Keep in mind that sometimes the batteries are not to blame. If you charge ’em with a crappy charger, you get a crappy charge. I’ve had really good luck with the Maha chargers (MH-C401FS) myself, and would definitely recommend giving them a try. In fact, they are probably good enough to surprise you and bring back some of those batteries you are throwing away.

I'm using a LaCrosse BC-900. The charger isn't the issue.

I'm testing them all and when they're 'dead' I'm running them on the 'refresh' cycle just to be sure...that's why the whole process is taking so long.

I think for some of them they're just old. I came across some the other day that I'd misplaced and the charger wouldn't even register that a battery was inserted let alone try to charge it.

Good to hear. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t wasting batteries that could be resurrected if possible. It’s also good to hear that most of them are old batteries, so at least you hopefully got your money’s worth out of their service lives.

Up until 3 months ago I wouldn't buy a digital camera unless it ran on AA batteries...so I had more than a few around...some as old as 6 or 7 years old.

I think I'm going to buy some MAHA Imedion ultra low discharge batteries. I hear they're some of the most cold resistant NiMH batteries around. MAHA claims they perform at full capacity (or close to it) up to -10C.

I've pretty much standardized on eneloop myself. I still have some old NiMh batteries, some as old as 2001 that the maha charger has recovered and they now run things like kids toys.
I use eneloop in all my prep gear because I never let it sit for years, I make it a habit to pull it out once every few months to test it and make sure it still works so at those times I just top off the batteries charge.
I haven't tried rayovac since I canstill get the eneloop for the same price.
A small note on the MAHA c401, its fast setting is actually a little too fast getting the eneloop a bit warm which could reduce its lifetime a little. I try to always charge on the slow setting and reserve the fast for if I really need a spare set charged up right away. I try to keep two sets of batteries for every peice of gear I have, I need to get a couple sets more for my wife as the spare for her digicam became the set for her breast pump so when we were away from home for a few hours one weekend I did use the fast mode to keep up with both. Once I get a couple more packs so she can have spares then I can slow charge one set while the other is being used.
I plan to pick up a second c401 soon so I can charge 8 at a time. I had an old rayovac charger that I paid $30 for from wamart and found that it didn't fully charge which partly led to my older batteries not working very well. I have some from 2001 that probably didn't even get 100 cycles before acting like they were worn out. The MAHA charger has brought them back to life.
I've standardized on AA's for many years now refusing to buy a digicam or anything else that uses propritary batteries if there is soemthing that uses AA available. I;ve found that with propritary packs after several years the cost even to rebuild the packs usually exceeds the cost of just buying a new peice of gear.

So, which brand is the winner? Eneloop or MAHA Imedion?
(Got 8 Eneloops already, but Imedion is much cheaper: http://www.thomasdistributingshop.com/-MAHA-IMEDION-AA-2100-mAh-Ultra-Low-Discharge_p_199-1080.html).

I'm going to order some Imedions from Thomas Distributing because they're on sale and cheaper...and because of the cold weather recommendation (which is listed on the Thomas site somewhere)

But I've heard good things about both...and the Rayovac Hybrids.

I buy 4 packs of AA eneloop for $7.99 at HHGreg Stores here. Thomas have them on sale too for the same price as the MAHA so price isn't really a factor as neither is cheaper.
Does WalMart still have the exclusive deal on the Rayovac's, thats what prevented me from trying them.