Ok so yes these little gems are great- in theory. I love that I can buy one 4 pack and they last for a few uses longer than traditional batteries. I am at the point where I’m noticing diminished quality of the battery after just a few recharges, the camera isn’t as quick to respond for example. I do keep them on the charger just until they are charged and put them back to use right away. So they aren’t being over charged or just sitting and losing the freshness of their charge. We have also replaced the charger and nothing really changed, except we spent more money on this green idea. We’ve been using them for about 4 years now and I think I’ve had it.
I am wondering if the cost is worth it? I get probably 4 good reuses out of them, before I get frustrated at the length of the use or the quality. It does depend what we’re using them for, they can be used in the TV remote forever it seems and that’s their last stop before the leave us. I do handle them appropriately at the end of the day and wonder still is that any better than taking the traditional ones to the hazmat recycling place- if they end up in the same place and cost about the same what’s going on here? Also it seems that traditional batteries end up lasting longer than my rechargeables- again depending on what they are being used in. They are coming out with newer longer lasting standard batteries. And really is it good to be using electricity to charge these babies- because now that is costing me a little more in energy usage and money.
And my final pitfall with them is this: I absolutely dread when the batteries in my child’s toy (or 4) dies and they have to wait 3 hours for a new set of batteries, I feel like a mean mommy and that’s no good. The ones in the drawer don’t have a fresh charge so you can’t have a set just sitting in the ready, unless you keep a set plugged into the wall sucking juice and diminishing their lifetime.
I want to love them, I really do. But I think we might be giving the new extended life standards a try. I really hope they improve on this technology because I will come back to them, but now I’m too busy to have batteries annoying the crap out of me.


