AA recommendations...Family loses occasional cells.

Good Morning all,

I am looking for aa recommendations. I know eneloop is the holy grail of all cells. I have several. I do not mind paying for eneloop quality. The problem is my family occasionally loses batteries. Sometimes my wife or one of the kids will throw something out that has rechargeable cells in it.


I have eneloop white all from 2011-2013...excellent service.(some lost of course)
Kodak precharged from 2013—very good service. Most lost as I was more apt to put them in something that might not come back or get lost. Made in China.
Amazon black LSD—-Made in Japan, (eneloop) dec 2018.

I need more cells. I see there are a flood of other brands available. I dont want to pay for eneloop if they get lost. I know there are other good cells out there, like these Kodak cells I own now. (I paid $1 usd for them).

Current cost on amazon for 8 eneloop is $18.99, amazon black lsd is $16.49(and recent reports these as china made)

I see EBL and Bonai, as well as a slew of others.

I do want LSD. Even though they get rotated out fairly quickly(sons xbox controller)


Any more economical recommendations? Or bite the bullet and go eneloop. I know some of the amazons have been lost already.

Thanks for any advice.

Good luck is all I can say; IMO the genius of the 'white-label' Eneloops is that they look so different compared to traditional alkalines that it attracts casual attention in a constructive way.

Just be happy you don't have a (dwindling) stock of the Duracell "Pre-charged" 'Duraloops' - anybody not paying close attention will certainly mistake those for traditional Duracells & toss them.
(In fact, I wonder if that was a Duracell strategy, lol. )

I do agree with you Kestrel, but the problem is I "think" the stuff gets thrown/given away without even checking.

I actually tell them to not discard any battery until I see it.


Just got done with a refresh analyze on an old eneloop, only 1600mah, I guess thats pretty good considering it to be 6-8 years old and maybe not the best life at times.

You've reminded me of a thread I did a few years ago:
[h=2]My spouse murders rechargeable cells [/h]

Haha, well my son is basically on board.

I start off with the brown Ikea's when I think they will just throw them away. A four pack is $3.99 and the capacity is 1000mAh for AA's about half of white Eneloops. If the device discharges them quickly, then I change over to white Enloops and remind them not to throw them away.


I don't think you will find anything decent for under a dollar. Maybe Tenergy NiCd's they are about 90 cents for AA's but they self discharge a lot faster and are not available in AAA just AA, C and D. AA Energizer lithium primaries are about $1.60 and have about 3000mAh. So if you get more than 3 cycles out of the ikea's they paid for themselves.

Frank

Unfortunately no ikea anywhere near me. By the time I pay freight, I could buy a better battery with free shipping. I'd buy the 2450 ladda's if there were an IKEA around here.

I may blow a $20 and try a cheaper brand.

Right now white eneloop is 16 for $34.17, around $2.30 a cell. I'd really like to get something around $1.30, but not sure I can get a decent quality for that.

I generally just bite the bullet and go with Eneloops. In the past, before I started visiting this site, I tried some of the amazon brand rechargeables. While most are still kicking around in things I don't really rely on, I just don't think the price difference is big enough when I know what I'm getting with the Eneloops. Especially when I've had wrappers crack/split on cheaper brands.

amazon basics. The ones made in Japan are rebranded eneloops.

If you are not paying for shipping $34.17 is an excellent price for 16 AA white Eneloops assuming they are not fakes. The only time I saw them cheaper than that was when Costco sold the blue Eneloop ten packs for $30 and then gave you a $10 rebate at the register. The last time they did that at the store near me was about 4 years ago. We are coming into the season when they restock them, normally it's about mid-October. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they will offer them again.

Frank

xxo said:

amazon basics. The ones made in Japan are rebranded eneloops.

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The black ones I have are made in Japan. Recent reviews say they are made in China at this time. 8 Eneloops are $18.99, amazon black is $16.49. Not worth the gamble.

Anybody can can get on amazon and pay $34.17 for 16. US I assume.

I would go for the Fujitsu whites. Your best buy is at least 40 (10 four blister packs). The price is reduced at 10 packs. With shipping, it works out to be about $1.80 per cell. ru.nkon.dl is the site for US or non EU buyers. Prices are listed in Euros.

I use xe.com to convert Euros to USD, it seems fairly accurate when I buy.

I've had good luck with the AAA 800mAh EBLs. Maybe stick a piece of paper over the batteries that says "dont toss these out" I wonder why someone would toss those out. The Eneloop white wrapper should be an indicator they are not throwaways.

They don't throw out the cells, it's when it's in an old toy or something they don't realize has batteries.

Going to try the Bonai $12.99 for 8.

racinjason said:

They don't throw out the cells, it's when it's in an old toy or something they don't realize has batteries.

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So they're just in the toys now? My suggestion is to buy a pack for yourself and just put it somewhere that no one will grab them. I recently bought a set of Amazon basics, of course they're made in China so they're most likely not as good as the Eneloops but so far these Chinese cells are not bad, though they are only manufactured 2-3 months ago (July 2019). Only time will tell if they hold up nearly as well as the Japanese Eneloops.