You can also get into rechargeable batteries but these have serious limitations. NiCd, nickel cadmium, batteries self-discharge rapidly. which means you can't tuck them away and expect to have a charged cell to work with. If you store them you have to store them in a charger or spend time charging them for use. NiNH, nickel metal hydride, cells are better but they still self-discharge and they are more expensive than the NiCds.
traditionally NiMH have self discharged worse than Nicad and some of the newer NiMH self discharge quite fast (2500mAh for exmaple)
There are however a new style of NiMH that are low self discharge. Sanyo Eneloop, RayOVac Hybrid, etc are some of the names. Those discharge 1-2% per month instead of the 1-2% per day like a normal NiMH.
Li-ion, lithium ion, batteries are good. They hold a charge, don't appreciably self-discharge, are light, have high capacity for their size and they perform fairly well in the cold. Down side is they are expensive and unavailable in many of the most common sizes. And, possibly worse of all, they essentially self-destruct after about three years. Even if they aren't used.
They don't self destruct, they loose approx 20% of their capacity per year so in about three years there capacity is low enough they are considered worn out. They have a good power to weight ration but with them not having much of a standard size and wearing out in a short time I defiantly don't consider them good, I avoid them where I can.
The other brand of alkaline cells I am leery of is Rayovac. They last and store well enough. But of all major brands they are, by far, the most likely to leak. I sometimes still buy them but I have to take care to check them twice as often as any other major brand. I try to take extra care to replace them as soon as they get weak and making doubly sure that at the first sign of bulging, discoloration or other sign of impending leakage they get replaced.
Funny the only cells I've had leak are rayovac also.
I've standardized on Sanyo Eneloop, the low self discharge holds true, when I pull my gear out and test it I find the run time is as good with eneloop as it is with alkaline.
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