After the sonicare, another use for Eneloops

[Mr Happy]

I'm becoming a great fan of 'alkaline' powered consumer items, since you can use standard rechargeable AA cells and not have to bother about endless custom chargers or sealed in batteries that fail after a time.

Following the mention in another thread, I found the AA powered Philips sonicare in Walmart and thought it was a great idea compared to the $100+ fancy models.

Here's another AA powered great idea I found in Walmart: http://www.blackanddecker.com/ProductGuide/Product-Details.aspx?ProductID=5484

As a cordless screwdriver it feels a bit light and plasticky, but if you can get it for under $20 you can forgive it a lack of quality feel. It takes 4 AAs and has a surprising amount of torque -- it will strip the heads of small screws before the motor stalls, so go gently. It also has an ergonomic handle, and for putting in the kitchen drawer for occasional use around the house you can't really go wrong.

Anyone else have a favorite AA powered gadget to sit alongside flashlights?

 

[UnknownVT]

I'm becoming a great fan of 'alkaline' powered consumer items, since you can use standard rechargeable AA cells and not have to bother about endless custom chargers or sealed in batteries that fail after a time.
I found the AA powered Philips sonicare in Walmart and thought it was a great idea compared to the $100+ fancy models.

Most of the cheaper electric toothbrushes run on alkalines. The earliest used 2x AA but there are now more on single AA, or even AAA.

The most well known are the Crest SpinBrush followed by Colgate Motion.

The Oral-B (assoc with Braun?) are normally a step up - but they do have the Oral-B CrossAction Power that runs on a single AA - all these are easily and economically available at WalMart.

I have an old Crest SpinBrush that runs on 2xAA - I use a couple of "marginal" condition old RoV 1600mAh NiMH AA in it - they easily last just about 3 months ... and the self-discharge is probably about 3 months.

So although eneloops may well last noticably longer - charging once every three months is not exactly a hassle, and I am making use of these otherwise marginal NiMH

When this set of heads wear out on the SpinBrush I probably will replace it since the replacement heads cost as much as the whole toothbrush - I like the looks of the Oral-B CrossAction, but will only decide when it's time to replace.

The other obvious use is in digital cameras -
eneloops (or possibly Kodak Pre-Charged) in my very battery fussy Pentax K100D dSLR -
but for my Canon PowerShot A610 that I use for my beamshots - I still also use a set of 4 "marginal" RoV 1600mAh NiMH - these last about 2-3 months.
The RoV NiMH's are so marginal that they won't even power up the Pentax K100D dSLR when freshly charged - that how I know the Canon A-series are very frugal and tolerant of batteries.

 

[Mr Happy]

I saw a basic model SpinBrush for $4 in Big Lots, but it looked almost too basic really. The sonicare is different from ordinary brushes because of the high speed vibrations. I just think that when they charge over $100 for some of the rechargeable models they are taking the mickey...

 

[Turbo DV8]

For the last few years I have used both the Crest Spin Brush Pro (now SpinBrush Classic Clean) and the predecessor to the Oral B Cross Action (in which only the round part of the head vibrates). That Oral B was recalled due to the head falling off in the mouths of a few disabled people who were receiving teeth cleaning from caregivers. Anyway, my clear choice between the two is the Colgate. The Colgate is much smaller, using only one AA. But the two big reasons I prefer the Colgate is the bristles vibrate much faster and the head bristles last waaaay longer before bending out of shape. The Crest SpinBrush rotating action is very tedious, slow and lumbering. If I didn't "brush" with brush strokes, I doubt the Crest would clean my teeth at all. Also, the Crest heads seem to sack out way to frequently. The Colgate brush heads last nearly forever. I think the blue bristles are supposed to turn white when it is time to "replace" them, but that is bogus. They are fine and maintain full erectness long after the blue has faded. The Colgate also fits much better in the hand than any of the Crest SpinBrushes.

I just use old 1600 mAh NiMH cells and they last months, even with self-discharge.