Battery review
It is an honest, objective and hopefully informative PRODUCT REVIEW which may be of interest to anyone who uses lots of household batteries for whatever purpose(s) - games, toys, cameras, musical instruments, etc.
Specifically, this is a review of the following product available from: [www.batteryspace.com] (24-Pack) AA 2300mAh High Capacity NiMH Rechargeable Batteries.
I've ordered many different products (rechargeable AAA, AA, C, D & 9- Volt NiMH's) from Batteryspace.com over the past several years, but the product I use most frequently is their AA-size 2300mAh "POWERIZER" High Capacity NiMH Rechargeable Batteries.
They are currently selling a 24-count package for just under $30 (free shipping if ordered by 12-31-05) which is by far the best value I've found anywhere online or elsewhere (please let me know if you find something of equal quality and reliability for less!). Now, that may seem like a fairly hefty price for 24 AA-sized batteries, but keep in mind that these are NOT normal one-use, disposable alkaline batteries - these are RECHARGEABLE NiMH batteries which are good for approximately 1,000 (ONE THOUSAND) USES/RECHARGE CYCLES!
I use a universal charger which I purchased for under $20 that allows me to charge any/all brands and sizes (AAA, AA, C, D, and/or 9-Volt) of either "NiMH" or "Re-Chargeable Alkaline" batteries.
Batteryspace.com sells many different brands/types of chargers as well. Before I discovered, Batteryspace.com, I purchased several bundles of Re-Chargeable Alkaline batteries at a discount store. These are somewhat less expensive than NiMH's but are becoming harder to find, are not much cheaper and are only good for approximately 100 (one hundred) uses/recharge cycles, thus in the long run, they are not of comparable value to rechargeable NiMH batteries.
I use the rechargeable AA-NiMH's in everything from electronic games, toys, RC-vehicles, flashlights, musical instruments, cameras, etc... and have found them to be very reliable and dependable in all uses. Over the past several years, I have only encountered 2 or 3 bad cells (cells that won't hold much of a charge), but that's out of the original 48 that I purchased and after having recharged each of them well over 15-20 times. Given the price of normal alkaline batteries on the market that will hold anywhere near 2300mAh duration of charge, (Duracell or Energizer for example) I'm way ahead financially even if these things were to all fail after only a few uses - which of course they don't!
Several caveats and helpful suggestions follow: - Don't ever mix NiMH batteries with other types of batteries in any kind of gadget! (such as regular alkalines or rechargeable alkalines which shouldn't be mixed with one another either).
- Don't get NiMH batteries wet or expose them to extreme heat or open flame! (they can supposedly explode and/or catch fire if you do - yes, that's right - water CAN cause fire! Ever see what a handful of pure, raw , harmless, silly-putty looking chunk of potassium does when dropped in water? It dances on the surface like a burning UFO! Way cool to watch, but you probably don't want your kids' toys doing this if they accidentally get submerged inside a toy in the bathtub,swimming pool, etc.)
- NiMH rechargeable batteries tend to lose approximately 20-25% of their charge per month when sitting around at room temperature, so don't charge them too far in advance if you can avoid it. Don't refrigerate them either - this won't help slow the process and will actually hurt the batteries over time. (I keep mine in 2 separate boxes; 1 for pre-charged/ready to use, and 1 for dead/need charging, and I only charge the dead ones when the pre-charge box runs low).
- While general single-use household alkaline batteries are 1.5V, these are 1.2V. (same goes for AAA, C & D rechargeable NiMH's as well). When using 6 OR LESS of the AA's in any one gadget, I have not noticed any appreciable degradation in performance whatsoever. When a gadget requires using MORE THAN 6 AA-sized batteries however, there is a slight reduction in output/speed noticeable but generally not enough to worry about considering that after a few uses, normal alkaline batteries will generally cause any gadget to run slightly slower too. In fact, the NiMH's may start out with less voltage (1.2 v 1.5), but they seem to maintain their peak output for a longer time than normal alkalines maintain their peak output - i.e.. the 1.2V output doesn't "drop off" as quickly/noticeably as does the 1.5V output of most normal alkaline batteries. The larger the battery size, the more noticeable is this reduced voltage effect. Thus, I would not recommend using rechargeable NiMH's in gadgets which require 4 or more C or D size batteries - you can try it, but you'll probably find as I have that the thing (whatever it is) will just run too slow for comfort. (sometimes 3 C's or D's don't work so good either, but it really just depends on the gadget). This doesn't really become a problem with the AA-size rechargeable batteries until you put them into something that requires MORE THAN 6. I would estimate about 99% of my battery usage is now accomplished using exclusively rechargeable NiMH's of various sizes, and about 65% of that is using the AA-sized NiMH's in a multitude of uses!
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