+1 although slightly over your budget. I have a clone of the same model and very happy with it. But If I were in the market I would consider this other one, closer to your budget. See review here and here
Sorry - forgot to mention it but yes - AA and AAA only will be recharged.
Thank you for the ideas so far. Anyone else with any opinions?
Eneloop has one model of smart charger that i know of, its sold with 4AA batteries, but you have to make sure your not buying the more common dumb charger version.
Opus BM100 would be a good option if you could get it cheap, it was 20$ last time I looked
http://lygte-info.dk/review/Review%20Charger%20Opus%20BM100%20UK.html
For $12 the 2014 i2 nitecore can be had at gearbest shipped. There is a coupon in their sale thread. I bought 2 of those for friends.
i2 above, or add a couple bucks for an i4 from what Ive read. Otherwise the Eneloop smart charger is good too and comes with a bonus 4 batteries (I went this way).
I wish the Angeleyes/Shan SH-168DLCD did not cost more than the VP2. Also Panasonic has no page with NiMH chargers all on one page except the eneloop-marked chargers are on one page but Panasonic makes many additional chargers for AA/AAA NiMH.
I had read the IQ-328 did have a few negative comments somewhere as well.
Well, wish granted because it does not. It is just 27$ without coupon, about 10 $ over your budget. Anyway I am confused with the comparison now because vp2 is for li-ion and you asked for nihm. According to the shan review linked above, the shan
Is the best bang for the buck that you can get, not only charger but also analyzer and able to refresh. Second best would be the opus BM100, 5$ over your initial budget.
I am a big fan of the simple nitecore chargers and sometimes use them myself for nimh charging but I wouldn’t recommend I2/i4 for nimh charging because it seems to work nonstandard and not optimal…
I believe HKJ determined they don’t use a delta V charging algorithm so they work but not quite properly
Edit: This is the eneloop with smart charger, the charger looks the same as the non smart but says advanced, it should be available in other countries as well
The current eneloop chargers are the BQ-CC16, BQ-CC17 & the BQ-CC18. Only the BQ-CC-16 is a smart charger out of these three. It seems there used to be many older but discontinued eneloop chargers.
The Nitecore D2 or D4 chargers are very nice looking but as HKJ did point out they are not so good for charging/servicing NiMH batteries.
The XTAR VP2 was mentioned because it could give someone an idea of the type of charger we were interested in (for NiMH/NiCads) as opposed to say a hobby charger, a basic cheapo charger, an 8-port charger or something like the BT-C3400 charger for example. So the point was that for LiIons we chose the VP2 and for NiMHs we were hoping for something sort of like it only for NiMH batteries as far as functionality and features.
The Angeleyes/Shan SH-168DLCD is ugly and the display looks even worse. This probably means we are vain to the degree we wish for something that looks good as well as works well but we are not willing to give up accuracy and certain basic features for the sake of looks though. If only the Angeleyes/Shan SH-168DLCD looked like an XTAR or a Nitecore then the deal would have been done long ago. 
The BM100 is sort of old by now and the newer unit (BC-T3400) is still an alpha or beta item in its developement as far as we are concerned.
So...spending more money seems likely now. Who ever thought that a NiMH/NiCad charger would cost more than a LiIon charger with similar features?
So......anyone know of a unit that looks like an XTAR or Nitecore-type charger in the case and display but functions like the Angeleyes/Shan SH-168DLCD with its accuracy and quality?
Thank you all so far. The end is near!
the eneloop “pro” model that is black and has LEDs appears to be the one with independent channels and a low rate. tenergy makes a 2-bay independent channel charger that is pretty much an overnight charger TN153. I have a lacrosse bc700 but it’s now going for about $40. I have a tenergy charger for the rcr123’s and it has been flawless so I might consider the tn153 unless other people have had bad experiences. IMO because nimh are now LSD, fast charge rates aren’t really necessary unless you are running huge power packs for some reason like photography and fast charge rates aren’t supposed to be good for cells
Again the eneloop 17 is not even advertised as a smart charger. It uses time as a terminator. Only the 16 above it is a smart charger according to Panasonic. No smart charger=no thanks. 
