Sad news for Eneloop lovers... Eneloop is ending a tradition in April 2013

[uk_caver]

But Sanyo is a well known name too.

That might vary between areas.
I'm well aware of them but I've been interested in electronics and technology in general for a long time.

In the UK, I don't think the name is nearly as well known at the consumer level as Panasonic, and that isn't likely to change.
From their website:

SANYO Sales & Marketing GmbH (SSME GmbH) has ceased to trade in the UK and Ireland and the support for SANYO products has been sub-contracted to independent service organisations under the supervision of Panasonic UK.

 

[MichaelW]

Are the 'sexy' AAA eneloopXX new? or did I miss their introduction a while back?

Found it, October 2012 intro.

 

[RCM]

If you think like an average consumer buying batteries and you go to purchase new ones, they may not know what an eneloop is, if they put Panasonic on it, more then likely they will purchase the Panasonic's. But then again are any of us average consumers?
@HighlanderNorth: Dollar Tree here sells Panasonic alkaline and carbon zinc cells, along with Sunbeam cells

 

[tatasal]

If you think like an average consumer buying batteries and you go to purchase new ones, they may not know what an eneloop is, if they put Panasonic on it, more then likely they will purchase the Panasonic's. But then again are any of us average consumers?
@HighlanderNorth: Dollar Tree here sells Panasonic alkaline and carbon zinc cells, along with Sunbeam cells

Exactly. I have just looked at an Eneloop 4-pc pack, and on the upper right side of the packaging says "SANYO", which is a brand actually laid to rest by its mother company, Panasonic.

 

[gradio]

Just general yapp'n to a few fellas today on batteries and when I mentioned "eneloop" they all were like huh...what...never heard of em.
They all knew Panasonic, Rayovac, Energizer, Duracell etc.
None use rechargeable batteries with the exception of their phones, drill/driver etc. No common rechargeable like AA in use for any of them.
1 thinks he heard the name "Surefire". Other names like "Sunwayman, Nitecore, Fenix, Olight etc. nada & nada-II so far across the board.
So seems putting a common name would attract more not into flashlights/batteries I guess.
Hitting up more at work tomorrow and see how it goes.

add - talking to a neighbor, tells me he knew of Mag Light and Radio Shack light, but couldn't tell me if it was the type of light or brand name, but guess they are brand name.
His light is a 2 D-cell bought at the dollar store. I think I'll give him one of my old Mag Lights... maybe the 3 D-cell since its in nice shape. Or maybe old unused Inova or a Pelican. I'll let him choose next time I see him. He couldn't remember any battery name at all, but did come up with Die Hard. He seem not happy having to smell the grilling going on by my wife in our backyard. Seems nobody else around here does any grilling. Smell making him hungry he says, but his family plan's on fast food burgers today.

 

[BenChiew]

But Sanyo is a well known name too......

Category for category and product for product, the perceive goodwill in Panasonic is far far far greater than Sanyo. This applies in any geographic region.

 

[Mr Happy]

Right now, I cant tell when my Eneloops were made. I bought them beginning over a year and a half ago(as I decided to get AA and AAA lights too), and the most recent ones I bought were received about 6 months ago. But they dont have dates on them that I can see.

All genuine eneloops have a date code stamped on the side of the cell. It is embossed near the seam without ink, like a watermark. Take a look under bright light with a magnifier. The first two digits are the year and the second two digits are the month.

 

[nine204]

Ha! They'd be easy to keep track of that's for sure.

Grab the Disney limited editions fast before the packaging turns ugly

http://panasonic.net/energy/eneloop/jp/lineup/disney/

 

[Burgess]

Interesting thread here.


BTW -- i started THIS thread back in January.

Guess things have Changed since then ? ? ?


http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...elling-Sanyo&p=4114857&viewfull=1#post4114857


_

 

[xevious]

I just hope they branch out and make other cells, like 18650, 17670, and 10440... but I suspect not.
[edit: that "hope" is now retracted--I misspoke.]

Wait... Panasonic is now going to sell it's Sanyo NiMh business, after just acquiring it? :thinking:

 

[shadowjk]

Um, Panasonic and Sanyo both already make 18650?

 

[xevious]

Um, Panasonic and Sanyo both already make 18650?

Well if they are, is it under the Eneloop model line? If not, they should...

 

[rmteo]

Well if they are, is it under the Eneloop model line? If not, they should...

Why would they want to do that??

 

[xevious]

Why would they want to do that??

My thought was recognized quality and branding...
... but then I realized that Eneloops are being targeted to the general public now. And 18650 cells are dangerous in the hands of those who don't understand how to use them and charge them properly. I withdraw my point.

 

[uk_caver]

I'm assuming their intent is to sell more cells, and as far as I can see, existing serious Eneloop fans aren't likely to figure much in the calculations unless it is expected that a meaningful number of them will end up buying something else instead, either out of confusion or out of spite.#

Likely targets of the rebranding are people who currently have little or no knowledge of the Eneloop brand.

 

[shadowjk]

there are a few products with li-ion batteries inside under the eneloop brand. IIRC, hand warmers and phone chargers.

 

[nightspark]

I prefer the simplicity of the original eneloop branding. However, as long as the quality doesn't degrade, I'll be fine.

 

[SemiMan]

Looked on the Panasonic Canada site recently and I would say they are ditching the Eneloop brand in favor of Panasonic branding.

On a separate note, the Costco Duracell LSD cells no longer appear to be Eneloops based on packaging color and country of manufacture unless Panasonic has some eneloop manufacturing in China now.

Semiman

 

[mark963]

For whatever it's worth (not much), long before the eneloops showed up, I had a shaver with batteries that were wearing down a little and the original cells I believe were something like 900mAh. A friend that worked on land mobile radios had told me about his experiences with NiMH at the time and it was drastically different than what the consumer NiMH batteries were doing. He was telling me the self discharge of NiMH was far better than Nicads, which was the opposite of everything I'd experienced. I think this was around 1998 or so.

So I bought a set of Panasonic cells from an electronic distributor. I think they were 1100mAh for an AA NiMH which was good at the time - I think the consumer ones were hitting 1400mAh. So I put them in the shaver, used it for about a year and then changed to a very different style of shaver. After that shaver had sat in the drawer for a few years, I pulled it out and it still had power. I have charged it once since then and that's it.

So my take was that the eneloops were just giving us the good quality that had been around for years, but generally weren't being sold to consumers. Panasonic definitely knows how to make batteries, too. My friend managed an engineering department for a company that used all sorts of batteries in their products and his opinion was to only buy Sanyo or Panasonic if you wanted something that would last.

 

[leon63]

Looks clean to me. So long as they don't do that horrible red-black colouring and keep making them in the same factory I'm fine.