i’m lookin at eneloops, duraloops, duracells rechargables, or harbor freights brand and possibly other recommended brands. anyone got any input. these will mostly be used in sk-68’s and such. i need some opinions, and facts to back them please
I’ve had really good luck using the Duracells in various sizes. Got a bunch of them and NO failures yet. Some have been recharged a few hundred times. I can’t speak to the others as I have no experience with them.
so is the output pretty even till they get really low?
Eneloops.
Can’t beat ’em.
You’ll spend a bit more, but you get the amazing performance that has proven top notch time and again.
The output depends on capacity, load and condition of the battery. If new, the condition really isn’t normally an issue.
This is an incredible deal on 8 Eneloop AAs and 4 AAAs, 3rd gen.
Oops ’ NLee the Engineer ’ says they are mislabeled and calls them 2nd gen, in a review dated Dec, 17, 2013.
well i have some xxxxfire batteries and they show good potential for about 5-10 minutes then they bog way down to barely visible in my sk-68 and someone said i shouldn’t see the power drop like that in decent Ni-Mh’s for about an hour of runtime
Stick with name brands. If the battery is crap right out of the box, you usually have some recourse (warranty) with the vendor. Weird/no name batteries? Not so much.
think i’ll grab some eneloop and duracell. what kinda charger should i get? or would it be best to get the set that come with one?
If you have no chargers right now, getting some that come with their own charger are usually a good deal. I have several of those. Duracell, Panasonic and Rayovac. All of them work pretty good. Eventually I bought a Maha charger for the nickel-metal and NiCad’s and never looked back. I use a hobby charger for the lithium’s.
http://www.amazon.com/eneloop-Pre-Charged-Rechargeable-Batteries-Position/dp/B004RP2VNI
I use my Nitecore i2 to charge pretty much all my nimh/liion cells, but I haven’t heard of anyone having issues with the Sanyo charger.
eneloop are widely regarded as the best NiMH batteries, they don’t self drain quickly, they have less voltage sag under load, they can be abused and still work great, and hundreds of cycles later they barely lose any capacity and still work extremely well
i don’t have any links to provide, i’ve seen tests and reviews and experiments done on them over the years but did not bother to bookmark them, you will have to search BLF and google for more infomation
Also invest in a smart charger if you plan to use NIMH extensively, they fully charge the batteries without baking them at high temperatures, they cost more then a few packs of batteries but are excellent chargers
got any recommendations on the chargers Bort? i like the keep it simple stupid strategy because my edjamacation aint that great. lol. and this will only be used on nimhs if it has to be setup each time i’ll forget everything i need to know. i’ll probably stick with the eneloops tho
These are known as good chargers, and there are other ones out there, I believe Sony makes some and if anyone can chime in on others.
Also prices change all the time, I’ve seen both under $30 at times, on amazon, newegg and other places
http://www.amazon.com/Powerex-MH-C9000-PowerEx-WizardOne-Charger-Analyzer/dp/B000NLUSLM/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1389942537&sr=8-3&keywords=bc700
http://www.amazon.com/La-Crosse-Technology-Battery-Charger/dp/B000RSOV50/
ok one more annoying question. if i buy the duracell at walmart that come with charger will the duracell charger charge the eneloop reliably? or would they charge differently
I agree. It was basically the same cost as most other brands and Eneloops have turned out very reliable and durable. I use a set of four AA Eneloops daily and charge them same day. So far no problems.
I think Eneloops are top quality.
most any NIMH charger will charge any NIMH battery, but dumb chargers just push a set current for a times number of hours, usually overcharging the battery and making them as hot as hot water from a faucet. I suspect these batteries don’t come out fully charged, my very fickle digital camera dies with low battery warning when used with almost full batteries refuses to run on dumb charged batteries but the same batteries on a smart charger will run it for a little while.
Also people are saying that only the white top duracell that say made in japan are actually rebadged eneloops (“duraloops”)
I can tell you I actually use those 15 minute battery cookers and out of all brands Eneloops have the best performance using them. They heat up very little when on the charger and even after a couple years it still won’t reject the cells whereas almost every other brand, Duracell, Energizer, Powerizer, Lenmar, Tenergy, they all fail after a few dozen 15 minute charges. They also get hotter indicating higher internal resistance.
Eneloop classic 2000 mah cells are just real workhorses. I figure if I get a year out of a nimh battery after using the 15 minute charger I’ve gotten my money’s worth. And the convenience of 15 minute charging for gear like my flashlights and especially cameras and camera accessories trumps getting an extra year out of the cells but charging them very slowly.
Check these out. Same features as the Eneloop at half the price.
Enelong AA
http://www.fasttech.com/products/1140600
Eneloops.