Battery Chargers Maha vs. AllTek (others)? Batteries: Powerex vs. GP / Nexcell etc?

[Us 5 Camp]

Originally posted this in "General", perhaps this is the better forumn:

I am considering the purchase of a battery charger and AA NiMH rechargeables.

 

Chargers? Maha C204F or AllTek AT-1268 ??? both appear to be very good. Any comments? I am waiting for a reply from Thomas Dist. on this question as well.

 

Batteries? Powerex vs. GP vs. Nexcell vs. others?

I understand Powerex are rated the best? How are GP and others? They're often found cheaper than Powerex...

 

Thanks,

[+TresOkies]

I have the Maha C204F charger and PowerEx 1600 maH AA's from Thomas Dist. I had no problems with Thomas, although their web site is kinda goofy . The charger works fine, although I wish I had an 8-cell charger.

 

The jury is still out on the AA's though. I didn't realize they are 1.2v, not 1.5v. They won't power my StreetPilot III at all, which isn't a big deal because I very rarely need to power it, except when downloading waypoints. They seem OK in all the other uses though (FRS radio(s), eTrex, eMap, Palm(s), etc.)

 

-E

 

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N35°32.981 W98°34.631

[Best_Buddies]

If it were me, I would not overly worry about the brand name of the battery. The way that I see it is that ANY 1800 will outperform ANY 1700. Some brands might give you and extra 15 minutes of performance, but it does not seem worth a lot of extra bother to get a certain brand.

 

This site has some reviews. It is targeted for digital cameras, and their battery usage (short bursts of high current) is a lot different from GPS usage (constant low current). However, it is a good start.

 

http://www.imaging-resource.com/ACCS/BATTS/BATTS.HTM

 

The one thing that I will say is that you should get a charger that can do individual cells. If you decide to use NiMH in a FRS radio that takes 3 cells, it will be difficult to charge that 3rd cell. Do not charge a fresh cell and a dead cell in pairs. By getting a charger that does individual cells, you can avoid this problem entirely.

 

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Any similarity between my opinions and reality is entirely coincidental.

--Harrkev