Good AA/AAA batteries and where to buy?

If you have a charger/analyzer and have quantified different batteries' capacity, what are you favorite brands and where do you get them online?

I'm not specifically looking at the very best, just a decent price/performance ratio.

I feel my usual approach of sorting by "AA batteries" by "price+shipping: Low to high" might fail me on ebay.

Thanks

I certainly haven't conducted empirical tests regarding quantitative battery specs, but personally I'm partial to Sanyo Eneloops. I like buying from Amazon.

There was a monster thread a while ago regarding AA testing, but I currently can't be bothered to find it :P

Might want to check this thread:

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=677074

It is old, but may give you a starting point.

^ Yeah, there we go. Lots of data there to sift through

Albert Nam wrote in post #14718083
^ Yeah, there we go. Lots of data there to sift through

That's dedication!

Sanyo Eneloops - but watch out for fakes on eBay (especially, but seemingly not exclusively). Apparently there are quite a few about. The most common tell-tale, so I understand, is that the fakes don't have a perfectly smooth cylinder but a slight circumferential depression near the +ve terminal. There are other signs too but it gets a bit fiddly to explain and I don't have one to photograph and show you.

Price is not always the best criterion! A reputable dealer is - I read good things about Thomas Distributing http://www.thomasdistr​ibuting.com …-Batteries-4-Pk_p_21.html but have no personal experience. Dunno if they'll even ship to Canada or just to their little bit of the continent - certainly not to my side of the pond!

From what I understand the Duracell "pre-charged" cells (only those with the packaging that says "Made in Japan") are re-labeled Sanyo Eneloops and seem to be easier to find - I know the Walgreens and CVS stores around where I live carry them. Pretty sure I've seen them at Target as well.

On the "flashlight fanatics" website - candlepowerforums.com - where people find ways to spend the same kind of money collecting flashlights as people here do collecting camera equipment, (seems impossible addictions are an illness) they refer to the Duracell "pre-charged" as "Duraloops" since it's accepted knowledge that they are indeed rebranded Sanyos. Duracell also has almost identical looking cells in almost identical looking packaging but the fine print says "made in China" - so while they too are Low Self Discharge (LSD) cells, they are not the same as the Sanyo Eneloops.

From what I understand the Duracell "pre-charged" cells (only those with the packaging that says "Made in Japan" are re-labeled Sanyo Eneloops and seem to be easier to find - I know the Walgreens and CVS stores around where I live carry them.

On the "flashlight fanatics" website - candlepowerforums.com - where people find ways to spend the same kind of money collecting flashlights as people here do collecting camera equipment, (seems impossible, I know, but addictions are an illness) they refer to the Duracell "pre-charged" as "Duraloops" since it's accepted knowledge that they are indeed rebranded Sanyos. Duracell also has almost identical looking cells in almost identical looking packaging but the fine print says "made in China" - so while they too are Low Self Discharge (LSD) cells, they are not the same as the Sanyo Eneloops.

Possibly the same ones which are sold in the UK as EneLONG, made by Shenzhen BetterPower Battery Co.? http://www.aliexpress.​com …battery--wholesalers.html

Here's what the makers have to say about them:-
低自放镍氢电池为改良型的镍氢电池充。它具有电​容量高、放电深度大、耐过充和过度放电、充电时​间短等明显的优点。它最大优点在于改善了镍氢电​池的荷电保持率,也就是说它让镍氢电池的自放电​变的非常缓慢。

倍特力公司2006年向国内外市场推出了“en​elong”50AA2100mAh低自放电电​池。它的自放电只有常规镍氢充电电池的三分之一​，“一次充满电，随时可以使用”，更有长达10​00次的循环寿命。在制造过程中，公司采用了日​本顶级材料和技术，是一款经过市场检验的新型高​容量低自放电镍氢充电电池。

目前公司已经推出容量高达AA2400mAh的​低自放电镍氢电池，将满足不同层次消费者的需求​。

Well, you can use Google Translate just as easily as I can

I am buying Eneloops from Thomas Distributings and Amazon for many years without a problem. Once bought Duracell. Unless I got a bad batch, they did not compare well with Eneloops. I also tried Maha Imedion. These will be my second choice.

