Proper, comprehensive testing is complex and time-consuming. It requires good equipment, a fairly consistent environment and extreme attention to detail. We are lucky to have a few generous contributors here who seem to be able to pull it all together to give us some very useful data.
Even so, if these are in fact “Eneloops” under the wrapper, are they the “good” Japanese versions or the “poor” Chinese versions? Will they last for 2000 cycles or only 500 before they begin to degrade severely. If you don’t know what I’m referencing here there is a thread somewhere by CPF member “powermeup” Chinese and Japanese Eneloops Test Comparison
It is pretty easy to do a few capacity checks and it would be easy to leave some sitting on a shelf for 1,2 or 6 months to see how much they self-discharge. Beyond that, I’m not too concerned if they are “real” Eneloops or not these days. Other than simply as “interesting to know”.
With Eneloops here at $20+ per pack of 4 (unless you can find specials) and the Ikea (greens) at $3.99 I know which way I’m going. (Besides which, being a dutiful battery nerd, I have an embarrassingly large collection of the real Eneloops already.)
When the newer versions we are discussing here appear in our local stores I will grab a few packs and see how they perform regarding the self-discharge aspect but I won’t be running cycle tests to see how long it takes to wear them out.
Kudos to those who do.