Sanyo eneloop vs energizer rechargables

Hi, I bought a nitecore EA4 and was disapointed with how quickly the lithium batteries petered out. At about $10 a set they didn't give me more than a few minutes on turbo before the turbo mode would not work any more.
Some on this site recomended that I get rechargables, which was good advice as that light can really eat up batteries. I asked what battery was recomended and several of you recomended the Sanyo Eneloops. I checked on-line a little, but didn't pull the trigger. Instead of waiting for the shipping, I picked up a set of the Energizer rechargables with their smart charger. These are the 2450mah batteries, and they work pretty well and give me as much, or more run time than the lithiums did. My questions are:
1) Are the Eneloops that much better?
2) If they are really that much better and I do order some, is the energizer smart charger adequete, or do I really need to get a better charger?

Thanks in advance, Eric

1) it depends on what energyser has been doing, back long ago it was siad that some of the energysers were made by sanyo.
The problem with the higher capacity non-LSD (low self discharge) batteries was they were not very robust, even if they had a higher self discharge , it was how long they would last in time and cycles, and when put in the average devices. They would work wonderfully for weeks and weeks, even up to a year when used sporaticly. the problem was they did not survive cycles and time, and a person could not "depend" on them.

If you go out and get 2500 eneloops they will be ok, but they are not going to last years and years, and cycles after cycles, and cope with bad situations, they are not going to be very robust, like a 2000 one is.

even if you go back to years ago, lower capacity cells were much longer lived, 1600 and 1800 capacity cells were very robust, and lasted very well. its about cramming that much stuff into a little battery, something has to give. So while they improved formulas, and seperators, and come up with new alloys and methods and all, it becomes more possible to get capacity and robustness.
Also
There is often (but not always) give and take in Capacity vrses Load handling. capacity vrses maintaining the voltage under load. those older lower capacity cells would put out a lot of amps, for the things that need them. Back to the alkaline, one of the problems with the alkaline is not so much its capacity, but its capacity when it has hard work to do, the voltage tanks.

One company trying to compete, said that the profit is low (assumption is when keeping purity high and using all the right materials). so there is all those give and takes , costs, capacity, and who really cares Well i do because its money, and money wasted.

2) giving you advice where your at now, i would say. Get some 2000 eneloops, use your energysers, use the charger that you have for either one, and then go from there after you see what happens.

esmarkey said:

1) Are the Eneloops that much better?

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Yes and no. I had some of the mentioned 2500mAh cells, and the bad PR from those is surely part of why don't want to call them 2500mAh. They will self-discharge faster.

Low self-discharge cells will be around 70-80% capacity after sitting around for a whole year, and long-term tests have shown that the drain is not linear (IE, next year it will be 70-80% of the first 70-80%, and so on), so you could even get some real use out of cells that sat in a closet for 3-5 years, if they were put away charged. With them, you basically don't have to worry about how long they've sat, if they haven't been used. The real benefit is that it allows changing of usage and charging habits, thanks to the reduction in self-discharge. You do lose a little capacity for it, though.

2) If they are really that much better and I do order some, is the energizer smart charger adequete, or do I really need to get a better charger?

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No. Your charger will work just fine for any NIMH AA batteries. If it's the charger I think it is, it only charges in pairs, which could be a problem, if you get a 1AA flashlight, or if 1 cell is bad, but the charge quality or compatibility won't be an issue.

cerbie said:

Yes and no. I had some of the mentioned 2500mAh cells, and the bad PR from those is surely part of why don't want to call them 2500mAh. They will self-discharge faster.

Low self-discharge cells will be around 70-80% capacity after sitting around for a whole year, and long-term tests have shown that the drain is not linear (IE, next year it will be 70-80% of the first 70-80%, and so on), so you could even get some real use out of cells that sat in a closet for 3-5 years, if they were put away charged. With them, you basically don't have to worry about how long they've sat, if they haven't been used. The real benefit is that it allows changing of usage and charging habits, thanks to the reduction in self-discharge. You do lose a little capacity for it, though.

No. Your charger will work just fine for any NIMH AA batteries. If it's the charger I think it is, it only charges in pairs, which could be a problem, if you get a 1AA flashlight, or if 1 cell is bad, but the charge quality or compatibility won't be an issue.

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Thanks Vidpro and cerbie! If I don't have to buy a new charger I will look for a set of the eneloops. My charger is NOT one that charges in pairs, it has 4 seperate bays and you can put 1, 2, 3 or 4 batts in and an LED will light for each bay.
So the higher capacity is a trade-off for long life... I wondered why more on this site didn't use them. I also found a set of the duraloops and wondered why they were only 2000mah. I assumed the Enerbunnies were better batteries because of the higher capacity.

Nimh's are cheap enough around here at least that I don't end up seeing a real difference between eneloops and energizer 2300's for example...so I have some of everything.

I just load all of ONE type at a time into any one device.