Thread: Who Makes the Best Batteries?

So with Christmas rounding the bend and time to buy the kids, toys that eat batteries, thought I would relate an interesting experience.

We have a storage unit where my bride stores stuff that she sells at an antique mall, along with some of our junk.

On the way down, I stopped at the dollar store and pick up a 4 pack of AA, Panasonic batteries for my portable radio, I keep and listen to talk radio. I figured if they lasted the day, I would be happy, for a dollar.

The station I listen to is on the fringe of reception and I have to adjust, to keep the reception tuned in. After a full day, about 5 hours of sorting and packing, I left the unit and the radio was off.

A couple weeks later, I get a call from the folks that live onsite and maintain the facility. They said for weeks, they had heard talking coming from one of the units, as they made their clean up rounds, when they got closer to the talking to pinpoint the sound, the talking stopped.

Finally, they pinpointed it to my unit, and thought someone might be inside, but there was a secure padlock, on the roll up door.

So, I went down and sure enough the radio was still on and working. Apparently the signal had drifted, when I was locking up and I thought I had turned it off. Those cheap batteries lasted all day 5 hours and off and on, as the signal drifted, for over 2 weeks, one dollar batteries.

Recently, on a web site and saw a comparison of Duracell and name brand batteries vs Costco, Kirkland brand, saying they were just as good and,1/3 the cost.

So, moral of the story, buy the dollar store batteries or at least the Kirkland batteries, probably made by the same high dollar battery folks.

Here is one of those comparison post. Clark Howards ” Who makes the best AA Batteries”.

I go through a lot of batteries. The only batteries that I immediately remove & toss out the batteries sold at Harbor Freight,, Powercell, ThunderBolt, horrible batteries that can damage a product. You can actually squeeze the AA's between your thumb & forefinger, squish them.

I roll with Rav o Vac for non important power & Duracell , Energizer for important products.

I'm a big fan of the copper top. Duracell for me.

I use rechargeable for many things. Cheaper in the long run

For the price of them, they should last a lot longer than they do.

I only use Duracell. They do last longer, at least for me. I haven't tried the quantum yet but will give them a try next when my stash of coppertop are gone.

I use the Energizer rechargables with the charger which actually cuts off, illuminating the green light as they are charged.
Several years now with the digital camera, flashlights in the shop, beard trimmers at home. They go a long time and don't get 'burned up' in the old chargers which keep frying them as you forget them in there. Also, they seem to last much longer as in-use.
1300 MAH
With AA batteries, it seems the price of throwaways is gaining on the rechargeables. Just my observation..

Originally Posted by sharptonn

They go a long time and don't get 'burned up' in the old chargers which keep frying them as you forget them in there.

We used to carry radios at work all the time and i would charge mine on the even days overnight and then the batteries would last well over a year and up to two. When it was decided that phones would be the next greatest thing we would only use the radios when needed. The problem was is that if they got left on the charger the batteries would go dead from over charging but if they were left off the charger they would be dead when you wanted to use them.

The solution I found was to put the chargers on a timer. One hour every night would be enough to top them off but not overcharge.

Just this morning it became official that we should carry radios again at all times! The phones can't compete with them in many ways.

The only negative now is that I have to carry a phone and a radio. Along with another phone and up to two pagers depending on what day of the week it is......

I am thinking of investing is suspenders!

Sort of a 'use it or lose it' thing!