Don't know if this thread should be used to ask this question...............<BR><BR>So obviously you didn't find the "programming" of the 9000 to be too overwhelming, as others in the past have said? "too many button sequences to remember" they commented. And the display is not too restrictive, for viewing separate cell status' when you want?
New poster, long lurker here, so hello.
I've been itching to get a good charger/tester for a while and did some research over the past two weeks. I had all of my ducks in a row and bought a BC-700, MaHa C9000 and some AccuPower AA/AAA batteries from an Ebay vendor. I've now fiddled with the two chargers and they each have their 'quirks' so to speak.
For the LC BC700, you have this timing segment that begins the moment you insert a battery, to shift through the modes. You have 8 seconds to figure out where you're going and then you have to hit the mode button to move off of the 'default' charge setting. You're supposed to hold the mode button down for 5 seconds to get it to move through the four choices, but mine will rotate without the 5 second press, so that's a quirky trait.
Once you've got the right mode for the first battery, you need to hit your charging current button within 8 seconds of the last button press, or you're SOL and stuck on the default 200ma setting. Now...you need to keep in mind that if you're going to charge 4 different batteries at four different rates, you need to have the 'highest rate' in bay #1, so that requires minor planning prior to starting the process. Sometimes, you start to mull over what you want to do and that 8 seconds goes by pretty fast. You need to pull that battery and start over, but this isn't anything that you don't overcome the more you use the unit.
I'm getting faster at it after a week and not geeking out, like I was on day one.
For the MaHa C9000, you have the vertical menu on the left that flashes MODE and you need to use the 'arrow' buttons to move up and down. There's a 'slot' button and 'enter' button and sometimes I found myself instinctfully hitting 'enter' before scrolling down to the desired selection, nothing major, but it took me a few tries to get the 'steps' down.
The MaHa has a nice bright screen, but you can't turn it off. How many hours is it rated for? La Crosse has no light on their display, but the text of a smaller font, so you need decent light in the room to check on things.
These are just some minor observations after a week of use. I'm glad I got both, as I a) always try and have a 'backup' and b) for what I paid for the BC-700 w/8 AccuPower AAA 1200s, it was a drop in the bucket. The BC-700 is nice because it's more of an 'idiot proof' charger in that you can't really screw your killer battery collection up, when using it, like you can with the MaHa C9000.
The MaHa has a more robust chassis, but these are electronic gizmos and you're only as strong as your weakest 5 cent Chicom resistor that's being used, so time will tell.
I decided today, that after spending $300+ on batteries, lights and chargers, I'm going to enroll in AA for a few weeks.
Chris
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