Well, I should have done it sooner but I bit the bullet and bought several packages of AA & AAA Lithium batteries! I bought a mix of Energizer Advanced Lithium and Energizer Ultimate Lithium. Can anyone advise me what the difference is, aside from price? It seems the Ultimate should last longer and are advertised to work down to -40 F, but does that mean the Advanced aren't good to -40 F, too?

The main reason I bought them was reliability. I've known that alkaline batteries are prone to leaking and even had them ruin flashlights before, but only recently did it sink in that the light I've got in my survival kit and glove box could be shot due to bad batteries! Tonight I changed out the AAAs in my Streamlight Enduro LED head lamp with a pair of Ultimate Lithiums. This should not only be a bit more reliable also work even during a South Dakota winter.

At the moment about the only things I have to worry about batteries for is flashlights, although I'm going to slip a couple of the Advanced into my digital camera. Regular alkalines only give me about 50 shots or so.

BTW, this reminds me why I prefer to choose devices that use CR123A batteries. For one thing, they're cheaper! Oh, it might not seem that way at first blush- certainly if you buy your batteries at Wal-Mart they seem expensive. But anyone reading this obviously has access to the internet. I get my CR123A batteries online from many sources (Batteryjunction.com being a favorite). Generally I pay around $1 each for solid, good quality batteries and maybe $1.50 for the best available (IMOHO that's Panasonic). In contrast, the lower level Energizer Advanced cost me almost $8 for a 4 pack or around $2 each. The Energizer Ultimates are generally well over $2.50 a pop and I've had no luck getting them appreciably cheaper.

Yeah the lithium AA/AAA are still patented if I recall, so no generic alternatives. I use sanyo eneloop rechargeable most of the time though, not good in cold but almost as much capacity as lithium, and well, rechargeable.

No idea on advanced vs ultimate, up till two or three years ago there was only one version, I kinda suspect it's more to do with marketing, like the "photo" version of alkaline.

They don't leak like alkaline batteries!!! I hate the fact that I'm afraid to leave alkaline batteries in my rarely used devices. It drives me crazy when a nice device gets destroyed by leaking alkaline batteries.

I've switched everything that I can to lithium - especially devices that are difficult to open - such as electrical meters (multimeters) that require a screwdriver to access batteries.

Unfortunately some devices specifically warn against use of lithium batteries - for example, my Garmin GPSMAP 60CSX.

I too find myself liking CR123 batteries. Bought in bulk on-line they can be found at reasonable prices.

although the "advanced" don't hold quite as much juice as the "ultimate", they're often quite a bit cheaper.

i perfer the "ultimates" just so i can have the most juice possibly available within the tool.

lots of threads over at CPF about it. here's one:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?210335-Energizer-Ultimate-and-Advanced-Lithium-AA

the thread included this useful info::

"...I recently ran the ANSI digital camera test protocol on these cells and got 702 photos with the Ultimate and 465 with the Advanced..."

thus, which is the better-deal has to do with the asking price of each...

The Energiser Lithium Ultimates are excellent but if you need a AA sized battery which can stand extreme temperature variations i.e. down to -50 C and which can left and forgotten about but need to work in the most extreme environments then these could be a solution

http://www.buyabattery.co.uk/saft-ls14500-battery-3-6v-lithium-lsg14500-size-aa-cr14500.html



http://www.saftbatteries.com/Technologies_Lithium_LiSOCl2_303/Default.aspx

Typically the Saft cells have twice the energy storage of the Energiser Lithium primaries and excellent low self discharge giving useful storage lifetimes >20 years.

Pricing is typically equivalent to the Energiser Lithium Ultimates, when considering the energy storage per cost.

Energiser Lithium AA @1.5V 3200mA will give 4.8 WHrs
Saft LS14500 AA @3.6v 2600mA will give 9.4 WHrs

or Twice the run time for similar battery weight.

Being a 3.6V terminal voltage you need to make sure your flashlight i.e. a single AA flashlight can take some of the rechargeable 14500 Lithium Ion cells. Also make sure that the flashlight LED emitter doesn't consume more than 0.5W i.e. a typical Cree 50 Lumen flashlight.

These batteries are typically the Saft ones found in emergency location beacon transmitters (ELTs, EPIRBs)

The main downsides, the Saft batteries could explode if short circuited. So they need a little more respect.

Varta and Duracell manufacture Lithium Primaries.

http://www.buyabattery.co.uk/lithium-aa-aaa-batteries.html

Varta are German made and appear to be more slighty cost effective when bulk buying.

Ultimate and Advanced Lithium both go down to -40 C. Datasheets at http://data.energizer.com/PDFs/ea91.pdf and http://data.energizer.com/PDFs/l91.pdf . Ultimate Lithium is significantly better in high-drain devices. For AA and AAA primaries, they're the only ones I buy.



They also store a lot longer than alkalines.



+1



Titanium Innovations (batteryjunction.com's house brand) CR123As have been exceptionally reliable for me with 90+% of the observed performance compared to Surefire. Surefire is commonly regarded as the top CR123A primary. Reportedly, Panasonic manufactures Surefire's batteries. I've stopped buying Surefire batteries.

Lithium in a camera are a waste, for the same price per cell you can buy some eneloops and recharge them after use. The performance is close enough that you won't be able to tell the difference.

Glad you finally got your lithium Phaedrus! It is supposed to be very effective for a range of psychotic conditions.

Oh, wait, you mean lithium batteries...!

Yeah, love my Energizer lithiums. I would like to see some more competition on that front though.