Skater:

Do you always keep batteries in all your flashlights?

The cheapie in my car is always empty because I have been taught that discharged batteries tend to leak more than good batteries.

The 2 "C" battery Eveready Captain and all the 2 "D" flashlights in my house are equipped with rechargable batteries. When rechargables start to fail, they refuse to recharge, or discharge at a rapid rate after recharging and I toss them and replace them. I will never again buy Panosonic rechargable batteries because they have not stood up under use as well as the Radio Shacks brand. The Radio Shack batteries cost more in both regular and high capacity, but they have always outlasted Panosonic in total use, and length of use after recharging.

I have ruined flashlights in my younger years by keeping batteries in them when they were not used for long periods of time, and I have even had a radio suffer battery leakage after prolonged retention of batteries in the radio when it was not used. Everything that uses batteries now, but is not used regularly has the batteries removed and packed or taped to the unit to guard against battery leakage damage.

One more thing, I have never had a regular (Rechargables have never leaked in use or long term non-use.) battery leak when not in a device, even though it may have expired and did not work any more. What is your experience in that regard?

Bountyhunter