Having used the Eneloop AAA and AA batteries for a couple of years I was curious about the Tenergy batteries. What I gleaned from the forum was that while Tenergys were OK, they were inferior to the eneloops.
I purchased 8 each of Tenergy Premium AAA and AA batteries off ebay. I decided to compare them as to run times. No attempt was made to be scientific, but wanted those results.
I used a Terralux 100 single AA light with three modes including strobe, where Hi – 100lm, and Lo – 50lm. I only tested the low mode since I was interested in run times. Here are my results using freshly charged batteries.
Tenergy
Very little drop off after 9 hours of constant operation.
At 10 hours I estimated the output to be about the same as the 26 lm mid mode of my Fenix LD01.
At 11 hours I estimated output to be 10-15 lm.
The light gradually went down until at11 hours 28 min it was about a moon mode.
So the Tenergy lasted for 11 hours with very usable light, and another 28 minutes of moon mode.
Eneloop
At 9.5 hours the light was falling off and I estimated it at 7-10 lm.
At 10 hours it approximated a moon mode.
In this unscientific test the Tenergy outlasted the Eneloop by an hour & 20 min or slightly over 10% longer.
Again I could not test the light output or amperage draw, and make no claim to a valid scientific test. But I do know that in this case the Tenergy Premum was the superior battery. I have no idea as to the number of cycles the Tenergy will last.
I must add that I was surprised at the long run times of the Terralux 100.
Jerry
Thanks. I do not disagree with the comments, but this was not meant to be a scientific comparison. It did compare the Tenergy which cost $2.45 ea with the Eneloop which cost about$2.55/2.67 each. It shows me that the Tenergy is as good as the Eneloop as far as run times are concerned. It does not say anything about the longevity of the batteries, and I agree that the Tenergy 2500 mAh over the 1900mAh Eneloop.
But that is of no importance to me as I just want to get a good bang for the buck, and at least in the short term the Tenergy does that.
Since the comments that I have seen ar various times indicate that the Eneloop is the better battery I was interested in making such a determination for myself. I did not find that so, and am interested in what to use at reasonable cost to keep my light running while camping or some emergency. In this case with the Terralux 100 I would prefer the Tenergy at slightly less cost. Time might change that conclusion, but I doubt I will ever need to cycle the batteries long enough to do so.
Yes, but it is of no interest to me for my purpose. This was not to be a fair comparison of the two in a technical way, but it is fair when considering the cost, and which serves me better at minimum cost. The eneloop XX is more expensive yet. A quick check on ebay indicates a cost of over $4 each. The Tenergy, and in fact the 1900 Eneloop serves my purpose well. Others might reach a different conclusion.
Some have indicated that the quality of Eneloops is better than the Tenergy. I have seen not indication of that -yet, but have not used them long.
The answer to many problems in not necessarily what is fair or most efficient, but dollars and cents. That was my purpose.
It might be interesting to compare all of them on a cost per minute of run time, but I have not the time or the interest for that.
Thanks, and Happy New Year to All. I hope I am sleeping when the New Year turn over. Sleeping in my bed, that is.
Jerry
If you had explained that in the opening post, we would have gone a different way.. I just thought you compared a 1900mAh eneloop with a 2500mAh Tenergy for runtime only..
Now, when you are saying it's mainly for your own application, with the runtime of your own lights, keeping the cost per cell in mind, you're right.. but then again, you better had told that in the first place ;)
But then again it comes to mind how much ma they loose after time, unused.. another way of comparing these cells :D
You could probably even find cells (hsd) that even outperform your Tenergy as well ;)
You are correct, and I have no idea as to the life of the Tenergy. I have so many Eneloops that I don’t really need anything more.
One of my concerns has been the fact that alkalines will leak sometimes, and so I want something else when I leave a battery in a light.
I have a couple of 3C cell lights, one is a Kel-Light, and the other a Mag lite in which I replaced the lamp with a Terralux LED. They are kept next to my bed, and essentially never used. In order to calm my fear of leaking alkalines I bought some adapters and use eneloop AAs in them. Works great, except the run times would be very much shorter.
Alright I understand now. One thing you’ll definitely want to check is the capacity degradation overtime. One of the things that I noted when researching NiMH was that several review/comments mentioned rather severe drops in capacity of Tenergy cells. IIRC they had to do several refreshes to get them to an acceptable level. Whereas Eneloops excelled at maintaining capacity overtime. Tenergy also performed poorly in comparison to eneloops as far as self discharge was concerned.
I’m not sure how established tenergy is, but I see that mah rating a little like chinese lumens. It would be interesting to see a couple more unscientific tests from jerm03 just to see how repeatable they are. I have been looking for some cheap rechargeable cells that preform decent. For those instances where I don’t need the best there is.
I’m sorry. I am not aware of the price difference. If it’s only a few cents per battery then the choice is easily made. I was under my own assumption that chinese batteries would be considerably cheaper.