In the past, I used to get cheaper NiMH than Eneloops for devices like cordless phones. Those don't need the Eneloops ability to hold a charge for a really long time, since they sit in the charger most of the time anyway. So I went for non-Eneloops for those devices. Not because the alternates were cheaper than Eneloops, but because they had higher total capacity than the Eneloops (at least that was the case at the time I bought them). But nowadays, I just buy Eneloops for everything that doesn't also support LiIon rechargeables (my preferred battery type). But even those LiIon devices, the 14500 sized ones, also have AA sized Eneloops available for long-term storage backups.