Best AA/AAA charger under $20?

LEDBE
The CHCC is the best of those. It appears to be a smart charger with four independent channels and status lights. The other two are timer controlled trickle chargers.

You could also consider the Duracell CEF21 which should be available for $20 at Target. Like the CHCC it has four independent channels and status lights.
 
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Mr Happy said:
The CHCC is the best of those. It is a smart charger with four independent channels and status lights. The other two are timer controlled trickle chargers.
Click to expand...


The packaging for the CHCC is a bit ambiguous. On one hand it says "charges... batteries individually" on the other, it says, "Shutoff mechanism: Timer Control." This does not necessarily mean it is "smart." It could individually shut each cell off by timer. But then it lists different charge times by cell capacity. Given Energizers shady ethics in marketing, I would look at this charger with some suspicion. Why not just go with the Sanyo Eneloop charger bundled with 2 AA Eneloops on Amazon? The two-cell charger and two Eneloops is only $15. It is a truly smart, individually-terminating charger (even though it only has one LED), and it charges AA cells at 550 mA and AAA cells at 330 mA (as opposed to 360 mA and 150 mA for the CHCC). If your condition of needing it locally is to avoid shipping charges, this charger qualifies right now for free super saver shipping from Amazon.
 
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True, I did make an assumption about the CHCC based on the 360 mA charging current and individual channels. I've edited my post above given that the full details are not certain from the product description.
 
are there any smart AA/AAA chargers with auto off when full? i was looking for a new charger as well...i currently own a energizer compact charger(CHM4) which only charges 2 or 4 at a time and takes 15hr timer to fully charge 2500mAh which seems really slow and also the energizer rechargables are flat/low within a month after charging... so i was going to get some Low Self Discharge AA rechargables but i also want a better charger to go with them as well.

Do any smart chargers exist at around this price? because it seems like a hassle to find the right time to charge and also remember what time i need to stop charging at and also knowing how much power is left in the batteries...

EDIT: i just had a look around...has anyone tried any of the soshine or Recyko chargers?
 
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all the prices ive seen of maha's are in the $50-$100 price range...the soshine chargers ive seen are about $10-15 with similar features
...and yeah i will be ordering them as all the chargers in stores ive seen are around $50 with batteries that charge slow and/or dont have auto off function
 
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What about THIS one for $13,98? 4 idividual channels, auto cutoff, conditioning function, temp monitor, safety timer, lcd display. I have used it myself when my bc-900 is busy. And I have given away a few of them. Everyone is extremely happy with them, no problems so far. It's definitely the best charger below $20. And with free worldwide shipping :thumbsup:
 
Yep...thats the soshine i've had my eyes on that i found on KD...i didnt notice it when i was lookin in DX...thx!
i'll probably get a 4pack of GP recyko AA's as well!
 
Yapo said:
Yep...thats the soshine i've had my eyes on that i found on KD...i didnt notice it when i was lookin in DX...thx!
i'll probably get a 4pack of GP recyko AA's as well!
Click to expand...
I just ordered one of those and a 4pack of recyko's for my father. I usually order eneloop's instead, but they are expensive on dx so I usually buy them from kd. I think they are a little better than the recyko's.
 
Two alternative suggestions -
but they may have some caveats -

Soshine SC-C3 Intelligent Rapid Charger (review) from DealExtreme for $13.98 including shipping -
but it is shipped from Hong Kong and it does NOT have UL listing (although they claim the CE mark) -
This has become my main charger - and it has worked very well for me.
At one time the charger kind of looked like the Sony BCG-34HRM(F4) (link to Amazon) - and was suspected of being an OEM of that charger - but it has been shown not to be...... However I still think it's a (very) good charger.

Kodak 1 Hour K6200-PC charger (good review & pics in this Amazon link) including 4x Kodak Pre-Charged LSD batteries - be very careful not to get the "Value" charger - which is a slow timed charger. I have found this combo as low as $19.05 shipped.
- due to similarities in specs and the AAA charging positions this might be similar to the much recommended Sanyo NC-MQH01U (speculation/guessing only) .
The Kodak Pre-Charged LSD batteries are very good - I used to think they might be a slight step down from eneloops, but recently I am back to the opinion that the Kodak P-C will match eneloops in most applications (see eneloop vs. Kodak Pre-Charged Voltage Maintenance)

Both these chargers have independent channels - the SoShine is more informative.
 
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I've ordered the Gp Powerbank h500 2hour charger, 33$ from Ebay.
Looks good enough and fast :)..

Find more info on Gp's website, check under Premium range chargers. :thumbsup:

http://www.gpbatteries.com
 
The CHCC is timer controlled, 8.5 hours shut-off. It says it pretty clearly in the sheet.

I have the CHDC, which is the previous version. The only difference is that it charges in pairs.
 
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