for I think around $20. That didn't seem too expensive to me, but I didn't shop around at all.

 

--Marky

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As was said by DWBur above, I have retired my other NiMH and only use Rayovac Hybrids. I can recommend these, but I believe that most of the hybrids are probably similar.

 

Another good review: Eneloop review.

 

These are the Hybrid/Low-discharge AA NiMH that I know about:

 

Rayovac Hybrid

Sanyo Eneloop

Sony Cycle Energy

Uniross Hybrio

Kodak Digital Camera, Ultra Low Discharge

Maha Imedion

Nexcell EnergyOn

Accupower Acculoop

Ansman Max

GP ReCyko

Edited by EScout
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POWEREX brand have been rated very highly by dpreview and I love em. In contrast, the same size battery in powerEX compared to walmart engergizer Nimh the walmart version goes dead much faster sitting on a shelf and dont last as long and I have had a few bad ones that would stop taking a charge.

 

energizer Nimh suck IMHO. Google POWEREX and get their charger/conditioner while your at it...you wont regret it. Make sure you buy acharger that charges each cell individually (not in pairs). I was always finding myself with unbalanced pairs (in my house at least where the wife and kids steal my batteries for toys and flashlights and remote controls).

 

And these are not those cheap 1800mah AA batteries on Ebay. These are rated at 2600mah.

 

2600 is just about the industry standard for NiMH AA these days. The completely normal blisterpack I bought at wal-mart yesterday were 2650.

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I suspect that the OP is an advertiser for the company he mentioned. No caches found or hidden, "GPS retailer and active gadgeteer", one specific company mentioned, with prices.

 

I guess its moot, though, since the replies have all been about the wonders of NiMh from various sources (and I totally agree!).

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The Sanyos were a little higher priced then the others...

I got mine at Costco in a set of 8 AA and 4 AAA and some weird C and D sleeves (which I will never use) and a 4 bay charger for I think around $20. That didn't seem too expensive to me, but I didn't shop around at all.

 

--Marky

Hey, if you're not going to use those "weird sleeves", send them to me. :drama:

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The Sanyos were a little higher priced then the others...

I got mine at Costco in a set of 8 AA and 4 AAA and some weird C and D sleeves (which I will never use) and a 4 bay charger for I think around $20. That didn't seem too expensive to me, but I didn't shop around at all.

 

--Marky

You can get AA's in 8-packs at Fry's ... they appear to be sold out right now.

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The Sanyos were a little higher priced then the others...

I got mine at Costco in a set of 8 AA and 4 AAA and some weird C and D sleeves (which I will never use) and a 4 bay charger for I think around $20. That didn't seem too expensive to me, but I didn't shop around at all.

 

--Marky

Unfortunately I don't have a Costco near me and no one locally has the Sanyos. The first Sanyos I bought was from Amazon and I paid around three dollars a battery. The second set I ordered from them the price had dropped to two fifty per battery. The best price I have found on the hybrids were in our Walmart, the Kodaks were $7.88 for a four pack. We'll be hitting the road in a couple of months and I'll have to check out a Costco.

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It's been my experience that the colder it gets, the less output the NiMh batteries produce. Have not tried putting these types into a fridge/freezer and then measuring the voltage.

 

Good point about measuring voltage, but the static voltage alone doesn't tell you how well it can deliver power unfortunately. Perfect example: Last night I went for a geocache find / bike ride at dusk and by about 1 hour into the ride it was too dark to read my GPS without the backlight. I had a set of alkalines in the unit (76S) that have maybe 3 hours of use on them. In the past, I'd observed at least 12 hours runtime in daylight in warm temps on Alkalines.

 

Temp at this point was maybe 50 degrees farenheit. I switched on teh backlight and it immediately gave a low battery warning then the whole unit shut down about 10 seconds later. Needless to say, I was a little bummed out, since I don't have a speedometer on my bike other than the GPS unit, and I use the speed to help pace myself.

 

Anyway, I've done three run-down tests with NiMH's in my 76S in 40 to 50 degree weather and it ranged from about 10 hours in normal receiver mode with the backlight on up to 22 hours in battery saver mode with no backlight. To have the unit cut out after 3 hours of no backlight just by turning on the backlight was a disappointment. This is my last set of AA alkalines that I own, but I'm still kind of tempted to buy another pack of 4 just to do run-down tests to share with the group. From what it seems, NiMH performs better at 40-50 degrees than alkalines, but further testing is needed to quantify the results.

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As DWBur said above, the Kodaks appear to be the best price. I found them also at Walmart at the same price of $7.88. Make sure you get the ones that say : "Pre-Charged" on the top of the package. Their standard (not hybrid) rechargeable packages look very similar. The package says <or =2100mAh, Minimum 2000 mAh.

 

I got an average of 1536 mAh out of the package, discharged at 300mA, to 0.90V. After charge, the second discharge was just under 1900. After a few cycles that should be up. And our GPSrs do not use this high of a current draw. The voltage curve looks very good (high voltage during the discharge.)

 

I am using the Powerex MH-C9000 ,WizardOne digital Charger-Analyzer.

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