A couple years ago, I got a couple Motorola talkabout walkie talkies. FRS. They came with internal nicad pack, which I thought was pretty nice. And a charge stand for convenience. I spent a few minutes on Ebay, and Froogle, looking at nicad packs.
What I find, is t hat the nicad packs tend to be either 700 mA, or 800 mA. Which is about right, for nicad AA cells. They run six to eight dollars (and up) plus shipping.
I'd been using Raovac NiMH cells, which aren't mA rated on the package. I can't remember the cost, but it's less than two bucks a cell. One web site say they are probably 2,000 mA. Which is essentially three times the capacity of the nicad packs. The Rayovacs also have the advantage, I can spot and replace one bad cell, instead of having to replace the three pack.
At the moment, I'm thinking I'd be better off, to use loose NiMH, and use a NiMH charger for the loose batteries. Rather than drop in charge stands. For occasional use, only alkalines make sense. They don't go flat, like nicad or nickel metal.
The exception might be if the museum does the fund raiser again, and we have the chance to use FRS a couple hours a day, and charge all night.
Or maybe a church event, where we are doing parking. What experiences do others have to add?