[Stratman]

Eneloops. Eneloops. Eneloops......

....oh, did I mention Eneloops....

^^^^

What he said, I also have one set of the Ray O Vac hybrids, and they are on the same level as the Eneloops in my opinion ( although I have not used them as much as the Eneloops ), and are less expensive.

[NicholasN]

I use Energizer rechargable NiMH which are 2600 mA and they seemed to last forever in my K100D. I now have the K20D so don't use them for the camera body anymore but use them in a flash gun and they are great.

[Clicker]

using the Energizers till they die then going with Enloops, the Energizers i find don't hold their charge past 1 day?

Actually I think the "15" minute chargers are for 1 cell... It takes an hour to charge four at a time... at least that is the way my old one worked.. So technically it was a 1hr charger...

But it smoked the old energizers out in no time. I charge the eneloops at 200ma on my La Crosse but I also almost always fully drain them with the discharge function....

[PentaJP]

I have both Duracell "Pre-Charged" rechargeable (2000mA) and Sanyo Eneloop (2000mA) and do not see differences in their performances. What makes big differences I think is the charger. My old Sanyo charger NC-M54 cannot properly charge either batteries although Sanyo's website claims it can be used to charge eneloops.

I picked up LA CROSSE BC-900 with 8 eneloops at less than $60 from Thomasdistributing.com and couldn't be happier. If you are tech savvy, you will love this charger. LA CROSSE BC-900 also includes 4AA and 4AAA rechargeable batteries. I do not know what their performances are since I never use them.
By the way, I like 4 Cell Battery Holder Cases from thomasdiscributing very much.

You can also buy Sanyo Eneloop Power Pack (8AA, 2AAA, and a charger) at ~$27 from local Costco, though the included charger is not great. According to various reviews (e.g., at Amazon), this charger cannot charge batteries individually so when one of four batteries is fully charged it prematurely stops charging the other three.

[AlpenTak]

Uniross Hybrios have never let me down yet.

[CGJung]

+1 for Rayovac hybrid and +1 for Duracell Hybrid.

[Groucho]

I bought 3 sets of Kodak 2100mAh (not 2500!) low-discharge AAs from Thomas. One set's in my AF360 flash, one's in my old (now my wife's) K100D, and one set was for my old DL that I sold to a friend. They all are working great and hold a charge for a long time, no more fears of picking up a camera that hasn't been used for a little while and finding a flat battery. I haven't used Eneloops but I would bet these are as good or maybe slightly better (with an extra 100mAh.)

For charging, I use one of those fancy La Crosse ones.

[Zebooka]

Varta 15-minute Charge-And-Go 2000mAh

I have 5x 4AA sets. They work nice. For three years. Now I'm using them in my FGZ-360 flash, as i sold my K100D (and then K100D Super) with the upgrade to K10D.

[davlee]

+1 for the Ray-O-Vac Hybrids and their close relative, Pure Energy NiMH, both low-discharge cells.

Regarding the 1-hour chargers - maybe they're not good for the health of the batteries, but the cells are so cheap these days, who cares? At around $10 for a pack of four, I'll take the convenience of rapid charging over fears that one of the cells might conk out a year from now.

Life's too short to wait around for 12 hours every week in order to save $2.50 a year from now.

[PentaxPZ]

Well im using 2100mAh from Lidils....
working great, ok so they take 14hours to charge....
and they nly cost £4 for 8!!!!!!!

Now beat that!

[SteveB]

Uniross Hybrios have never let me down yet.

Nor me. They out-perform Eneloops slightly on paper and in real life from tests I've seen.

I charge mine at 1 amp, no problems in 18 months on K100D. There's no such thing as a 1hr charger by the way peoples, all that counts is how much current and I find 1A is a good compromise between fast charging and long life.

[sewebster]

Regarding the 1-hour chargers - maybe they're not good for the health of the batteries, but the cells are so cheap these days, who cares? At around $10 for a pack of four, I'll take the convenience of rapid charging over fears that one of the cells might conk out a year from now.

Life's too short to wait around for 12 hours every week in order to save $2.50 a year from now.

No point in putting more dead batteries in the landfill

I see your point, BUT you don't have to wait 12 hours. Just get another set (cheap, like you said) and when the batteries run out, swap em and put the empty ones on the charger. They'll be ready before you use the fresh set even if you charge them slowly (unless you are really taking a lot of pictures).

[bigben91682]

+ 24 for eneloops.

I have 6 sets of 4, love em.

[madbrain]

Hi,

Actually I think the "15" minute chargers are for 1 cell... It takes an hour to charge four at a time... at least that is the way my old one worked.. So technically it was a 1hr charger...

But it smoked the old energizers out in no time. I charge the eneloops at 200ma on my La Crosse but I also almost always fully drain them with the discharge function....

Nope. The 15 minute chargers are for all 4 cells. I bought one about a month ago at Fry's recently that came with 4 Energizer 2500 NiMH batteries. I opened the package in my car, and hooked the charger up to the car 12 V output. I timed that it took 20 minutes for all 4 batteries to get charged. They were all charged by the time I got home.

Since I read that those chargers damage batteries, I now only keep this charger in my car as an emergency charger. At home there is no need for a charger that fast.

I have found that all my Energizer NiMH batteries over the years discharge very fast, sometimes in a single day, even those that have been charged in slower chargers (30 mins, 2hrs, or overnight).
I am sure some have suffered more than others. I charged all my batteries a week ago, and I am expecting my MAHA charger to be delivered later today to be able to discharge them all, and sort the bad ones from the good.