What are the good options for NiMH these days? Looks like the AmazonBasics are randomly made in either Japan, China or Malaysia now. Obviously Eneloop will remain a good choice. Both the Duracell and Energizer seem to be priced up there with eneloop. Anything approaching the good deal that the made in japan amazon LSD nimh cells used to be?
Fujitsu on Amazon at times relatively favorable price.
I’m in the process of testing and recharging most of my NiMH batteries — I have all kinds —-what I’m seeing is when you charge them up and let them sit for months most loose a bunch of capacity — Eneloops not so much — most of my Eneloops are at least 3-4 yrs old, some much older — I know most of these haven’t been charged in at least 1 yr maybe longer —their capacity still is around 90-100%
The Tenergy I have did pretty good but I know I charged them within the last year — EBL did a little worse and the Ravpower were the worst
If you’re looking for deals on batteries, watch out on Vipon — recently they had the EBL AA 8 pack with a charger for $10
I don’t use NiMH much, so consider them “disposables” if they ever misbehave.
That said, I got the EBLs, and while they’re “2300mAH”, most clocked in between 2000 and 2100 on my Ope. Expected as much.
So for about a buk each (ie, same as name-brand alkaleak retail price), I got rechargeables that even if they ain’t LSD or 10,000 cycles worth, I’m still way ahead of the game.
The Ikea Ladda are the lowest cost made in Japan cells I know of:
The standard capacity (1900 mAh for AA) are recommended unless you really need the extra runtime between charges. The high capacity version is still a good value, but the longevity should be a lot better on the standard capacity version.
Don’t skimp and just go with Fujitsus, or Eneloops and just buy cheap beer and toilet paper in the future, if a few bucks are going to break the bank.
Chris
Energizer Recharge. Just about a buck each if you look hard enough.
At this point I have maybe a dozen Eneloop standard, a handful of old Sanyo XXX, and maybe a dozen Powerex under the old Imedion label as well as some of their newer ones. Every single Energizer and Duracell one that I've ever owned in various flavors has been short-lived but maybe the newest ones are better? I've been very happy with the Powerex ones and mine have not shown some of the variations or lower capacities that are often mentioned about them...they can often be bought at a good discount (sometimes direct from the Maha website is cheaper than amazon). Whether or not the Eneloop are appreciably better just kinda depends on their use/devices and care & feeding. If you keep tabs on some amazon listing sometimes the Fujitsu sell for a song but usually I see those about the same or higher prices than Eneloop. None of this answers your question really....but I agree with the above that this is one area where it usually makes the best sense to pay a little more for the higher quality. Talking AA here. For AAA honestly I think I prefer the Powerex/Imedion over the Eneloop in either flavor.
Whenever I see this battery mentioned, can’t help but think of…
I’ve had really terrible luck with Energizer nimh. I only get Eneloops now if I can help it. Basically higher capacity = thinner insulating layers to get more chemical into the cell = faster self discharge and less reliability. So go for pre-charged cells no matter what (they have thick enough layer to not self-discharge quickly) and go for lower capacity istm. I have 2000mah eneloops probably 10 years old and still working fine. New eneloops are supposed to be even better.
I’d love to go eneloop and if it was just for my edc light and such I would. I actually plan to use these for general household duty- that is mostly kids toys. Just tired of buying batteries for them.
I have some ama-loops (japan amazonbasics) which have been performing well for the past couple years. I also have some 15 year old Dura-loops which are still going strong. Last year picked up two charger packs of the energeizer pre-charged at Costco just because. They are working well in kids toys, but only came with two AAA cells.
I don’t have kids, but basically what I did was buy a couple of the bulk packs of AmazonBasics AA and AAA rechargeables for the stuff around the house that I don’t care about (candles (so, so many candles), remotes, console controllers, etc) but the things I care about I’m looking to get the quality rechargeables, I won’t have to buy as many so I won’t care if they cost a premium. I have 4 different chargers so I can charge a bunch at any one time if they go dead.
How much do you budget to spend per year on batteries? Are you looking for the cheapest or the best?
Sometimes the best is high price in the beginning bur considering it lasts the longest its the cheapest in the end.
Do the math to figure out where you want to be.
You said it yourself, the Duraloops are 15 years old.
Figure out what you paid for them and determine the cost per year.
Then ask yourself is that within my budget or no.