Are Amazon Basics Ni-MH batteries rewrapped GP ReCyko+?

So I bought Amazon Basics AA and AAA Ni-MH batteries (imported directly from the US by Amazon itself), and after a quick search I noticed that the product codes match exactly GP ReCyko+ ones. Knowing that Amazon has been sourcing their batteries from China for a while, the theory that they're made by GP makes sense.

Anyway, can someone confirm say if they are rewrapped GP batteries? If so, how good are these compared with GP own batteries, are they a 1:1 match in # of cycles? I have 4 AA from GP, and they are good for Chinese cells, not in the same league as Japan-made Eneloop or Fujitsu of course, but still decent. I just hope these "AmazonReCyko+" are as good. Here are the product codes:

210AAHCB (AA/2000mAh)

210AAHC (AA/2400mAh)

85AAAHCB (AAA/800mAh)

85AAAHC (AAA/850mAh)

That would be interesting. The ‘reviews’ of Amazon Basics has gone way downhill since they stopped re-badging Eneloops. OTOH, you can’t trust 90%+ of the reviews on batteries.
My old AB/Eneloops are great. Haven’t bothered to try any AA/AAA AB-cells since they changed. I did get some AB C-cells recently. They’ve been fine, but too early to tell how they’ll hold up. Lots of batteries are fine for awhile.

I do have some GP ReCyko+ AAA I got. Initially they did not look good with capacities all over the place, but they did settle out after a half dozen cycles and have been OK for about 3 years. Probably better than Tenergy Centura.

Glad to read your GP cells are doing fine, my AAs are also good after little more than a year. They last as much as Japanese Eneloops, though I only use them in not demanding devices, essentially in a wireless mouse and a wireless gamepad, and maybe in a multimeter in the future. I'm looking forward buying an advanced smart charger (Liitokala Lii-500) to test these GP-sourced AB batteries, as my Panasonic BQ-CC17, despite being smart, is basic and a bit slow.

Anyway, I wouldn't have any issue in Amazon shifting the source of their batteries from Eneloop to GP, as it's still a decent manufacturer, but as long as they were cheaper, which I don't believe they are. I hate when companies build a reputation of a product over time and then silently downgrade it , without reducing the prices. And now that even Eneloops are made in China depending on the market they're sold in (like mine), it seems that Fujitsu is the only Ni-MH brand still fully made in Japan. I have a couple of Sony CycleEnergy AAAs made in Japan, but I wouldn't be surprised if they started sourcing them from China as well.

Apparently, being an early adopter of Japanese Ni-MH batteries is a good thing, as you never know when they will be downgraded, with Eneloop, Amazon Basics and IKEA Ladda being examples.

I have not seen any clear information on the source of Amazon NiMH cels.

AA Cycler has done life cycle testing of multiple product codes of each of those brands. You could look at his results to see if they are similar:

http://aacycler.com/battery/aa/

It looks like GP quality overall is pretty good.

My understanding is it varies regionally which factory Eneloops will come from. North America and Europe customers theoretically should be getting made in Japan cells. Sorry to hear that you get stuck with made in China cells. I’ve read that the quality of the made in China Eneloops has improved over the last couple of years, but I don’t have details, and made in Japan remain the cells to seek out.

Surprising results, it does seem the GP cells are very good, the AAs are not very far behind Eneloop and higher than Fujitsu.

By the way, according to the ranking, even Eneloop can't reach 400 cycles in real life usage, so the 2100 cycles expectance really only applies for controlled conditions (IEC 61951-2:2011 standard) which is what Panasonic advertises. If you use the latest revision (61951-2:2017), they drop to (still) unrealistic 600 cycles mark.

Yes, the advertised cycle life is under a specific test, which is not likely to be an exact fit for many use cases, but is probably not wildly unrealistic for some uses. I think solar garden lights (if they have conservative low voltage protection) and LED candles could potentially be similar.

For a standard Eneloop, it would be a 500mA discharge rate, which should be in the 50 lumen range for many flashlights, and in the range I’ve seen some AA-powered motorized toys draw. Each test cycle drains the cell by about 60% of nominal capacity. Looking at the most recent Eneloop test I see on HKJ’s website, the voltage under load at that drain and state of charge was about 1.25V. Some finicky devices stop working at that voltage*. Or some users may charge pre-emptively before it is empty to reduce the likelihood of running out while using a battery. Charging for the test cycle is done at a 4 hour pace, with theoretically a bit of over-charge.

Capacity is tested every 50 cycles. Keep doing this until capacity is down to 75% of nominal, or voltage during cycles 1-49 drops below 1.0V.

But it is definitely common to discharge batteries deeper than 40% state of charge, and to use high charge and discharge rates, all of which accelerate the wear on the battery. Also, the IEC test does not monitor internal impedance as a life cycle criteria, so you can have batteries that fail to perform in high drain devices, even though their capacity under slow discharge might seem ok.

AA Cycler runs his tests down to 0.9V, and he charges them at twice the IEC rate. Those differences compared to the Eneloop rating per the IEC test standard gives a hint of how cycle life can vary depending on use.

Keep in mind, only 300-400 cycles on an Eneloop is still a lot of use. If you charged once a week, it’s 6 years.

* I still use some alkaline batteries in low value devices, mostly kids toys. I haven’t bought alkalines in years. When I get low on alkalines, I check the battery disposal bin at work. Probably 1/4 or more of the alkalines I find in there are over 1.4V, which is about 75% full. I assume this is because of these devices that don’t work well at low voltages, combined with the voltage drop of alkalines under load, or people discarding batteries pre-emptively.

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My experience with old eneloop, Amazon Basics (Made in Japan), and some LADAs (Also made in Japan) put out less current but retain capacity pretty well. Definitely not aged on on the capacity performance. High internal resistance. Works fine for low draw and does deliver the energy. Just can’t do it good enough for a flashlight. I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that a charger was responsible for some of them ending up that way.

Even if you get only 100 cycles, when you consider the cost alone it still remains a no brainer.