The BTones are available at about 9,xx$ 2100mAh version and at about 11,xx$ the 2500mAh version
Yes, UDO, even then. I cant justify spending 70-100% of the price of Eneloops on Chinese equivalents knowing how easy it is to get a lemon or fake ones and the hassle it takes to either get your money back or wait for re-shipped items.
Its risky business+when I buy locally I know there will be some kind of warranty and I will be able to contact either seller or manufacturer and try to adress the concerns, thats not possible with any of those Chinese copies when they offer month or two of warranty I believe?
Cheap lights=no problems, but not batteries at the price of branded ones.
As I mentioned - make them cost 4-7$ shipped for 4 pack and Im all in :)
TX for the info brted. I am not very likely to buy Camelion...
I think in places where Eneloops are priced astronomically, the Btones sound like a good alternative. But I can find 4-packs of Duraloops for around $8 when I find a good sale. And that's why I have more Duraloops than I really need.
Where I live I can not get eneloops for less than 30$... (a pack of 4x eneloop 2nd gen 2000mAh is in this moment about 25euro where I live... too sad)
That´s why I have to purchase all kind of batteries via Internet, and, also, there is a significant difference in price when purchasing eneloops vs others: the cheapest price for 4x 2000mAh eneloops is about 14$ (manafont), where 4x BTone 2100, which performs about equal, cost 4-5 dollar less...
Also there is a big risk of receiving fake eneloops when purchasing at ebay from chinese sellers. That´s why I prefer brands like BTone, Pisen, Turnigy..... they are know to be OK. Cost less than eneloops, and perform quite good.
Added results for the Pisen AA 2000
6) Pisen AA 2000mAh
Link - http://www.dealextreme.com/p/pisen-hr15-51-1-2v-2000mah-ni-mh-rechargeable-aa-batteries-2-pack-18317?r=43033281
FYI, no load voltages were:1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 months (1.321v, 1.314v, 1.306v, 1.303v, 1.297v, 1.295v)
Measured capacity - 1853mAh
Remaining after six months - 1577mAh
So it has about 85% of it´s capacity still available after 6 months.
Also, I have emailed Camelion several times with questions about flashlights and batteries, but I have never received a reply.
Not a good sign.
If I may request, can someone test the Harbor Freight LSD AAA/AA's that they sell. I am getting good results based on the usage I put them through, but do not have a way to test their performance in a more scientific manner.
harbor freight = conus only?
There's a short thread about the Harbor Freight batteries here:
Thanks. I don't go over to CPF. I believe the HF batteries are a pretty good value when on sale.
IMPORTANT UPDATE
Dont buy the PISEN AA batteries (unless you are going to use them on low load applications).
I dont know if my 2 units are bad or what happens exactly.
All my tests on all batteries where done at 500mA, both charging and discharging.
Today, I charged these batteries at 500mA (as in the tests) and then made a discharge test, this time at 1.0Amps instead of the 500mA of the tests (to test them at 1.0Amps to see how they perform)
Results were more than dissapointing.... I have no words.
Measured capacity: 2mAh on one battery and 5mAh with the other battery.
I mean, when you put a load of 500mA to them, they perform very good. They hold the voltage and the voltage decreases over the time very slowly (is normal, as the other batteries I have tested)
But, when you put a load of 1000mA to them, the voltage drops from 1,4volts to below 0,8volts in less than 10 seconds!!!!!
This behaviour is not present in any other of the batteries I have. So the PISEN AA that I have seems to be designed for low load applications (or they are defective...)
I am not a battery specialist, but.... seems that they have a high internal resistance.
And the problem is not the charger, because I took a BTone 2100 and discharged at 1.0Amps and the behaviour was normal (the voltage didn´t dropped so fast).
OK, only that. You are warned. Removed temporarily from the "good batteries list".... until more tests are done
Have you done 1000mA discharges of the others as well?
Yes, 1A discharge on the AA ones. The AAA have been discharged up to 800mA (1C). None of them has shown that horrendous behaviour
Added two more batteries to this test:
GENUINE Sanyo Eneloop 2nd gen (2000mAh typ 1900mAh)
Manufactured on June 2011. Received on June 2012.
By this moment I ONLY have discharge test, LSD test results will be ready on 6 months (December 2012)
First discharge (charged in the factory about 1 year ago)
Cell 1 - 1327mAh @500mA discharge
Cell 2 - 1318mAh @500mA discharge
(what? they really charge the batteries to 100% in the factory? After 1 year they still have ONLY? the 69% of the capacity left?)
Ok, let´s do 5 full cycles, test capacity and wait 6 months to see what happens…
FAKE eneloops from DinoDirect
only to see if they are LSD batteries or not and how they perform.
Currently testing…………………
Today I bought 4 AA “ready to use” Activ Energy 2300 mAh from Aldi store for 4€. When surfing for some tests I found this site: http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=n&prev=\_t&hl=sl&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ledstyles.de%2Fftopic17286.html and the results look pretty darn good to me. Ok self discharge after one year is a little high, but very high initial capacity of ~2700mAh means that even after one year in a drawer the capacity is still more or less identical to eneloop . Anyone else tested these?
I prefer not to use non-LSD batts any more, no matter if they are 2700mAh or even more…
In my opinion, non-LSD is recomendable when you need… let´s say 2700mAh and you are going to use the batteries the next day after charging, or the other… not 1 month after…. obvious….
Always LSD proven batts, and if $$$ permits, eneloop.
just found this and related threads this morning, thank you very much for the thorough reviews, I'm off to get some BTone's :)
Sometimes, LSD is not really desirable. I find this to be the case mostly with AAA batteries. They are low in capacity to begin with. This means that (1) you will drain them completely in a short time in anything that can be considered high drain, so LSD is kind of superfluous, and (2) you generally need all the capacity you can get. For high capacity AAA batteries, I have had good luck with the dark green top, Japanese made, 1000mAH Duracells. Yes, they need to be charged before use. But given the low capacity of any AAA, you would probably want to ‘top off’ even LSD batteries if you need maximum runtime (especially if they are used in something used intermittently).
Thank you for your measurements from your post - which you’ve basically ignored SINCE MAY 2012 - ? (a coupla’ posts in Oct. and then now?)
[quote=StorminMatt]
Yes, and PLEASE give us BLF’ers some pic’s of your dmm measurements fran82, ok? 
and also please let us click on:
“This post/thread ”may” contain referrals, a little contribution I “earn” in form of points ONLY if you buy the item. The purpose is to redeem items using the points+my cash when neccesary, and then making reviews of them in the forums to share info about them. It will not cost you anything. I dont “earn” anything if you ONLY click the link.“