Best batteries and charger?

What are the best performing aa and aaa batteries, both rechargable and non-rechargable?

For the rechargable batteries, what (Quick) charger would be the best?

There is no simple answer, as life is full of compromises. You need to determine your application before you can answer the question. Read the stickies with battery and charger tests to get an idea of what might be good for you.

As for alkalines batteries, pretty much any that is cheap. I get the Kirkland AAs.

I won't even get into rechargables. Just remember... there's a reason people like the CBP 1650 even though there are higher capacity AAs out there. It's all about application.

Chargers, do you want a $300 one, or a $20 one? The $300 one is the best. But is it 150x better for your application?

Okay...

I didn't realize there was a whole science to this, my appologies.

I am looking for best performance, regular output(?), they don't have to last long, price not outrageous.

The charger, cheap and quick.

Does this help?

One of the best deals around right now is the Sanyo Super Quick charger (about an hour to charge 2 AA's) that comes bundled with 6 Sanyo 2500 mah NiMh cells and 2 Sanyo 900 AAA's NiMh cells all for about $22 available only at Costco, if they still have any left. Those are considered to be among the best cells and at that price the charger is virtually free and is not bad either.

If you can get to a Costco and get the deal listed above, get it! I wouldn't be too bothered paying that price for the cells alone, the charger is a great bonus!


If you can't get to a Costco (or they have sold out) I'd recommend the Energiser 15 min charger. The best price I have seen is $26 at WalMart, with an extra $2 off with a coupon stuck to the charger itself. You get the high speed charger and 4 2200mah cells, so not nearly as good as the above deal. But the charger is a work of art - charges very fast (2200 in 15 mins, 2500 in 20mins). It will also charge any number/combination of cells too.

Check out the charger thread by SilverFox - he has tested many commonly available chargers.