best 4x AA USB battery bank under $10

It's 2016.
Have the enthusiasts reached consensus on the best 4x AA USB battery bank under $10 USD?
(no batteries included)

I know Ni-MH rechargeables don't get enough attention in battery banks due to their less energy density than Lithium-Ion but I am amazed at how little attention they get.

What I would like
* charge rate of 600mA or more (nothing crazy needed)
* when the battery bank is OFF, I don't want the battery bank drawing current from my precious AAs
* batteries not included (will supply my own)
* one USB port (2 would be a nice bonus)

Pretty simple. Any recommendations?
There are 3 or 4 main designs dominating the ebay landscape. I wonder if any of these have been tested? Or if there are any better alternatives.

no interest in AA?

I have the cheap 4AA power bank with built in LED lights and a two way switch it works well but isn't a true 4AA bank but rather 2 pairs of 2AA in parallel which is both good and bad as you can use it with 2 cells if you want to. With it on it draws a rather small amount of current I have one running an LED USB dimmable module on low and it runs night after night for up to 2 weeks before I have to pull swap in 2 more batteries. Let me test the output here real quick on 2 cells. Ok I put a 1A load on it and it turned off, I then put an LED light that draws 620ma on other power banks I have and it put out about 450ma. Let me get out 4AAs that are matched (duraloops) I got the same 450ma on the bulb but using a 1A load resistor I get 880ma out of it. I think I paid under $3 for it. It is the type that has a sleeve that slides over the batteries I just checked the power drain when it is on with nothing plugged into it (has a small red led that lights up) and it draws about 1ma.

For the price it is worth it, if you can get by with about 400ma you could probably buy a 2AA version of it for a little cheaper. As I've gotten into scavenging 18650 batteries and power banks with them in them I've pretty much not worried about AA power banks since then. I'm not sure that they make a true 4AA (in series) power bank for under $10.

There's only two that I know of that even approach a quality offering, the Goal Zero Guide 10 and the EnerPlex Jumpr but both have their limitations and both exceed your $10 price.

For the others you mentioned, can you point us to samples of the 3-4 main designs?

filibuster said:

For the others you mentioned, can you point us to samples of the 3-4 main designs?

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Model 1
Model 2

There was another one from the UK but on second look it appears it's just a rebranded China model. So I guess that just leaves 2 4xAA battery bank designs dominating the ebay landscape (excluding different colours).

Lynx_Arc said:

For the price it is worth it, if you can get by with about 400ma you could probably buy a 2AA version of it for a little cheaper.

Click to expand...

yes they are so cheap; I guess I will go ahead and buy one. Will probably stick to the 4xAA. Thanks for your info!

brighthead said:

yes they are so cheap; I guess I will go ahead and buy one. Will probably stick to the 4xAA. Thanks for your info!

Click to expand...

I have the first model, I would guess there is a good chance that the second model performs similarly. The 3x5mm LED light is useful and the ability to put 2AA in either slots 1&2 or 3&4 and use it. I was tempted to get a 2 cell model until I got ahold of a bunch of castoff 18650 batteries from bad laptop and drill battery packs. I am guessing to get 800ma output you would put a drain of about 1.5A on the battery "pairs" if you use 4 batteries that is 750ma or so probably closer to 900ma for each battery so runtime at that level can be estimated at perhaps 2 hours.