For anything I use regularly, I ruthlessly insist on AAs. Since the latest NiMH rechargables are excellent and cost-effective, I rarely use single-use alkalines. I do keep a couple of cases of generic alkalines to fill in any gaps.

The exceptions are internal rechargeables like cell phones and the cheap AAA headlamps I tuck in every car and kit.

P.S. The generic alkaline 9V's I have opened contained six sub-AAAAs in series. Potentially very useful.

I'm big on rechargeables - that way I don't have to buy the 25 packs....as often

Almost everything we have that takes those little button cells, I consider disposable.

I'm almost completely on AAs too except for some flashlights and a few 9v users. I still use AAA for some things, like keychain lights, headlamps, alarm clocks, etc. They're still much better than button cells but I try to stick to AA whenever I can.

In hurricane panic buys, I'd say D and AA disappear first. It seems like every family buys a D cell Maglite and batteries for a month. AAA and 9v aren't as popular, but nobody buys C cells.

I've definitely had the experience of seeing just C cells on the shelf. I was a big user of C cells in a Pelican SabreLite, but now I mostly use LED lights powered by rechargable AA cells. From an old Backpacker magazine article, I remember them saying that C cells are the most power for weight (in an alkaline).

I have a bunch of the old D cell lights, but, I find that with the evolution of smaller LED based lights, like some of the offerings from Fenix, I just don't reach for the big Maglights anymore. There's still a big 3 or 4 D-Cell in each of our vehicles (I did replace the bulb with Mag's drop in LED) but, it's probably more useful for breaking a window or in self defense...

I just seem to use the smaller lights, both for flood and throw needs. I either use a headlamp, on AAA's, or a small tactical style like a Fenix T10, which is on 123's, or a keychain light, on AAA's like a Fenix L0D. Of course, I've got a couple AA MiniMag's too, with the LED heads. I know I can get pretty good lights that are similar to the T10 that will run on AA's, or AAA's, but, the light intensity, size, throw, and, well, comfort/form of the T10 make it my favorite at the moment, so I'm stuck with 123's. I have a couple lights that use them anyway, an older 1 cell Nuwai, and a 3 cell from Cabella's that has an interesting square patterned lamp. I supposed if there's a shortage of one type of battery, I'll have something I can use!

I have some nice plastic holders for spare batt's that I picked up at County Comm. http://www.countycomm.com/CBH.htm They make them for AA and 123 size, hold 4 each. Good for throwing into a pocket of your BOB.

It is virtually impossible to pare down battery types. BTW, BatteryJunction is a great source for batteries (Energizer CR2016/2032's for $.95) No exotics and I've still got:

AA (alkaline, lithium, NiMH)
AAA (alkaline, lithium)
D
CR123
CR2016
CR2032


In a perfect world everything would run on my Eneloops.

No its not, I have almost everything AA with a couple AAA things left and the non important stuff on a couple others but those are not mportant enough to stockpile extras for.

Thanks for the link! Those seem a little pricey but I may have to pick up a few.

First of all, I'd like to clarify that I've been a proponent of AA cells - for EVERYTHING - for a long time, and have worked very hard to get the stuff I consider important for emergency preparedness to run on AA - and only AA cells. All lighting is LED/AA based, for example, as are the emergency radio receivers. However, my point in the stock of extra batteries was based in part on experiences we had down along the delaware river during the floods of 2004, 2005 and 2006. Although a relatively short-term situation, there were logistical challenges with resupply due to the river bridges being closed, and much to my surprise, we ran into a few situations where various devices - like garage door openers - went dead and there was nowhere to get replacement batteries.

I happen to think that one of the most important things to have is ready access to information, for example, I routinely grab a whole copy of Wikipedia.org and I have about 200 Megabytes of eBooks of all kinds, from the PDF versions of the service manuals for my vehicles and power equipment to top and other types of maps to various medical reference books. Thus, for me, keeping my computers healthy, happy and their BIOS functioning is part of my plan. I always have a spare laptop of some sort set up and ready to act as a reference library/ communications center. So I tend to think of the needs of communications gear too.

I understand your point but if batteries are cheap, why not stockpile some extras? I wish it could all be AA. However, Photons are great sources of emergency light that you can stash almost anywhere and with their lithium batteries (10yr. shelf life, cold tolerant) they work when you need them. Sure I could stash a bunch of Fauxtons but they're not water resistant and only have one mode. And then there's my watch (CR2025) and the smoke detectors (9V), and before you know it you've got an assortment of spares. There's also size and output to consider. While I don't like CR123's, I love my Surefire E1L outdoorsman and consider it a great emergency light. Single AA lithiums/rechargeables just don't have the juice (yet) of a 3V CR123.

I've bought a few photons and other similar coin cell lights and no of them lasted very long, they all eventually die in some way so I stick with AA powered lights.
Haven't worn a watch in years since they catch on everything, be it the inside of the server or brush. Surefire's are nice lights but there are other lights which are just as bright and run from AA's.
The logistics of stocking up make keeping various sizes more difficult, I've been there. You could buy 100 AA's and 100 AAA's and 100 C's and 100 D's and 100 of the others like 9v, cr123, etc or just buy 500 AA's and be done with it.
Rotating stock to keep all those sizes fresh take a lot more work too.
Plus at this point i have at least three sets of AA Eneloops for every piece of gear and items like my GPS will go 16 hours on a set of batteries so I have 3x16 hours of constant use for it before I even need to get into the backup alkalines and thats only if I can't get some of the other sets recharged.
The amount of $ I save bu not having those other sizes had allowed me to buy a lot more rechargeables and a nice charger/analyzer to make sure they run well. I'm at the point where I get longer runtime from an rechargeable than I do a name brand alkaline.