Panasonic BQ-390

[Wiggle]

At my local Futureshop they have a BQ-390 with some LSD cells for $22 CAD. It's open box so the cells may not be 100% but the charger claims to be smart, has cut-off, individual bays, temperature sense and so it caught my attention. I don't do a ton of AA so swinging the money for a Maha 9000 is a little much, is this one a decent choice?
http://www.panasonic.ca/English/batteries/batteries_chargers/chargers/BQ390.asp

 

[LeifUK]

Post deleted. Reason: I have a BQ392! Sorry.

 

[PeAK]

... claims to be smart, has cut-off, individual bays, temperature sense and so it caught my attention. I don't do a ton of AA so swinging the money for a Maha 9000 is a little much, is this one a decent choice?

It seems to be well specified. Another newer charger that has generated some interest in another post is the BQ-C01 or BQ-CC01

 

[Robstorch]

I have 3 of these. Never had a problem with them and I use them a lot. I have charged cells from 1200 to 2700 mah and now mostly eneloops.
These work as described by you and they do not overheat your cells at all while putting a good charge into them. The are the smallest charger I can find, so great for travel. Takes about 3-4 hours to recharge cells. I can find them in the US but they seem to be all over Canada. One thing I wish they did was trickle charge but they do not.
Rob

 

[mxelement]

I've had the same exact charger, Panasonic BQ-390, since December 2005 so 4-5 years and this was my primary charger for all my NiMH/Ni-Cd batteries over the years.

I cannot say enough at how reliable and great it has been over the years and you will have no issues with this charger. I think it did like 550mA x4 and all the slots were individual so you could charge a single cell at a time....Would never get hot but just warm.

All in all, its a great charger and while I don't use it anymore (gave it to my sister) I imagine it'll see more years of usage without problems. Thing is built like a tank, I've put it through some heavy usage.

 

[vali]

Should we start a new thread listing the recommended chargers (aka charge single cells, reliable termination...) like the one about lubes in the general section?

Opinions?

And sorry for the OT

 

[Robstorch]

I forgot to add that it runs on 120 or 240? volts for foreign countries.
It can also charge one or two AAA batteries also.

 

[Wiggle]

Thanks for the input guys, I went ahead and picked it up. It's charging a set of duraloops right now