Eneloops are the best so far.

Y.

Eneloops from Amazon, the new XX cells are very nice as they are 2500mah.

I have a couple sets of Eneloops for my flashes. I have a whole lot of Duraloops as well. I got them from Target and Office Depot. I'm sure you have something equivalent to Best Buy, Walmart, and office supply stores up there. You can get lucky and catch them on sale as well as use a coupon on top of that. I haven't checked recently, but a while back the Duraloops were getting hard to find. It seems like they were getting replaced by the supposed Rayovac version (black top, Made in China). Most people say that they are just as good, but I made it a point to find the white tops.

I try to avoid going to the malls. After the cost of gas, driving and time it's always cheaper to get stuff delivered from another continent.

US amazon charges shipping for canadian orders... I just ordered some Maha imedion and powerex in AA from the guy I bought the charger from.

Keyan: Yep, got a couple of sets of Eneloop XX which are under trial at the moment. They're about 70-80% more expensive here than the standard (white) Eneloops and seem to be a sort of half-way-house between full LSD and high power standard cells - higher power than Eneloop standard but not as many use/recharge cycles claimed. As I said, 'under trial' at present.

Yasmin: Maha Imedion (and their Powerex) aren't easily available in the UK but everything I read about them suggests they are on a par with Sanyo. Those I can get are double the Sanyo price which makes them debatable value and hardly worth the effort of chasing them down. Their C-9000 charger is also 50% more expensive in the UK compared with US.

One problem I've come across is the apparent availability of something from an internet vendor and then hitting that infuriating barrier of "Sorry, we cannot ship to your location". I gather that Canadians have similar problems with stuff from the US on occasion.

Returning directly to the original question, the reason I personally suggest the standard 2000mAh Sanyo Eneloop to folks is that

1. Every single one of mine (48 so far) has delivered capacity ABOVE the claimed 2000mAh - the average seems to be 2100mAh. Many big dealers have also reported the same results. I've tested and rejected other brands which turned in 82% capacity at the outset - they're more likely to go down than up and I usually ditch anything when it drops below 80%.
   
2. The consistency of storage capacity is exactly what you would expect. No opening a fresh pack, testing and finding that 3 are up to standard and one is only 82%. I've had ONE cell which tested out initially at only 2070mAh (out of the 2000mAh claimed) and I was really disappointed - very unreasonably on my part!! It tested above standard yet I was disappointed (till I kicked myself back to reality )
   
3. They really are readily available just about anywhere I've come across - in identifiable form not disguised or, euphemistically, 'rebranded'. I LIKE folks who have sufficient belief in the product to put their own name on it!
   
4. I've never, ever come across a single person who has had a bad experience with them. Some folks prefer other brands, but no-one has knocked Eneloop on performance grounds. Reliability rocks in my book.
   

Whortleberry wrote in post #14720720
Returning directly to the original question, the reason I personally suggest the standard 2000mAh Sanyo Eneloop to folks is that

1. Every single one of mine (48 so far) has delivered capacity ABOVE the claimed 2000mAh - the average seems to be 2100mAh. Many big dealers have also reported the same results. I've tested and rejected other brands which turned in 82% capacity at the outset - they're more likely to go down than up and I usually ditch anything when it drops below 80%.
   
2. The consistency of storage capacity is exactly what you would expect. No opening a fresh pack, testing and finding that 3 are up to standard and one is only 82%. I've had ONE cell which tested out initially at only 2070mAh (out of the 2000mAh claimed) and I was really disappointed - very unreasonably on my part!! It tested above standard yet I was disappointed (till I kicked myself back to reality )
   
3. They really are readily available just about anywhere I've come across - in identifiable form not disguised or, euphemistically, 'rebranded'. I LIKE folks who have sufficient belief in the product to put their own name on it!
   
4. I've never, ever come across a single person who has had a bad experience with them. Some folks prefer other brands, but no-one has knocked Eneloop on performance grounds. Reliability rocks in my book.

This makes me feel good about my purchase.

I have a set of four eneloops, but so far they've just been used and I've never had data to compare them cause I use them for bike lights.

Some AA eneloops coming in from ebay from korea, packed for korean market - no english on the box. If they are the real thing, I got a pretty sweet deal.