to tack on to Nomad's comments... after the 2004 hurricane season's 9 day power outage, I decided to consolidate my battery source to AA...first to alkaline primaries, did some research, discovered something called a Sanyo/Panasonic Eneloop NiMH...with the advice of AFLM, a good multi input charger, later a 7 w solar panel.. now an additional 18650 multi chemistry charger, .... better EDC lights, mongo lumen flamethrowers, and a couple of lanterns... this pic is what started it... a single Gerber LED task light, incan D cell Maglight, and some kerosene lanterns made it through the 9 days... more better stuff now