Those evanescent, ephemeral, etherial Eneloops

[flashy bazook]

Boy, it's been getting really hard to find Eneloops (the AA's).

Ritz Camera, Costco, hhgregg came up short. Fry's is not available everywhere (and on their website they had not the best prices). Circuit City had sales, but no store I was able to visit had them (even one that was listed as having it in stock on the CC website!).

Costco website had nothing. Skymall and Amazon list some travel kits but do not clarify which version of the charger the kits have (plus why have to buy a whole kit to get a few AA's).

All along, cheap(er) and worser versions of batteries were cluttering the aisles of these stores.

Is it a problem with Sanyo marketing? Or supply?

Or is (we can hope) a new version with bigger capacity about to come out and stores are cleaning out their current stock of AA Eneloops to make room?

 

[Burgess]

Yes.


_

 

[Mr Happy]

I've observed before that the entire world's stock of Eneloops appears to have been manufactured in 2006. It's now 2008 and they have all been sold...

 

[JCup]

Hmm, sounds about right, Burgess - Costco sold a zillion of them, they were on sale at Circuit City, and 8 packs of AA's were $15 on Amazon. There must have been a lot of these being moved through distribution channels.

The Costco in West Plano had more of those repackaged kits with the charger, 8 AA's and 4 AAA's tonight - $26 with no instant rebate this time. They had sold out at New Years.

Still seems like a deal.

 

[nerdgineer]

Wow. I read your title and I thought you meant Eneloops were starting to fade in and out AFTER you'd bought them....

 

[Bort]

I didn't see any at Fry's last week either. They used to have plenty.

 

[Wicho]

Fry's is wiped out here in San Diego, but Costco has more than you could ever want. Both the 8AA, 4AAA charger combo packs and the 6AA 2AAA cards.

 

[louie]

Gee, I have some AA Eneloops in transit from Thomas Distributing. $7.97 per 4 pack if you get 2 or more packs. I think today is the last day of this sale price.

 

[Darkpower]

I saw bunches of them at Costco last weekend. Bought a pack with 6 AA and 2 AAA. Also I think amazon.com may have them. I ordered a bunch from amazon.com two months ago.

 

[mdocod]

when I bought my last pack at Circuit City on clearance price (the last pack in the store), the people I talked to at the service desk mentioned that they would not be receiving any more.. Something to do with the way they "clearance" things... if they use a particular price ending in "88" cents (or whatever it was) then that means it's the last time they will carry that item. So I don't think we will be seeing any more eneloops at circuit city unfortunately. I wouldn't be surprised if one of the following things is going to happen:

A: all eneloops are going to be "cleared" out so to speak, leading to the release of a new version of the cell (possibly higher capacity, to compete with the other brands of LSDs available, most claiming 2100mAH instead of 2000mAH.)

B: eneloops are being cleared because from here on out they are going to be sold re-badged under one of the other major names... maybe duracell.

 

[Darkpower]

when I bought my last pack at Circuit City on clearance price (the last pack in the store), the people I talked to at the service desk mentioned that they would not be receiving any more.. Something to do with the way they "clearance" things... if they use a particular price ending in "88" cents (or whatever it was) then that means it's the last time they will carry that item. So I don't think we will be seeing any more eneloops at circuit city unfortunately. I wouldn't be surprised if one of the following things is going to happen:

A: all eneloops are going to be "cleared" out so to speak, leading to the release of a new version of the cell (possibly higher capacity, to compete with the other brands of LSDs available, most claiming 2100mAH instead of 2000mAH.)

B: eneloops are being cleared because from here on out they are going to be sold re-badged under one of the other major names... maybe duracell.

Good point...a significantly improved capacity such as 2700 mA. Hopefully.

 

[LuxLuthor]

Interesting. I bought about 50 4 packs from Amazon for $8.40 and now they are up to $14 Well I still have a bunch left.

 

[paulr]

I ordered four 4-packs from Thomas a couple days ago, resisted temptation to make it 5 or 6 packs. I do see some mention of a 2100 mah version from Sanyo (slightly different model number). I'm not worried. I figure the unreliabillity of older cells came from trying to crank up the capacity too far, so in some sense, lower capacity is better just like lower megapixels in a digicam (for the same sized CCD) is better.

 

[TorchBoy]

I do see some mention of a 2100 mah version from Sanyo (slightly different model number).

Linky?

 

[Stereodude]

The local Costco to me has a pile of the 4AAA, 8AA + Charger kits for $25.99 again. They had previously sold out and were selling the 6AA + 2AA cards.

 

[cannesahs]

I've observed before that the entire world's stock of Eneloops appears to have been manufactured in 2006. It's now 2008 and they have all been sold...

I have some, which have manufactured 2007.

 

[BlackDecker]

Come to Oklahoma City. All 3 Circuit City stores still have Eneloop AA's in stock. The store near Quail Springs mall even had a full endcap of them. Probably 40-50 8 packs.

 

[LuxLuthor]

Come to Oklahoma City.

He meant in the United States....LOL! Just Kidding !!! Go Sooners !

 

[Kraid]

Are they ceasing to make new Eneloops? Is the new stock all being labeled Duracell and sold for twice as much?

 

[paulr]

I just got my four 4-packs from Thomas Distributing, dated 8-2006. The "sale" ($7.97/4-pack in qty >= 2) is over so they're 50 cents more per pack now, not that big a difference. I looked around for that 2100 mah mention but I don't see it now. I'm not sure what it was, but I'm certain that I saw it, I did a double take at the time.