Bones
Enlightened
Some time ago, Wildchild and others established to my satisfaction that the original Duracell Pre-Charged Rechargeable was a re-badged Eneloop.
I was therefore somewhat surprised to see some pre-charged rechargeables bundled with Duracell chargers yesterday that appeared quite different from the re-badged Eneloop.
These were distinquished by a black material around the positive post, a label that didn't wrap around the shoulder of the negative end of the cell, and they were made in China rather than Japan.
By what could be termed an unusual coincidence, I later noted that images of the Eneloop and re-badged Duracell originally posted by Wildchild included another cell which closely resembled the new Duracell offering; it's the RayOvac Hybrid:
You will notice that it too has the black material around the positive post, a label that doesn't wrap around the shoulder of the negative end of the cell, and that it's made in China rather than Japan.
With the exception of the country of origin, the label markings were identical for both cells bundled with their chargers, so it doesn't appear that Duracell intends to differentiate the re-badged Hybrid from the re-badged Eneloop.
For me, this development has three negative implications:
Firstly, since the Hybrid is made in China, they are probably much less costly to produce than the Eneloop, so there is a strong likelihood that Duracell will now source the Hybrid exclusively.
Secondly, all those who purchase the Durcell Pre-Charged because we advised them they were re-badged Eneloops could now end up with re-badged RayOvac Hybrids instead.
Thirdly, according to this and other threads, the performance of the RayOvac Hybrid is somewhat inferior to that of the the Eneloop, especially in higher drain applications.
So, it now appears that at some point in the future the only way to ensure that we are getting Eneloops will be to either buy the real thing or the Sony CycleEnergy Blue.
Unless, of course, there are other re-badged Eneloops on the market that haven't yet been identified on this forum?
This image originally posted on Amazon by NLee the Engineer also depicts the difference between the two cells in question quite clearly:
Notice the somewhat squared-off positive post; thus far a signature trait of the Eneloop which isn't evidenced on the Hybrid, and the subtle but distinctly different protrusions on the negative ends.
I was therefore somewhat surprised to see some pre-charged rechargeables bundled with Duracell chargers yesterday that appeared quite different from the re-badged Eneloop.
These were distinquished by a black material around the positive post, a label that didn't wrap around the shoulder of the negative end of the cell, and they were made in China rather than Japan.
By what could be termed an unusual coincidence, I later noted that images of the Eneloop and re-badged Duracell originally posted by Wildchild included another cell which closely resembled the new Duracell offering; it's the RayOvac Hybrid:
You will notice that it too has the black material around the positive post, a label that doesn't wrap around the shoulder of the negative end of the cell, and that it's made in China rather than Japan.
With the exception of the country of origin, the label markings were identical for both cells bundled with their chargers, so it doesn't appear that Duracell intends to differentiate the re-badged Hybrid from the re-badged Eneloop.
For me, this development has three negative implications:
Firstly, since the Hybrid is made in China, they are probably much less costly to produce than the Eneloop, so there is a strong likelihood that Duracell will now source the Hybrid exclusively.
Secondly, all those who purchase the Durcell Pre-Charged because we advised them they were re-badged Eneloops could now end up with re-badged RayOvac Hybrids instead.
Thirdly, according to this and other threads, the performance of the RayOvac Hybrid is somewhat inferior to that of the the Eneloop, especially in higher drain applications.
So, it now appears that at some point in the future the only way to ensure that we are getting Eneloops will be to either buy the real thing or the Sony CycleEnergy Blue.
Unless, of course, there are other re-badged Eneloops on the market that haven't yet been identified on this forum?
This image originally posted on Amazon by NLee the Engineer also depicts the difference between the two cells in question quite clearly:
Notice the somewhat squared-off positive post; thus far a signature trait of the Eneloop which isn't evidenced on the Hybrid, and the subtle but distinctly different protrusions on the negative ends.
Last edited:
