Older 1700 mah NiMH cells?

I have been using old 1700 mah NiMH AA cells (energizer) for as long as I can remember. These have been well cared for, never over charged/discharged and not subject to abuse of any kind. I originally bought them for my RC hobbies (transmitters / receivers), 10+ years ago.

I still continue to use them, they hold a charge decently well and power my various flashlights very well (aside from their lower capacity).

I read a lot on CPF about how failure prone the current generation Energizer 2500 mah cells are (self discharging, early deaths...etc...). What has happened to the technology between today and way back when I bought those old 1700s? I have about 20 of them that I number and cycle in and out of rotation... they don't ever die, they just keep on going. I use them in my RC-N3-Q5 and still get a good ~2:45 per charge... from 10+ year old cells:thumbsup:

.. nowadays, all manufacturers are doing is jamming in things into smaller and smaller spaces, not factoring in heat, degradation, and the consumer.

It's all about how robust the anode and cathode are. As I understand it, the newer high cap batteries had to use more fragile, high surface area (read, more, thinner parts) electrodes, which are more prone to internal shorts and shock damage. Then sanyo I think developed some new metal electrode that was really robust and efficient, and used it first in eneloops, then it trickled down into the 2700 batteries, which aren't as robust but WAY better than 2500 discharge-omatics.