ezarc, not the charge speed (transfer rate) is important ---it doesnt matter very much if you charge fast or very slow; the transferred charge will be the same!--- but the discharge speed (transfer rate). one gets more (continuous) charge out of a cell if the cell is discharged very slowly. (this can also be seen from doing maths on the parametric discharge graphs of Liion cells).
your numbers sound sound .. because -0.5A is 0.25C, which is ..etc.. ;)
hi veer, i did some testing yes. charge rate is not a true factor in getting higher capacity reading from the C9000. you get (minimally!) higher capacity readings from the C9000 if the prior discharge was performed very slowly (either on the C9000 or with Moonlight mode of your light). that's also the reason why the break-in is the way it is: the break-in discharges at -0.1C afaik.
what are discharge numbers? you mean the number of cycles? i dont keep track of the latter anymore. years of use and abuse of Eneloops on cpf have shown that, as a rule of thumb, the cells are robust and "dont age", and that you can reset them to factory state with a break-in whenever you want to. in some cases, capacity can be increased. I, for example, did extensive overdischarging and overcharging of the cells, and capacity, according to C9000 readings, has increased since.
i check capacity mayber 1x per month. and it's not based on cycles. capacity remains constant. Eneloop wonder!!
You could have looked in my list.. and had seen that they have both the AA and AAA`s ;)
Edit: June 7th 2012: For the Black-Red eneloops, they have both AA`s and AAA`s, but not for the white Disney-Love ones, they only have AA`s
I also edited my third post in this thread with the correct model numbers!
You can get 4 3rd gen ones from Japan via eBay for around $20.
As for US sellers, probably not of the 3rd gen ones unless its at a over inflated price.
I just did a break in on some Turnigy LSD batteries from Hobby King, they are all around 2250-2350 but there is no indication how many cycles they will last.
I found j-stop on ebay, $22 for 4AA shipped. Not bad considering Amazon charges $20 for 2nd gen. I'd rather deal with US seller if possible. I'm not interested in experimenting with a new brand of LSD cells. I've used Sanyo for >5 years, all my 1st Gens are still working pretty good, despite 100s of cycles. Many of them are probably at or beyond the 1000 cycle count.
I have bought from Thomas before, decent seller, all their Eneloops are apparently 2nd Gen, but price is good at $15 shipped for 4AAs.