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Best Batteries for Oregon 400T


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I am not looking for fancy specs or graphs or conversations about what the battery is made of, I just want to know which battery is the best. I usually only cache on the weekends, but will do it for long periods of time. During the week the GPS is off unless I know of a close one somewhere near where I will be. So what would be the best battery? I am looking for something rechargeable, with a car plug-in option as well. I hate not having back-up when I'm out caching on a hiking/camping trip.

 

Thanks!

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I am not looking for fancy specs or graphs or conversations about what the battery is made of, I just want to know which battery is the best. I usually only cache on the weekends, but will do it for long periods of time. During the week the GPS is off unless I know of a close one somewhere near where I will be. So what would be the best battery? I am looking for something rechargeable, with a car plug-in option as well. I hate not having back-up when I'm out caching on a hiking/camping trip.

I'll tell you what's best for me, and why, and you decide if it makes sense for you.

 

I don't always charge up my batteries before I leave the house, so the newer NiMH with low self discharge rates are a definitely plus. Although they have a lower rated capacity than other NiMH, knowing that they still hold a good percentage of their charge when I need them is important to me.

 

I also carry a set of regular alkalines as a "if all else fails" backup. You could replace that with lithiums.

 

There are rechargers that work off the car cigarette lighter plug. You can use any mini USB power adapter for the car - if it puts your Oregon into USB transfer mode, read this

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Forgot to mention that I also use the LaCrosse BC-9009 (successor to the BC-900). It comes with 4xAA 2600 mAH and 4xAAA batteries which work pretty well even though they're not low self discharge (a.k.a. hybrid).

 

The LaCrosse does not come with a car adapter, or lists one as an option. You can always get an inverter (12V to AC) if you really need one. The AC power adapter is a universal adapter (100-240V, 50-60Hz) so you can bring it along when you travel.

 

The Maha MH-C9000 does have an optional car adapter.

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I am not looking for fancy specs or graphs or conversations about what the battery is made of, I just want to know which battery is the best. I usually only cache on the weekends, but will do it for long periods of time. During the week the GPS is off unless I know of a close one somewhere near where I will be. So what would be the best battery? I am looking for something rechargeable, with a car plug-in option as well. I hate not having back-up when I'm out caching on a hiking/camping trip.

 

Thanks!

Lots of options - but for your use I think you'll be happiest with some of the low discharge NiMh batteries with the highest mAH rating you can find. A set of 8 should do you nicely.

 

Charge them all up, put them in your pack and off you go. At the end of the weekend just recharge those you killed off, and rotate the fresh charged batts to the back of your battery case so you use those that have been sitting longest first.

 

That would provide you with a good rotation of relatively fresh batteries while out and about on the weekends.

 

You could go with Lithium disposables, but they are pricey and most report run times that aren't much longer than standard alkaline disposables.

 

An investment in 8 low discharge rechargables and a quick charger (90 minute charger or shorter if the budget allows) should serve you well without getting into the higher cost of high end chargers.

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I use the Sanyo Eneloops and have been very happy with their performance.

 

Plus, once they are charged, they hold their charge on the shelf for a long time.

 

I always keep some extras pre-charged and no matter when I pull them out, they seem to have a full charge.

 

I've gotten 10 hours out of a pair of them in a 76CSx WITH the backlight ( at 1/2) on all the time.

Edited by pratzert
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I started getting better service out of all my rechargeables when I got the PowerEx MH-C9000 charger/analyzer. But to answer your question, any NMih with a MAH rating of 2600+ will last a full day of caching, for me. I have a set of 1900 MAH Radio Shack batteries that I took out and tested - the batteries were a couple years old and wouldn't last more than about two hours before reconditioning them on the new charger. After conditioning, I was able to get double that time out of a pair.

 

A set of batteries (4 AA, 2300MAH) that I used in my camera had got to where they wouldn't last for more than two days of heavy use. When I put them in the new charger, I found that one battery was bad. Tossed the bad battery and replaced with another of the same rating (according to the charger) and now I'm back to 4-5 days of use before recharging.

Edited by GeoRVers
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