battery problems

I'm having some strange problems with my Canon A570.

I'll pop in fresh batteries - 80 or 100% charge according to the battery tester - and it gives me the red battery low icon. It will still take photos, sometimes forever and sometimes for only a minute or two.

Sometimes taking the batteries out and flipping them around will solve the problem. Sometimes not.

I had to try three different sets this morning, all new and all telling me 100% charge, before I found a set that worked.

Any ideas on how to troubleshoot or fix this or figure it out?

I have the same camera and have had similar problems. The first thing I did was to go through the menu and turned off any power using utilities. ie. display off 10 sec, no start up image, sounds, all off or down.... in general, any option where the camera uses power when not needed.

The second thing I did was to go buy some 2500mh rechargeable batteries (4) and charger for about 29 dollars.

I bring four, all the time and it seems to work out ok.

A slightly more advanced way to tell of battery status, is to install the CHDK hack for the camera, it has some features for monitoring the staus of the batteries. I use it all the time.