Having just spent some additional hours researching, HKJ tested the Basen S2 and it almost came out on top but it seems the Nitecore D2/D4 might take first place for us.
It is pretty frustrating that Panasonic has no page for their chargers except the three on the eneloop page. Panasonic makes several other chargers but scattered all over the place and not even searchable or findable on their own website.
The Sony's were looked at as well (not that they were all on the same page either).
Great sale prices on all Nitecore chargers here:
I find the traslucent Shan about as sexy as a battery charger can get, the next step would be the Technoline/Lacrosse/other brands clones. I have a technoline BC700 charger/analyzer that can be found for about 25$, with similar functions, and in my hands is an excellent charger. It may be not as fashion as you need, or not new enough, but you can always place it in a drawer. Normally, on battery chargers, good models stick around for years with minor design changes. In any case, if you need simple and pretty you might consider the Apple charger. It is an extremely simple thing and quite sexy, and it does not perform bad at all. Only charges 2 batteries at a time and no advanced options like the more functional models that we recommended, for 30$ (with six Appleloops included).
I’ll never understand this obsession with stylish appearances, its a charger, as long as its not hideous or covered in gargoyles who cares.
Well, if you are willing to spend then you can consider the 35-40$ Maha powerex MH-C9000, with a very nice display and for many a gold standard of NiHM chargers. And if you are in for the ferrari, have a look at this cool skyRC (about 60:money_mouth_face: with a supercool phone app to monitor the charge by bluetooth where you can almost see the electrons pumping into the battery :bigsmile:
Above you said that you decided for a nitecore D4, that is a good charger for Li-ion that can charge HIHM but not a dedicated NIHM.
If I were to buy a charger that only needed to charge AA and AAAs, I would probably go for the Voltcraft/Lacrosse, as its just nice to have those extra options over a standard panasonic charger.
BTW
Most Panasonic chargers in Japan are smart chargers!
This is a copy from the eneloop 2005-2014 info thread:
(these chargers are currently on the market)
| BQ-CC11 | BQ-CC21 | BG-CC22 | BQ-CC23 | BQ-CC24 | BQ-CC25 | |
| Battery fitment | 4 cells | 4 cells | 4 cells | 2 cells | 2 cells | 4+2*1 |
| AAA | 1-4 | 1-4 | 1-4 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 1-4 |
| AA | 1-4 | 1-4 | 1-4 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 1-4 |
| C | - | - | - | - | - | 1-4 |
| D | - | - | - | - | - | 1-4 |
| 9V*1 | - | - | - | - | - | 1-2 |
| Smart charge | Smart | Smart | Smart | Smart | -(timer) | - |
| Charge time | ||||||
| Fast charge*2 1-2 AA | 2 hours | 2 hours | 4 hours | 4 hours | *3 | 6 hours |
| normal charge | 4 hours | 4 hours | 8 hours | 8 hours | 7 hours | 6 hours |
| Zero Power consumption *4 | yes | - | - | - | - | - |
| Voltage | 100-240 | 100-240 | 100-240 | 100-240 | 100-240 | 100-240 |
*1 BQ-C25 is a multi battery charger, and can charge 9V batteries, 2 in total.
*2 Fast charging can only be done with 2 cells. and not with 4 at the same time.
*3 the BQ-CC24 is a timer based charger especially for eneloop Lite, therefore its not recommended to use with standard eneloops.
*4 zero power consumption is that the charger will use less than 0.005 watt when not in use, according to IEC62301 it qualifies for Zero Power Consumption.
I have the lacrosse bc-700. it’s about $40 but price fluctuates and mine is a little over 5yrs old without any problems. otherwise my advice is find one with independent channels and the lowest rate you can find. you could even try the tenergy tn-153 for about $6 shipped unless other users had a bad experience