agreed! eneloops are definitely the way to go.

re: alkalines in cameras: in terms of cost vs images, it somewhat true that alkalines provide about as much juice, but lithiums will recycle the flash faster and don't slowly get weaker and weaker (they drop dead quickly). but for most low-draw electronics, the difference in operation is slight.

there is one big difference: unlike alkailnes, lithium aren't likely to leak.

Lithiums outperform high-end alkalines slightly in low-drain devices and hugely in high-drain devices. Digital cameras tend to qualify as high-drain, especially with flash.



I've never even heard of a lithium primary AA or AAA leaking.

nor have i, but i didn't want to make a blanket statement without enough knowledge.

(NB: I'm not a battery chemist, or any kind of chemist. Nor am I Blast.)

Metallic lithium, I'm told, combusts on contact with damp air. According to the datasheet Energizer Lithium batteries use a Lithium / Iron Disulfide chemistry. As far as I can Google this chemistry does not spontaneously combust.

Lithium CR123A primaries can "vent with flame" (that's explode in layman's terms) under some conditions, specifically if they're recharged, put under a very high load, short-circuited and/or there are multiple cells in a device with significantly dissimilar states of charge (this can lead to recharging of the more-discharged cell). Don't do those things.

A single-celled CR123A device with no capability to recharge should be reasonably safe -- I carry one in my pocket every day. I use a pulse-load battery tester before installing cells in any multi-celled CR123A device.

Today I've read reports that lithium primary AAs and AAAs can do the same thing under a 2A+ load or very high temps (140 deg F and up). I don't know how true these claims may be. I've also read that there was a brand of lithium primaries that used the same chemistry as CR123A batteries and were taken off the market in 2006. Before today I've never heard of lithium primary AAs or AAAs doing the "vent with flame" thing.

Hahaha! Maybe that kind wouldn't hurt, either!

Good info on the various lithiums. I'm glad to hear that both grades of Energizer are good down to at least -40. While they're fairly expensive I did see today that WallyWorld has a 4 pack of the Advanced for $6.97, or about $1.75 each. Not terrible, really. Over time I'll probably transition to lithiums for almost everything. I like that I can finally forget about having batteries leak. That said, some things will continue to be fed with alkalines. For instance, it makes no sense to use lithiums in my computer mouse- it takes very little power and if the batteries leak the mouse was $15.

BTW, I did order a couple of the Saft to try out. They're pretty expensive, like $6.26 each from Amazon. And I'll have to be careful not to short them and to make sure to use them in devices that can handle the voltage.