Colorado 400t

[paintman161]

What type of batteries does everyone use in the COlorado 400t? What seems to be getting the longer life?

[+Triple Crown]

What type of batteries does everyone use in the COlorado 400t? What seems to be getting the longer life?

 

I just got a 300, and I use Sanyo eneloops. I use the same batteries in my flashlight and in my 60CSx. Works great, last long, and they re-charge!

[+pppingme]

What type of batteries does everyone use in the COlorado 400t? What seems to be getting the longer life?

As long as your using good fresh NiMH and more importantly a good charger you should be OK.

 

Do:

 

Use fresh batteries

Use a good high quality charger that charges each cell separately

Use a slow charging rate to charge your batteries (200-250 mA is a good rate)

Use the "refresh" mode on your charger occasionally, even for brand new batteries

 

Don't:

 

Use old batteries

Use a "fast" charger

Use a cheap charger that charges a set amount of time (most sold retail do)

Use any charger that charges batteries as "pairs" (most sold retail do)

Use batteries rated less than 2400 mAh

Use generic branded batteries, they NEVER have the rated capacities

[paintman161]

What type of batteries does everyone use in the COlorado 400t? What seems to be getting the longer life?

As long as your using good fresh NiMH and more importantly a good charger you should be OK.

 

Do:

 

Use fresh batteries

Use a good high quality charger that charges each cell separately

Use a slow charging rate to charge your batteries (200-250 mA is a good rate)

Use the "refresh" mode on your charger occasionally, even for brand new batteries

 

Don't:

 

Use old batteries

Use a "fast" charger

Use a cheap charger that charges a set amount of time (most sold retail do)

Use any charger that charges batteries as "pairs" (most sold retail do)

Use batteries rated less than 2400 mAh

Use generic branded batteries, they NEVER have the rated capacities

 

You know of any good brands? Radio Shack have any good one's?

[MtnHermit]

You know of any good brands? Radio Shack have any good one's?

It's less about brand as it is about where batteries are made. From best to worst: Japan > USA > Mexico > China > India

 

The best are Maha Powerex or Imedon followed closely by Sanyo. All available from Thomas Distributing

[+billandlore]

I use Radio Shack batteries and a monster charger. They work fine and I get many hours of use.

[+oregonjohn1]

You know of any good brands? Radio Shack have any good one's?

It's less about brand as it is about where batteries are made. From best to worst: Japan > USA > Mexico > China > India

 

The best are Maha Powerex or Imedon followed closely by Sanyo. All available from Thomas Distributing

 

I'm using the Powerex 2700mAh batteries with the (Maha) Powerex MH-C9000 charger in my Oregon 400t. With WAAS on and backlighting on for 30 seconds I've gotten 16 hours on average and up to 20 hours of battery life. It had been just one day of geocaching using a pair of Energizer alkalines before I bought the Powerex batteries. When I start to use them in an RC truck transmitter, I'll buy one of the Maha Powerex 8-cell chargers.

 

Look on Amazon.com for reviews for not just these brands, but others as well. You'll find positive/negative reviews on each & every one, so I'd suggest looking at the more recent ones and judge the comments for yourself. I chose Accessory Genie as the merchant through Amazon.com since they had the best price.

 

Maha Powerex batteries are also sold at Batteries Plus stores located in many states as well.

 

The batteries are rated at 2700 mAh, but that is an ultimate charge rating and you will more likely see the "guaranteed" rating of 2500mAh. Maha even replaced a set of 4 when they would not breakin to the 2500 level. Postage paid mailer & all! I found Maha easy to work with as they have a toll free number in California and also have a live person who can answer technical questions about their products.

 

For instance, this charger has a really bright light and some don't like it when they use it in their bedroom. Well, I don't know why they have to have it there in the first place. So it's reviews like those you could really disregard since smart chargers like this are meant to keep batteries at peak performance over whether they have a really bright display.

 

You just have to remember to set the GPSr to MIMH batteries and it helps to have version 2.85beta at least since some software versions have been reported to falsely show low battery power when they were still useable. I'm trying the latest 2.94beta so I'll see how that goes, but so far people are saying that these two versions resolve incorrectly reporting battery meter levels.

 

In the end, no battery is perfect and optimum performance will likely come from a quality smart charger and from how many features of the GPSr (like backlighting, tones, and such) are used or turned on.

Edited March 31, 2009 by oregonjohn1

[paintman161]

You know of any good brands? Radio Shack have any good one's?

It's less about brand as it is about where batteries are made. From best to worst: Japan > USA > Mexico > China > India

 

The best are Maha Powerex or Imedon followed closely by Sanyo. All available from Thomas Distributing

 

I'm using the Powerex 2700mAh batteries with the (Maha) Powerex MH-C9000 charger in my Oregon 400t. With WAAS on and backlighting on for 30 seconds I've gotten 16 hours on average and up to 20 hours of battery life. It had been just one day of geocaching using a pair of Energizer alkalines before I bought the Powerex batteries. When I start to use them in an RC truck transmitter, I'll buy one of the Maha Powerex 8-cell chargers.

 

Look on Amazon.com for reviews for not just these brands, but others as well. You'll find positive/negative reviews on each & every one, so I'd suggest looking at the more recent ones and judge the comments for yourself. I chose Accessory Genie as the merchant through Amazon.com since they had the best price.

 

Maha Powerex batteries are also sold at Batteries Plus stores located in many states as well.

 

The batteries are rated at 2700 mAh, but that is an ultimate charge rating and you will more likely see the "guaranteed" rating of 2500mAh. Maha even replaced a set of 4 when they would not breakin to the 2500 level. Postage paid mailer & all! I found Maha easy to work with as they have a toll free number in California and also have a live person who can answer technical questions about their products.

 

For instance, this charger has a really bright light and some don't like it when they use it in their bedroom. Well, I don't know why they have to have it there in the first place. So it's reviews like those you could really disregard since smart chargers like this are meant to keep batteries at peak performance over whether they have a really bright display.

 

You just have to remember to set the GPSr to MIMH batteries and it helps to have version 2.85beta at least since some software versions have been reported to falsely show low battery power when they were still useable. I'm trying the latest 2.94beta so I'll see how that goes, but so far people are saying that these two versions resolve incorrectly reporting battery meter levels.

 

In the end, no battery is perfect and optimum performance will likely come from a quality smart charger and from how many features of the GPSr (like backlighting, tones, and such) are used or turned on.

 

Thanks for the information, I bought the Powerex batteries and charger, why spend 280.00 on a gps unit and buy crap batteries.

Edited April 1, 2009 by paintman161