There are some good applications for this type of batteries, though I haven’t used this brand. I don’t understand why some manufacturers still design battery powered products which can’t function below 1.5V and yet eat them like breakfast. The controllers for my VR headsets are one such example as well as some digital cameras. They go through alkalines like crazy and are very erratic when using nimh. The lion and nizn 1.5V batteries are the only ones which will work reliably. Both types last much longer than alkalines in the controllers, but the nizn seems to self discharge too quickly.
These have a step down controller (of course). The 1.5v is maintained quite well (flat discharge curve) but due to the controller and the generated heat they tend to top out at about 1.5A, max. Appliances with high draw won’t like them.
For the right application, they are pretty good. I have about a dozen Tenavolt a year constant use and so far still like them.
They aren’t very cost effective for very low draw uses, but they could work.
They cost more, and some need special charger. Xtar looks like they will. Some brands use mini-USB. Basically you are feeding them USB 5.0v and the internal circuitry controls charge and discharge.
They are VERY expensive if bought without a special-prohibitive IMO.
I just noticed the Xtar AA claim 3300mWh. I wonder how they are going to ‘pack’ that in there since there has to be control circuitry along with the lithium cell. Seems unlikely.
The Tenavolt AA is 2775mWh. In real life I get about 1500-1600mA.
I have 4 Tenavolt AA and found them less useful than my Eneloops especially when the current is larger than 500mA. The constant 1.5V is a plus but it has significant less overall run time than my Eneloop pros.
Born for 1.5V Li-ion batteries, perfectly compatible with AA and AAA Ni-MH batteries
· Independent Four-slot, Charges AA and AAA Batteries Simultaneously
· Tiny Size, One-hand Operate
· Type-C Input, USB Output
· LED Light for Emergency Use
· Widely Applicable
· Intelligently Matching Constant Current and Constant Voltage
· Multi-protection functions, physical anti-reverse
Some of you have wondered how the 1.5V lithium ion cell discharge looks. I haven’t tested this XTAR version, but there’s another brand of the same thing: Tenavolts.
I did test those, and if you’d like to see how the 1.5V holds out, see here:
Spoiler, the Tenavolt version is very stable at 1.5V, until it’s discharged, at which point it stops all output. Capacity ranges from 1.3Ah at 2A discharge to around 1.9Ah at 0.2A discharge.
I expect the XTAR version to be essentially no different than these Tenavolts.