Souvenir from Japan!

[Mr Happy]

A brief visit to Tokyo and I picked up these:

They have the new branding and, as ackbar points out, the date code is 2008-03. Shoot, I wish I'd seen that when I was buying them as I would have compared all the packages to look for a more recent date still.

I'm testing them to see how they compare to the older 2006 cells that I have been able to obtain in the US.

Out of the package they were reading 1.35 V and discharge capacities were 1731 1739 1709 1741 mAh.

I'll see what happens when I finish a break-in cycle on them.

It's interesting to note that I did not have to search very far to find them. They were readily available in the first shop I looked.

Edit: The break-in cycle gave capacities ranging from 2005 to 2015 mAh, so they seem to be performing a little better than older samples which usually end up somewhere in the mid-1900's.

 

[ackbar]

They have the new branding and are presumably of recent manufacture, though sadly I can't make out the date code.

How about that number at the bottom of this pic? 2008-03 doesn't look too bad to decode. I guess you didn't get the decoder ring

 

[Mr Happy]

Hey, well spotted! Since it was printed in black I really hadn't noticed it.

 

[ltiu]

Hey, well spotted! Since it was printed in black I really hadn't noticed it.

It's also in Japanese so I would understand why you couldn't spot it right away

 

[RGB_LED]

Nice find. :twothumbs Btw, how were the prices compared to back home? Better / worse? Just curious as to whether there is a huge difference with where you buy eneloops...

 

[Mr Happy]

Ah, the cost was about $1,217. That was $1,200 for the plane ticket to Tokyo and $17 for the batteries.

I bought them at the airport though, and you know how prices get inflated at airport shops. I didn't get a chance to look for a regular shop downtown, so I don't know how the normal retail price compares. I was interested in that myself.

 

[Mr Happy]

Added break-in capacities to first post.

 

[WildChild]

Ah, the cost was about $1,217. That was $1,200 for the plane ticket to Tokyo and $17 for the batteries.

I bought them at the airport though, and you know how prices get inflated at airport shops. I didn't get a chance to look for a regular shop downtown, so I don't know how the normal retail price compares. I was interested in that myself.

$17? Not that bad, the retail price is $18 and more for 4 here in Canada...

 

[Black Rose]

$17? Not that bad, the retail price is $18 and more for 4 here in Canada...

If you can find them in places other than Costco...

 

[WildChild]

If you can find them in places other than Costco...

I agree. Now the sad part. I only found them at Costco in my native area (Saguenay), bundled with the Sanyo charger I use/love. Here in Québec City, they stocked up a few months ago with Duracell 2650 mAh and their 30 minutes charger, which are priced very high there... I hope that Eneloop will come here some day or at least, Duracell Pre-Charged.

 

[koala]

I saw them going for 1400yen in some of the superstores for the retail packaging. I went to some electronics components shop they were selling for 1000yen for 4pcs loose cells. That was early this year.

 

[Black Rose]

Edit: The break-in cycle gave capacities ranging from 2005 to 2015 mAh, so they seem to be performing a little better than older samples which usually end up somewhere in the mid-1900's.

I wonder if they've tweaked the formula a bit or if what a lot of us experienced was simply from the cells being kept in possibly less than ideal conditions prior to us purchasing them.

Of the 44 Eneloop AA cells I have, only four of them exceeded 2000 mAh.

 

[ackbar]

I wonder if they've tweaked the formula a bit or if what a lot of us experienced was simply from the cells being kept in possibly less than ideal conditions prior to us purchasing them.

Of the 44 Eneloop AA cells I have, only three of them exceeded 2000 mAh.

That is odd. all of my enloops exceed the manufacture's rating. Same thing with any of my other MIJ cells. AFAIK Sanyo is very honest and usually under rates their cells.

 

[Black Rose]

That is odd. all of my enloops exceed the manufacture's rating. Same thing with any of my other MIJ cells. AFAIK Sanyo is very honest and usually under rates their cells.

Of the under 2000 mAh Eneloops I have, the lowest is 1924 mAh and the highest is 1996 mAh.

Of the four that exceed 2000 mAh, they are 2007/2008/2009/2041 mAh.

Sanyo is very honest about their capacities, and all my cells exceed the minimum stated by Sanyo.