Battery charger / refresher choice

[+kayyak]

Hi, i have followed some of the info on using these chargers on other threads and looking to buy one, but it seems there is a new version of the La Crosse....900 vs 700 on the Thomas-distributing website. Does anyone who has used these chargers have comments on the features of the 900 vs 700? It appears that the 700 is newer, but it has fewer choices on charging power and does not come with any batteries. They have phased out the ability to do the fastest charges, i think, is that an important limitation or a feature not often used or needed anyway? Any help on which one would be more useful? Or is the Maha the best, even though more expensive? They appear to accomplish the same thing.

Thanks.

 

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

[shivia]

One of the best among these advanced chargers, my opinion, is the Maha MH-C808M. More easy using than 900, one button pressing and let the unit do all the rest. it also takes many batt sizes.

http://www.thomas-distributing.com/maha-mh...ery-charger.htm

[superduty1]

I recently got the 900 from thomas distributing. The price is defintiely right for all the features. I am very impressed with this unit. I rarely have a need to charge or condition more than 4 batteries at a time, particularly now that I got 8 of the eneloops. I tried the eneloops in my Canon flash, WOW they are pretty impressive for refresh speed.

 

Once you set up the 900 to the discharge and charge rate you want, there isn't much you need to do with it.

 

I couldn't justify the extra cost for the Maha....I didnt see any added benefits besides being able to charge more batts at a time. Also I pretty much only use aa and aaa rechargeable batts.

 

Check out this site for some good tips on the 900:

 

http://www.robertphotoblog.com/2006/tips-lacrosse-bc-900/

[+kayyak]

Thanks for the link, very interesting article. Do you like the La Crosse batteries that the unit comes with? Prefer others?

[superduty1]

Thanks for the link, very interesting article. Do you like the La Crosse batteries that the unit comes with? Prefer others?

 

The batts that come with the unit seem fine. I have tried the following rechargeables: Sanyo, Energizer, and Powerex. I recently got the LaCrosse ones and the Eneloops.

 

I have had very good luck with the Sanyo and Energizer. I just bought some more Sanyos 2700 MAH from Thomas. I am trying to figure out if there is any real need for the 2700 MAH batts vs. the 2000MAH Eneloops.

 

I am pretty impressed with the eneloops so far. I put some into my Canon 420EX flash unit and it worked great. I took them straight out of the pkg, and did NOT charge them before use...so I figure it has probably been at least a few weeks since they were charged. The flash unit is considered to be a high drain device and is pretty demanding. The refresh rate of the flashes was excellent (thought I didn't do any scientific timing experiment or anything). The fact they can sit around and still work a month later is very nice. This means they will function well in remote controls and similar items that are low drain.

 

So as of right now, I will probably ONLY buy eneloop or equivalent in the future... (unless I find that the eneloops don't perform as well as the higher MAH batts.)

 

BTW, the eneloops at Thomas were a pretty good price as well. It was the first time I dealt with Thomas and service was good, prompt shipping, etc.

[+JEDI-6]

I just purchased the LaCrosse 900 from Thomas Dist. last night. It comes with 8 Eneloops which are awesome. I went with the 900 based upon all of the reviews I have read here on the forums.