ha ha good point.
the primo high ticket Mahas like the 808 and 9000 stop at a voltage, so although they are V-drop chargers and would somehow need a 5+ AMP charge to cause the evil v-drop to even occur, they dont rely solely on the v-drop itself, and cool out with a voltage max.
because of this they A: dont fully charge 103% and B: dont usually ever overcharge, so your battery can last a good long time.
the newer mahas are known for being "cool", the older models from way back , people would say they would get the batteries hot, it is likly that the older models didnt have the voltage max, and also couldnt very well detect the v-drop on C-D like your saying, and timed out eventually, that would be the clue you see in the reviews.
then there is hobby chargers where the voltage drop can be set to a very small ammount, and the charge rate can be set very high, which will get you a v-drop. With notes of cheap hobby chargers have a max WATTAGE they will work at. which shouldnt be a big problem with 3-4 ni-?? cell items. AND spotting a v-drop in series charging is art not science.
Hobby chargers that need power supplies too can NOW be purchaced for as low as $35 , ones that work on AC can be got for less than $60. so it is now possible to get a cheezy hobby charger for less than the $300 a primo one costs, and it will pull off the ONE thing you asked for cheaper than a really good maha.
but
a good maha will deal with the cells individually, and be pretty nice to them. i would go for some cheap or good hobby charger more, if you had many different cell items and types. i would have a tendancy to stick with a good maha for convienience ease , single cell care, simplicity, and user friendlyness to spouce.
also you can Sloooowww charge it at 1/10 c , say about ~800-900ma for 16hours, would be fully safe, as long as its not insulated, or covered, perfect rate slow chargers not so easy to find nowdays, but you can potentially make one if you do it exactally right.
you can get one of them crappy timed chargers that dont go fast enough to cause a problem, some of them will time out before 1/3rd of a full charge, some can get a 80% charge, and some will overcharge for a bit. if you got a ~800ma-1A one of them, it would work just like a slow charger, and not cause much problems via the timed only, because the rate would be low enough. just dont try and use the same thing on your AAs
unless you know the AA rate TOO.
also with the right simple voltage regulation you can get both fast charge and slowdown to below 1/10c , but if that is wrong, it can be very bad. or combos of voltage & current regulation, using cheap or expencive parts and pieces, bench supplies, kit regulators, or parts from the web or local electronic stores.
