IKEA kills off LADDA NiMH made in Japan

Someone should change the title of this post, the new grey Ladda’s are still MIJ. No MIC grey Laddas have been spotted.

https://www.fdk.com/denchi-e/

Fujitsu
Fujitsu, on the other hand, currently owns the factory. This single factor is the only one capable of producing these low self-discharge nickel-metal hydride batteries, and it supplies many brands such as Amazon, Fujitsu, Panasonic, and… IKEA.

Truth Be Told……

The white LADDA batteries were not that good long term.

I have empirical data from tests which proves that LADDA (At least the NiMh AAA did not do so well long term.

They tend to lose their capacity more so than comparable NiMh rechargables over time. Consistently.

It’s not a great difference, I would say they lose 20% more of their capacity than some comparable NiMh AAA’s.

Most likely due to their chemical composition. I have a plethora of LADDA’s and I compare them with a number of other brands through a rather
exhausting set of tests.

That said, the batteries they are being compared to are “COMPARABLE”….meaning, they are from the same circa dates as the Ladda.
I cannot speak for later batteries from LADDA (Ikea) or from competitive brands.

Bottom line……it’s not a great loss…and there are BETTER substitutes in the same price range. Some of which would surprise most people I suspect.

My white Laddas are still going strong. Best value for money NiMHs I’ve used.

What’s your recommendation for NiMh AAs and AAAs? I need to get some more, but don’t need eneloop quality (and price).

I have 3 of those IQ338XLs along with my MC3000’s and various other chargers / discharge testers.

If you want 4 different results from any of those batteries, just repeat the test in a different slot.
BTW, 127milliohms is as high as the IQ338XL will read, regardless of the batteries actual IR

I can’t.
Since 2017 I’ve bought hundreds and hundreds of batteries and haven’t needed to buy new NiMh batteries lately. In more than a year actually.
I’m just using up the old stock until the capacities are too low to continue using them.

The batteries that were “best” last year may not be this year. Factories change. Materials change, manufacturing processes change etc etc.
I can only speak for the batteries I’ve had and used / tested over the last 4 years.

IKEA still sells the 2450 and now the 1900. Wrapper says Japan, imported through IKEA Mexico. Wrapper is now brown. I’ve been wanted ikea priced rewrapped regular eneloops and it appears this is it.

Good to know. The next time I’m in Chicago I’ll have to stop at IKEA and stock up.

Very sad to hear !

Our local IKEA here in Germany still has plenty of those made in Japan. :slight_smile:
AA in Pro (2450 mAh, 6,99 Euro / 4pc) and standard (1900 mAh, 3,99 Euro / 4pc ) and AAA in standard (750 mAh, 3,99 Euro / 4pc).
Pretty cheap. :slight_smile: I will post some pictures later.

If I should send some to anybody, anywhere, let me know ! (At cost price + shipping.)

Edit, linkservice:

All the new ones are made in Japan.

It's just the white ones, and the tan/brown ones that stopped selling in most places. Still interesting to see that you guys still have the white ones.

Those grey 2450 should be the same as the white 2450

Yes - the white ones can still be ordered online and are in stock in a few locations in Germany.

I was in a US Ikea and found that they had 3 of the 4 new batteries in stock.

AA - 2450 - These are like the old white ones - Now in dark gray wrapper. Made in Japan. $7.99 for 4 pack. Seemingly like Eneloop Pro. Ikea Website

AA - 1900 - Light gray wrapper. Made in Japan. $5.99 for 4 pack. Seemingly like regular Eneloop. Ikea Website

AAA - 900 - Dark gray wrapper - not in stock. Seemingly would be like Eneloop Pro. Not sure if product actually exists yet.

AAA - 750 - Light gray - Made in Japan - $5.49 for 4 pack. Seemingly like regular Eneloop. Ikea Website

So IKEA seems to be selling the basic light gray AAA (750mAh) for $5.49 per 4-pack.
Amazon has the Eneloop AAA 8-pack for $15.

Does the LADDA have the same charge life as the Eneloop? (something like a 2,000 charge cell life).

Ikea rates the standard Ladda for 1000 charge cycles, and the high capacity for 500 charge cycles.

Eneloops are rated for 2100 charge cycles for the standard version and 500 cycles for the high capacity version.

What’s the deal on ordering online in the US? How much is shipping?

Thanks. I may just stick with Eneloops then. I was also pretty amazed to find that the Eneloop Pro has 500 charge cycles and a nominal 24% increase in capacity. Also, they self-discharge faster and are more prone to deep discharge.

As stated already, the IKEA package states less charge-cycles than Panasonic does on their Eneloop packages.
But I would assume the batteries sold via IKEA are technically the same as those sold by Panasonic directly ?
Or has anybody found different results via testing ?

Edit: the test-results from lygte-info.dk look very similar for the eneloops and the Ladda.

What’s there to be sad about? The title to this thread is misleading. Laddas are very much alive and kicking. Ikeda have not killed them off. At the very least they changed the colour of the wrapper and packaging. They might have possibly changed the chemistry too but I doubt it and it’s only speculation and internet guesses. Personally I prefer the newer wrapper and believe it is just a different colour lipstick on the same pig.

Over the past few months I’ve been using the old white label Ladda against the newer label and can’t tell any difference.

In my part of the world, by far the Laddas are the best value. If available I still prefer the original Eneloops but those are expensive and hard to come by. Typically $3.50+ Cdn for 1 Eneloop vs $4.99 Cdn for 4 pack of Ladda (AA). I bought a bunch of Eneloops recently when Costco.ca had a sale on those. Unfortunately Eneloops no longer appears on Costco.ca and I’m hoping that this is only a temporary thing. Energizer rechargeable are Made in Japan and are readily available here around $20 Cdn/4 pack. Duracell rechargeable are the same price as the Energizers but are made in China.

True !
I guess that was rather an initiall guess what might happen. :slight_smile: