Last time I bought AA & AAA rechargeable batteries, 7 Day Shop was the supplier of choice.
Who is it these days and is NiMH still the preffered flavour?
Ta
I like Panasonic eneloops, but recently have bought these from ikea. For the price I've found them great. They do mail order too if you don't have a store nearby.
I've just bought some EBL Lithium Rechargeables. 1.5V, but only 3300 mWh. Not as long-lasting as good NIMH but seem to be less affected by cold.
Recently purchased a selection of batteries and a charger from Vapextech via their eBay shop.
Have some of the same batteries that must be 8+ years old and seem to be working fine.
Vapex ones here too. Got loads of them and never had a duff one.
Eneloop here. Work in anything from radios to camera flashes. Hold their charge for months and months and last ages when powered up also. Wouldn't use anything else personally
Eneloop for posh things like camera.
Loads of uniross (high capacity ones) from eBay for everything else like games controllers. In fact they're so good I don't think I'll get eneloop again.
Oh, and a good smart charger means that they all last longer and can be resurrected from 'dead' a few times.
I was in that position last year. Short research revealed that there was only one factory in Japan (former Sanyo - now Panasonic) making new gen., ready to use NiMh AAA & AA batteries. Officially they sell them under Panasonic Eneloop/Fujitsu label. Saying that, Amazon Basics and IKEA Ladda are new gen NiMh cells made in Japan, so it's highly likely that they're the same cells.
Myself I went for Fujitsu (black ones) as I found them on offer and they are great.
By the way - I still have original 1st Gen Sanyo eneloops which are in working condition.
I've been happy with Amazon Basics... Last time I went with EBL (not the new lithium ones, the old standard-type rechargables) and they're the only rechargables I've ever had actually die on me without some sort of utter abuse like deep discharging, quite annoying.
Might need to try the lithium rechargables
Eneloops here as well. I've got a bunch of radio mics that I use rechargables on that used to give me hassles with other ones but now I've got rid of those and use only Eneloops the problems have gone. I think the others were just a bit unreliable with their charge level and how long it would hold. The eneloops appear to be completely solid. I'm not a fan of the Ikea ones and I think the Amazon basics are probably ok but these things aren't so expensive that I mess around any more.
Eneloops are still only 1.2v and some devices are fussy about that. The EBL Lithiums are 1.5v so might be more reliable in that instance.
Thanks everyone. So it looks Lithium is on it's way in the rechargeable market and there's no current 7 Day Shop equivalent.
I recall Sanyo Eneloops being the original 'ready to go' batteries but there seemed to be a lot of other brands offering similar. Presumably they were either rebadging or being a bit crafty with their marketing.
If you're going the EBL Lithium route, just make sure you're aware of the difference between mAH and mWH. 😁
As in, standby for fireworks...?
No no. Just mWH isn't the unit we've been used to seeing on rechargeables. At 1.5v, they're "only" 2200mAh, so will need substituted more often. Just trying to set expectations really.
OTOH they charge up from a mini USB cable so that might make them more convenient than trailing around a separate charger.
I have a lot of eneloops, some random ones and recents have all been Ikea, they seem decent.
Worth getting a good charger, pretty sure mine came from 7dayshop but being able to do a refresh cycle (charge/discharge a few times) is great for ones that have been left empty for a while. Also measures capacity so you can spot ones that have gone bad.
Bumpy bumpy
We recently treated ourselves to a wildlife camera and set of 8*AA eneloop batteries to go in it. I broke out my old Vapextech chargers and was surprised by the results - checking any single battery would show differing levels of charge depending what slot I put it in. This was the same for both the new Eneloop batteries and for the older rechargables ( a mix of varying capacity vapex batteries, mostly). I could litearlly take a battery, put it in one slot and see it marked up as 3/4 full, the move it to another slot and see it marked as dead.
So, I think it's time for a new charger. Any recommendations other than vapex? Is it worth getting oine that will offer a discharge function?
bit cross I didn't think to try swapping batteries between slots before now, I threw out a load of vapex batteries that were showing as dead in the charger a while back 🙁
I can't remember where it was recommended now, but before I bought mine I did a bit of online research. The Nitecore range of chargers came out well.
I've been using the D4 Charger for 2-3 years now without any problem. With a young child who seems to constantly leave here toys and games switched on, it has been in regular use. I invested in a load of Panasonic Eneloop Pro batteries (AA & AAA) at the same time - before the prices shot up!. Shouldn't ever have to buy batteries again!
Whatever the BL700 is called this week.
I've got one of these after having some positive experiences with their RC chargers, seems quite a bit nicer than the ones I've had before but haven't put it through too much use yet:
