Nitecore charger? Flee!!! 
I have three Xtar chargers, one for many years, another for a year, I’ve had no problems with them, apart from user stupidity when I put a non rechargeable cell in and it leaked, damaging that charge position.
My made in Taiwan Powerex NiMH charger was 15 years old when I sold it. Chinese products can be good. In fact most expensive Swiss watches contain Chinese parts.
I have an XTAR VC8. I have one NiMH AA battery that died, but no idea if the charger was the cause.
I started with a Zanflare charger 5 years ago and it was rock-solid up until i got a vapcell S4+ and thats been the go-to charger for the last 3 years. It’s rock-solid too and charges 4x3 amps and has all the bells and whistles. I researched chargers extensively before getting the Vapcell amd xtar didn’t have the features or output i wanted.
I think XTAR sort of stumbled when it went almost all mainstream and produced a bunch of chargers that tried to do too much, and be too easy to use.
That would be fine if the wizardry and automatic logic worked flawlessly, but it doesn’t, and can’t be overridden.
And the models that it used to aim at enthusiasts, with manual controls, have all but disappeared from the lineup.
So the best current models are the simplest; my favorite is the ANT MC1+, which is cheap, and does it job well, no more, no less. But for whatever reason, they haven’t updated it with a Type-C port, which is another area of inconsistency, along with more models than there probably should be, including older generations being sold alongside the current ones.
My collection of Eneloops is small, and not used regularly, but if that was the case, I’d also lean toward getting a dedicated NiMH charger for them.
Charger reviews (please come back HKJ!) have repeatedly shown that, at best, dual chemistry Li/NiMH chargers do only an ok job with the latter. I’d rather use the proper tool, and have at least some confidence that the cells won’t be at risk every time they’re recharged. Or, at least under less risk.
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I hadn’t heard that about damage to NiMh cells if they’re charged in a charger that charges both the li-ion and NiMh. What happens to them?
My experience with them before wasn’t very good, and I think part of that was due to buying cells that weren’t as good as Eneloops. They faded gradually with use until I switched to Li-ion like it did after I gave up on 8 tracks and went to cassettes eons ago. I don’t remember what I charged them with either, but it was supposed to be a good charger that only charged NiMh and Nicads.
Your idea of a charger that only does NiMh or Nicad makes a lot of sense too. Originally I thought I’d get a charger that does both but I don’t need that, I’ve got enough capacity to charge the few Li-Ion batteries I still use. IKEA sells a charger for the private label Eneloops they sell for $7, and I can get another 4 Eneloops with a Panasonic charger for less than many of the dual capacity chargers I’ve seen. Thanks for the suggestion!
The issue isn’t that a dual charger is inherently bad per se, but that some don’t perform as well at charging NiMH cells.
Good performance with Li cells isn’t necessarily a given either, which is why the review tests performed by HKJ are valuable to help see what performs well.
Determining when NiMH cells are fully charged is also a more complicated target to hit than Li.
Panasonic’s own Eneloop chargers are slow, conservative, and the old one I have is actually pretty dumb, and must charge cells in pairs, not individually. The newer ones don’t have that limitation, and some can even “fast” charge.
Every type of battery chemistry has its own preferred charging algorithm. The more ingredients there are in a recipe, or more dishes there are in a meal, increases the difficulty producing a good result, and harder on the chef to perform.
The AAA NiMH cells in my Panny cordless phone system are spent. Last time I looked the “IKEAloops” are still made in Japan, so that’s probably what I’ll pick up.
Where is the evidence for those statements? Personal experience?
I have Xtar VC4, VC4H and VX4 chargers. I find them all easy to use and without issues. I charge both NiMH and lithium cells. Obviously there are better chargers with more features, but they cost substantially more, and for someone like myself the Xtars are excellent. I charge batteries almost daily in the darker months, as I use a torch for an hour long walk in the evening when required. I owned a Powerex MAHA MH-C9000 charger for over 15 years but sold it recently as I can now use the VX4 instead. Obviously I can’t draw any conclusions about reliability from my units as three is not a large enough sample.
I know it is OT, but if your phones are like my Panny phones, they cook the cells. They way overcharge them. I always charge the cell in one of my MAHA MH 9000 chargers and let them top off for 2 hours before putting them into the phones. Put them in the phone and set it in the charger for the phone, It will show the charge light for at least a couple of more hours. When they no longer work in the phone, they are dead… High IR and will not charge. I tend to get a couple of years out of a set. I really haven’t seen much difference in using Eneloops or Amazon basics AAAs in them. Actually I have had decent luck with GP Recyko LSD AAAs . I just don’t spend for premium cells for the phones anymore as the damn phones just kill them.
BTW, I do use the MAHA 9000 and C808M for charging NiMh cells and MC3000 and S8000 for LiIon cells. I think the MAHA algorithm treats NiMH better and gets more complete charging.
As I said, I liked my MC1. My PB2 has been ok.
Conversely, my ET1, which I bought for fast charging, has steadfastly refused to do >1A the entire time, even with brand new 30Qs and P28As. Last chance I gave was to an FC2, which does have manual current, but exhaled the Magic Smoke shortly into its tenure.
I want to wholeheartedly like their chargers, but my experience has been mixed. Good for you if you like yours.
I’ve never had any regrets with my system, which I bought in 2013, other than it lacking the number blocking feature they added to later models. The cells, being 11-12 years old, have lived a good life and were probably due anyway. I didn’t actually notice that they’ve gone bad, until I recently had a call waiting on hold for a little while and the handset died shortly thereafter.
At least they’re standard cells, not a proprietary battery like many cordless phones used in the old days.
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Don’t take me wrong. I like my Panny cordless phones. I have 4 handsets in the system. My system is has to be at least 5years older than yours (I just checked my system was produced in 2008). Everything works great. Good range, good sound quality, good battery life. Obviously great longevity) Uses standard AAA NiMH cells! But the BMS is just not kind to cells. Maybe that was fixed by the time your system was produced. I have replaced the cells about 5 times since the things were new. I could have replaced the system with newer phones with more features, but I have not. That says something. I guess they over charge the cells a bit to get better run time. But that doesn’t help with cell life. Maybe the fact that my handsets spend 95% of their life in the charging cradles makes the problem worse?? I usually notice cells are shot when the things sit in the cradle with the charge light on for long periods.
I’m fairly new to the wonderful world of enthusiasts lights. After upgrading my Nebos & Mags to some nice Zebras & Hanks, I thought it was time to upgrade batteries too. I just recently made the switch from the cheap NiMH with dumb charger I’ve been using for years to Eneloops and a VC4SL to charge 'em and my growing supply of Li-ion… after seeing this thread I’m wondering if I jumped the gun on my purchasing research 
If your charger is like mine the display is I guess supposed to flucuate when you put the batteries in, kind of like the gauges cycling when you go to start a car. One of the problems I had was after things settled down it would start charging the Eneloops like they were Li-ion. Sometimes it would try to charge them like NiMH after I unplugged the charger and turned it back on, sometimes it wouldn’t. I guess you could say that could even out when it quit charging way too soon.
Not at all. If nothing else, this thread illustrates that experiences vary, and form the basis for our opinions.
If that’s the worst that can be said about your system, then it’s still pretty darn good, especially compared to the older analog cordless phones that were subject to eavesdropping and interference, and had NiCads. The DECT phones sound good, and just work.
My system has the original cells, and hasn’t given me any trouble, under a very similar use pattern. TBH, I’ve never thought about it, or had any reason to, until recently; it has been appliance-like.
I never pressed all of the handsets in my system into service, but will take at least one of the spares out of storage for use in the near future. Will be interesting to see if, and how the NOS cells, still in their blister pack, work.
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I found a Panasonic handset once and was excited to find Panasonic rechargeable batteries in it until I realized they were about done for.
I bet you have no problems. Report back here each year !
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