AA battery help needed

I have a dilema regarding what batteries to use. I have a Zebra SC51 and Eagletac P20A2 MKII. So far I have used the standard Energizer NiMh's but note everyone talks about the Eneloops. I can get Eneloops easily enough but maybe someone can tell me why Eneloops. In fact while I know what mAh means some light users prefer to go with lower 2000 mAh versus another brand offering 2500 or 2700 mAh. Why is that? If I want best power (not run time) which would I go for??

There will be others with more to say on this but I will offer a reply, eneloops have a tried and tested reputation to hold their charge for a long time as they say, to maintain a high voltage under load (important for some devices which cutout when voltages drop too low), they're made in Japan and their build quality is regarded as being very high. Although their capacity is 2000mAh, they actually hold 2000mAh, all my cells (both older type 1000x rechargeable and newer type 1500x rechargeable) hold between 1950-2050mAh if I test them with the C9000. Many other cells are sold as higher capacities but few hold their rated capacity. The ones that do sacrifice build quality/longevity and also self discharge rates in the process. The eneloop XX is a 2500mAh rated cell which costs nearly twice the standard eneloop price while being quoted to last 500 charge/discharge cycles compared to 1500 for the standard eneloop.
Hopefully this hasn't confused you more and if you have any specific questions am sure that someone will be able to answer them for you.

Lightman2 said:

I have a dilema regarding what batteries to use. I have a Zebra SC51 and Eagletac P20A2 MKII. So far I have used the standard Energizer NiMh's but note everyone talks about the Eneloops. I can get Eneloops easily enough but maybe someone can tell me why Eneloops. In fact while I know what mAh means some light users prefer to go with lower 2000 mAh versus another brand offering 2500 or 2700 mAh. Why is that? If I want best power (not run time) which would I go for??

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Eneloops can deliver higher peak current (power). In the case of the SC51/H51, the current is well over 2A in the H1 level. You only need half of that peak current (power) for a 2AA flashlight because there are two batteries.

ZebraLight said:

Eneloops can deliver higher peak current (power). In the case of the SC51/H51, the current is well over 2A in the H1 level. You only need half of that peak current (power) for a 2AA flashlight because there are two batteries.

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Thanks Zebra as my SC51 is my EDC light. So I guess you are saying 2000 mAh eneloops are better than 2500/2700 mAh other branded batteries?

Lightman2 said:

Thanks Zebra as my SC51 is my EDC light. So I guess you are saying 2000 mAh eneloops are better than 2500/2700 mAh other branded batteries?

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Yes.

For a single AA light such as the SC51, to be able to deliver higher peak power is far more important.

Here an excellent article:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?298090-The-AA-NiMH-Performance-Test-Thread

Nap.

The big reason is that Eneloops are LSD (low self discharge). Energizer NiMh cells are not. When you charge you Energizer, it has 2500mah direct off the charger. 1 wek later it may be 1900mah. 1 month later it will be nearly dead. Eneloops still have 85% of their charge after 1 year (I think that is the figure). So yes, the Energizer may provide better power if you charge it every day but of course it will not last bery long if you do that. Eneloops maintain their charge MUCH better and much longer.

Thanks Nap/Tre .... I think I have got it now. Cheers again.