aa rechargable batterys

i need to buy aa batterys for a pentax af -360fgz flash i am going to buy 2 packs of 4 either duracell duralock 2500 mah or eneloop pro 2500mah with you you recomend? and do i need a fast charger ?

Eneloops don't drain when not in use.. You don't need a fast charger unless your impatient. That choice is yours...

Ikea's Laada batteries are said to be Eneloop in disguise. Not sure if totally true, but I'm trying some out.

Look here for more info> www.eneloop101.com

Check out Maplins own brand NiMH 2100mAh 4 packs ...... link

The link is to the AA/AAA packs, but I picked up 3 packs of 4 AAs for £5-00 each, plus a charger with 4 batteries for £12.00. Its not the fastest charger they do, but it takes between 2-3 hours to charge four batteries from empty. I have been using them in my AF-540FGZII and Cactus RF60/x flashes and I am very pleased with the performance .... extremely fast recycling and good endurance. I cannot of course comment on their longevity.

You might have to go into a shop to grab the 4 packs as they don't seem to be on the website.

I have also recently seen a mention on PentaxForums about the Ikea equivalent product, also low price but reportedly strong performance too .... (John got there before me with the Ikea ones).

Probably all gone in the closing down sale by now. Their web site ceases from Monday.

Both are very good batteries, both made in Japan rather than China.

The eneloop pro 2500 can be recharged up to 500 times and retain 85% of their capacity from a full charge after 1 year.

the Duracell Recharge Ultra are guaranteed to last 5 years or 400 charges...whichever comes first and retain 80% capacity from full charge after 1 year.

Both will do what you want so i'd get the cheapest...which may well be the Duracell surprisingly.

Regards

Karlo

I have been disappointed with Maplin batteries. They don't hold their charge. Eneloops are superb however. I use an ordinary EverReady charger with them.

Standard Eneloops are OK for a flashgun they can be re-charged a lot more times than the PRO's can. 3,000 times against 500

It's unlikely that you will ever use the full capacity so the standard one's will charge up quicker if you use a charge-discharge-charge cycle.


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I read something recently, in 'Which?' magazine I think, saying that in a number of measures, most notably recharge time, Aldi's rechargeable batteries did better than the Enloops for a fractonof the cost. The max. number of recharge cycles was not measured however.

Be very careful with batteries from supermarkets etc. They often change to cheaper rubbish. I bought some Lidl ones and they were good. Luckily I only bought a single pack of 4 a year later and they were absolute junk. Marked 2300 mAH charged about 10 times since and never got better than half of that i.e. 1150 mAH from every battery

The originals still get 2300 mAH and are very consistent. Obviously some cost cutting has taken place.

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I too have found eneloops the most reliable when I was using my K-x, a model notorious for being fussy about the AA cells.

Two years ago I bought eight cheap Lloytron 1300 mA.h batteries for another (non critical) purpose. These have proved to be very unpredictable after a few cycles of charge/usage. A few still rate close to 1300 mA.h but most have lost a lot of capacity, with two of them now down to less than 500 mA.h as measured on my BL700 'smart' charger.

I have used Aldi batteries in my AF540 for three years now.. they are more than acceptable...except like all ni-cads they don't hold the charge..

didn't realise you could still buy Ni-Cads

Sanyo Cadnica Ni-Cads used to have the fastest re-cycling times in flashguns. I've still got a set over 10 years old. I'll have to test them against the Eneloops.

EDIT: Just dug them out after at least a year without charging. Two were at 1.25V on the charger and the other two were 0V...... 30 secs in an old Tandy pulse charger took them up enough to put into the Technoline BL700N for re-cycling along with the other two.

Flashgun test toomoorroow.

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Sorry

Nickel–metal hydride battery...My mistake.