I was fed up buying batteries for torches, radios, daughters toys etc. so I decided to buy some rechargeables from Argos, trouble is - they are sh1te! Spend more time charging them that using them!
I need some advice on what/where to look for the 'good stuff' - the kind of battery equivalent to Trout's lights, if you will!
Any pointers?
Try on fleabay think it's vapex/vaptech 2900mah.
ansmann ... 2850mAh .... used in my fenix for a good 2-3 hour
run time and from batteriesplus.co.uk
I bought some Ansmann 2850mAh double a's last year from tantronics - not cheap but they are the only batteries I have that show a mAh value close to what it says on the battery.
If you are using them for applications where you don't use them often, but you need them to stay charged, you might be better off with Eneloop type batteries. They have a lower rate of self discharge, so even though their capacity is lower, they are really useful for things like flashguns, where them might only get used once every month or two. When I used traditional rechargables, I found they were always flat when I wanted to use them.
i use vaptech 2700/2900 mah. only issue i have had is one has leaked slightly.. 4 years old, charged regular and still holding power good.
Are these all Ni-Mh?
as lodious says if you want them not to loose their charge naturally
otherwise, I have found lidl do a good range - £2 for 4xAA @ 2500mAh - having previously spent a fortune on 'branded' batteries to power flash guns these are far better value for money - no dead/dodgy cells in these (or at least in the 10 packs I bought)
they do of course suffer from the natural drain that all other NiMHs do, but hey ho
I heard that a lot of the problems are in the charging. Most chargers work too fast, and whilst they re-charge in a hour rhis is not good for the longevity of the battery. Look for a slow charger then your batteries will last longer.
Try - 7dayshop.com
+1 for Ansmann. They do an "Eneloop" equivalent too, "maxE" or something like that.
Ansmann charger is good too, though a little expensive. Slow and steady charging, battery health check, will charge 1-4 batteries (useful as kids toys seem to use three AA which is annoying!)
I recently bought uniross ultra batteries which are supposed to be good but I havent used them for long enough to confrim this or not. I bought them from here along with the uniross one hour charger for my dinotte tail light which I bought recently:
www.batterylogic.co.uk