Most coin-type cells are lithium cells. Plus, I don't regard Photon lights as critical to my survival. They are a nice convenience, but I'll take the 150 hour battery life of my Zipka on one set of AAA's any day over the alternatives.

A Photon with a white led and a 2032 will produce usable light (enough to find your way around pitch dark with) for 150+ hours. And having a bunch of lights with you can be a big help in a group situation.

Note: lithium AA's (made by Fuji, I believe) are available for $1.00 each (qty 20) from www.batterystation.com . They have been tested extensively at CPF and their characteristics are a bit different than the much more expensive Energizer L91 cells. See CPF for details but my interpretation is that they're not -quite- as good as the Energizers, but their advantage over alkaline is very similar. They may offer lithium AAA's sometime but right now they don't.

I concur. The blackout and the savage ice storm of a few years prior to that event taught me to have some flexibility in battery usage. In metro areas, all of the popular battery sizes; AA, C, and D were nearly impossible to find. In rural areas, they were impossible to find.

A couple recent trips to very rural areas also taught me not to rely soley on the odd battery sizes. During one very recent trip, we ended up having to drive 25 miles to a small city to acquire batteries and a couple other items we take for granted at home...

M

Flexability is a GOOD thing, but don't depend on the oddballs is probably the lesson. Having a "Backup" that takes an oddball is probably a "good thing" (or a primary that takes an oddball, with a backup that is "normal")

Just remember - 2 is 1, 1 is none, and you can spread your risk a tad <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Then again, at the rate we go through AA cells in my house, I usually have 1/2 sleave sitting on my DESK, never mind the stash - gad I ca probably get 1/2 sleave out of my kids toys without blinking. Costco gets a lot of my money for bulk batteries and the like

Yes, the main issue is they start out at about 1.9V vs 1.7V of the Energizer lithiums, or 1.5V of alkalines vs 1.2V of NiMH. So, if your device is sensitive to voltage, or you are using several cells in series beware.

They have also been reported to have a odd little voltage sag during the first part of their life. Other than being a bit odd, this shouldn't cause problems other than to confuse devices that try to predict battery life -- although most of these devices don't know about lithiums anyways (although my Garmin GPSes do).

All in all it is nice to see an alternative, but make sure you understand the compatibility issues.

-john

The lesson I take away from all of this is to make sure you have enough spares of WHATEVER type of batteries you need on hand so you don't need to rely on stores.

Personally, I like AA lithiums and 123A lithiums for this purpose since they store well.

-john

So is there any such thing any more as a cell phone that takes AA or AAA batteries? My Motorola flip phone had a 6AA pack and there used to be 4AAA packs for the Star Tac. I'm not asking about external packs that plug into the charger port, but rather, phones that can be powered directly from AA or AAA packs attached to the phone in the usual way a battery pack is attached (it's ok if the AA/AAA pack is bigger than a normal pack, like the "extended" extra-thick packs we used to see for Star Tacs etc).

I remember seeing those for the old motorolas. Not anymore though, modern phones are smaller than the diameter of an AA or AAA.
The best I could figure out is finding a small flip ohone with external removable battery pack like the old motorola, then a second battery and desktop charger like the old motorola so I have two charged batteries at all times. Then a travel charger in the BOB and vehicle charger in the truck and a battery clip for it.

I live in what you could call a third world country, a couple of months ago I was tempted to change my trusty Mini-Maglites for Surefires, but the batteries are impossible to get here. You can only find them at some specialized shops downtown, since I work outdoors a lot in very remote areas that doesn't work for me.

I modified a Mini-Mag to LEDs and added a Petzl Tikka Plus and AAA Mini-Mag. Even the smallest shops in the most desserted Patagonian villages have some AA and AAA batteries (mainly used for radios).

For cellphones, the best solution I've found is a charger that has a lever which you cranck to get power. It isn't very efficient since you have to turn the lever for a while until you can have enugh power for a short conversation, but it will do in an emergency. I don't relly on my cellphone that much, though, since the damned thing has an uncanny abillity to loose the signal when I need it the most. Radios and satellite phones are the way to go.

Is there any good flashlight like Surefires or Inovas that uses regular AA or AAA batteries?

Because of the work I do, I have an almost unlimited supply of half-spent lithium AA cells from my employer. We put them in dataloggers and run them for two or three years in very remote places (see two examples on the ETS map). We replace long before they are dead in case we can't get back for a year or two.

Recently, we've started using new loggers that take 123 cells, so I'm now in the market for a new LED flashlight that takes these. So far i like the look of the Pelican M6.