No need for me to start again, nor would I want to! (I'd be out all my Eneloops for handheld electronics and LiPos for my electric powered flight packs.:eek:)
Each person has their own needs and likewise there are different cells that will work better than others for different people. So instead of just trying to guess at what you need/want and why, I'll tell you why and how I use what I do. :thumbsup:
I use the MH-C9000 charger for the standard "1500" cycle Eneloop AA and AAA cells. (I think these are in general a much better value than the XX Eneloop cells because they have 2.4x the cumulative lifetime capacity potential and cost half as much. The XX cells just have 1.25x capacity per charge.).
I assume you already know the advantages Eneloops offer, or if you don't it's easy enough to just look up their website and have a look through this forum, so I won't bother listing them here again.
I charge the AA Eneloops on the C9000 at the default 1000mA rate and the AAAs at 400mA and then let them go through the top off and float charges for 3 hours after they're done with the main charging phase. So I have them on the charger for a total of about 5 hours. I do this so that the cells are more balanced with each other at a fully charged state. (Leaving them on longer isn't an issue, but I certainly wouldn't leave them on indefinitely.)
I use the break in function of the C9000 (after fully discharging the cells at 100mA) to test the cells, making sure they're good and within their specifications, then make series cell sets out of them by matching their capacities. For the break in function, I set the Eneloop AA capacity to 1900mAh and the AAA capacity to 800mAh. I also test their IR by comparing their load and no load voltages. The cells in each series cell set are labeled accordingly so I can keep track of them and their tested results are logged in a log book I keep for them. The cells in the sets are also only ever used together and charged at the same time so that they have the same usage history and state of charged capacity.
I store the cells charged so they can be switched out with depleted sets whenever I need them and so I don't have to wait for the depleted cells to charge. If a cell (or cells) ever starts to wander in performance from the other cells in a set, I'll break up the set and make new sets from those cells within that set that are worth keeping and still have the same performance characteristics as each other or demote one of the cells to a single cell set. I haven't needed to do this yet, but I do have single cells that I use by themselves too though of course.
In general the advantages of Eneloops (ease of use, reliability, performance) for me offer more than any other kind of cell of any chemistry for handheld electronic devices. I would even prefer if I could buy a cell phone that ran off of 3 AA cells so that I could use Eneloops in it instead of the costly and poor performing proprietary Li-ion cells that they come with.
The main advantages of Li-ion type cells (including LiPos) are their marginally higher energy density, potentially (though not always) a high discharge rate capability, and their lighter weight. This makes them very useful in one of my other hobbies, radio controlled model aircraft. They also have better charging efficiency, but that isn't really all that important to my general needs. (Pretty good for electric cars though.) However, due to their cost, potential danger, high maintenance, and lower reliability, I choose to not use them in other devices where their specific advantages aren't a necessity.
