Has Anyone looked at Nickel Zinc Batteries?

reference http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel-zinc_battery


avail at Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/PowerGenix-ZR-PGX1...pd_bxgy_e_img_b

Same general recharge and loss rates at NiMh, but significantly higher voltages. Since Regular Alkaline batteries start at ~1.5, and NiMh start at ~ 1.2 voltage, some poeple have found NiMh are not as long-lifed.

For electronics that NEED the voltage (like camera flashes)it might be worth looking at. Review seem to be positive.

Disadvantages -
requires different charger than NiMh- not compatible.
Not good with non-LED flash lights voltage too high

I've been to CPF. Nice group but these reviews are EXACTLY what I needed. I 'know' you guys better than CPF. I'm very comfortable with your reviews and think I have my answer as to what i'll get. May start with the 'duracell' duraloops (have a few stores near me that may carry. As far charging in pairs, I'll look for the single charge option but I use in pairs and charge in pairs so maybe that would be Ok......

NiMH is close to 1.3/1.4v hot off the charger and then drops to 1.2v and stays there for the rest of its charge cycle.
Alkaline starts at 1.5v and drops to 1.4, 1.3, 1.2, 1.1, etc over its life so they drop fo 1.2 around 50% of their life.

I get twice as many camera flashes from NiMH as I do alkaline

Even thought you use them in pairs every battery is very slightly different so one can discharge a little bit more than another and therefore when charged as a pair will overcharge before its pair mate reaches full charge. So while its not as bad as say 15 minute charging or trickle charging it is still rough on the batteries.

Sanyo though does put a pair charges in some of those cosco kits but their eneloops are the tightest QC and therefore have the smallest of differences. but IMHO chargers are inexpensive enough it makes no sense to get one that has to charge in pairs.

Though I have other "smart" chargers, some very smart (programmable parameters), I prefer to charge Eneloop AAs in the famous old Maha MH-C204F charger. It only does pairs, and probably unlike most people I often use these batteries in singles too.

What I like about this charger is the Eneloops come off it at a few mV less than 1.5V. Way high, BUT they last notably longer in any app, and remarkably longer in devices that are more voltage sensitive (my GPS e.g.). Of course this voltage probably drops to 1.2V pretty quickly, but there still is a performance improvement. Now I expect the batteries may not last for as many charges, but they've lasted a long time so far and if I get 500 charges or even 250 instead of 1000, I don't really care. I mean these Eneloops are "paid for" after about 5 charges anyway. I'm more concerned with the increased runtime I get while I'm using them. When I'm at home and have access to lots of power options I don't care about runtime...

Anyway, just saying what I do. Bottom line is as far as I'm concerned, Eneloops made NiMH really worthwhile. Some regular NiMH have greater capacity, theoretically, if you use them quite quickly. But I'd never use the regular ones in anything where I need to set it up then expect it to work properly/optimally some extended time later. And I always carry some spare alkalines JIC, fairly lightweight insurance.