Eneloop Not Just Another Cereal, Oops Battery
Grandchildren demand lots of batteries not just in their
toys but in my cameras. I have two digital cameras that seem to suck the life
out of whatever type of battery I install. I have myriad rechargeable batteries.
Nicad and NiMh neither of which have been satisfying. I have tried brand name
batteries and no name batteries. I have tried the expensive lithium disposable
batteries but the disposable aspect offends me. Charge them up, pop them in the
camera and they work just fine but they don’t hold a charge for any length of
time. If I am lucky they still work 24 hours later but generally they need to
be recharged on a daily basis.
I read about the Eneloop batteries and liked the idea but I
have 16 AA NiMh that work, poorly but they work. Then my Lenmar SpeedCharger
died. Luckily it died just within warranty, although Lenmar honored the
warranty they did charge me $10.00 shipping and handling or 33% of replacing
it.
The death of my SpeedCharger forced me to take a look at
chargers and I found a deal at Amazon that offered a charger with the Eneloop
batteries. I bit the proverbial bullet and ordered the deal. I like the fact
that it includes those nifty little adapters allowing use of AA batteries in
other devices. On receiving the Eneloop batteries I promptly put them in my
cameras. They come precharged which is also a nice feature. Three days later
they are still holding a charge. This beats the heck out of the traditional
batteries I have used. Down side is that the charger takes 7 hour to recharge
them. I still like the fact that I am not forced to change batteries every day
on my cameras. Eneloop may not be the the ultimate solution but so far it beats
the heck out of everything else I have used.
I blogged on Sanyo
Eneloop batteries back on February
27, 2009 I have now had the
batteries in two of my cameras for over 6 weeks. I pulled out one of the
cameras last night and it fired up, flash worked and the shutter lag was
diminished. I wasn’t really aware that the a big chunk of the dreaded shutter
lag was based on the ability of the batteries to handle recharging the flash. I
took 5 flash pictures almost as rapidly as I could depress the shutter. I am
totally impressed with that. In addition the Lenmar, Sunpak and Energizer
rechargeable nickel metal hydride batteries don’t hold a charge in the camera
for more than two or three days. I find that a bit odd in that they hold up
fine in a little flashlight that my grandson wanders around with and leaves lit
on a regular basis. Bottom line is if you are dismayed with your rechargeable
batteries I strongly recommend the Enloop batteries.
Update June 21, 2014.
I am still a fan of the Eneloop battery.
After three years of use, they
still work fine. I have never tried to
charge them on anything but the Sanyo charger. Oddly enough the new four pack
of batteries I got are still labeled Eneloop but now they are a Panasonic
product. I then Googled how that happen
and found out that Panasonic had bought 50.2% of Sanyo in 2009 and the
remaining stock in 2010. They have been
phasing out the Sanyo name ever since.
Anyway, the batteries seem to work the same even if their branding has
changed. If they don't I will be back
here to update you.
If reviewing a product, it may have been received free of charge. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.
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