AA Battery Showdown

[Adam Aglionby]

and Duracell so ain`t the winner....

[Ericp]

Many thanks.

We have loads of Kirkland but did not know how good they were, just that they seemed to last for very little cost. :)

[Jeremy Nicoll - news posts]

[Brian Gaff]

They are all probably made by the yin chang po battery company and the names stuck on and charged for according to fame. grin.

Brian

[Andrew Gabriel]

myself.

I used to buy the bulk pack GP Ultras from CPC (which seem to do quite well and were very cheap from CPC - often on special offer), but they stopped selling them a couple of years ago (substituted a low spec GP intended for bundling with a product).

Have now switched to Kirkland (Costco's own label) and they seem to last very well as that report indicates - not had any wear out yet, so I don't know how well.

[stuart noble]

Another example of the "you get what you pay for" argument being turned on its head

[Dave Plowman (News)]

,

Quite. When I was active in broadcasting, we used a large quantity of batteries in things like radio mics. Of course we bought in bulk - usually Duracell Pro. On occasion one might run out on location and buy some from the local shop. Most common brand being Duracell. Which invariably didn't last as long as the Pro version - despite the much higher price. Oh - they were all well within their use by date.

What did surprise me about that report was Panasonic doing so badly. Only because they have such a good name elsewhere - no real experience of their batteries.

[The Natural Philosopher]

But confirmation of 'if its advertised on TV, it is almost certainly far more expensive than it needs to be, and should be avoided'

[tim.....]

Interesting to see that the best value for money was usually the cheapest alkaline that you can find. You may have to change them more often but you get more bang per buck than the super doper double life versions at three times the price.

tim

[Tim Watts]

My Dad did a long term discharge (days) on serveral makes and found IIRC:

1) Duracell were the best for life 2) Superdrug's own alkaline where the best for pence/Wh

I buy Duracell in bulk from CPC - way cheaper than most other sources. I also noticed that the daughter's camera (2 AAs) lasted a year on AA Lithiums (non rechargeable, that's 2 weeks in China, other hoilidays and misc day trips) and about a week of holiday use on Duracells.

[Scott M]

Panasonic were one of the first of the Poundshop (etc) battery suppliers about 15 or more years ago. At the time when all other batteries were pricey it did seem odd that they were available with a good name so cheaply. However they never were much cop then and it looks like they've carried on the same way of building them down to the price. The ones that have come along later must be doing it as a slim margin unit shifting exercise.

Surprised about the Kodak ones though. I'd always mentally put them with the Panasonics because they've got even less of a name WRT batteries!

Scott

[Phil L]

crap....I've always had better performance from the pound shop batteries while others' scoffed that I was a cheapskate for not buying 'the best' IE, duracell.

Emails have been sent, thanks.

[PeterC]

Don't know how current this site is and also it deals with more types of cell/battery:

[fred]

If you've anything that runs AAAs then it would be hard to beat Ikea's offerings, £1 for 10 on my last visit. Think they do AA too but couldn't find them on my last visit and I already had plenty of stock of CPC's GP supers in that size.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I tried IKEA ones a few times 10+ years ago, but they all leaked.

[S Viemeister]

We've had a number of leaky Kirkland batteries.

[Andy Burns]

Any reason so many people seem not to be using rechargeable AA batteries? I don't think I've got any kit that objects to the lower voltage of the low discharge NiMH type.

[Tim Watts]

Nothing leaks like an Everready Orange SP-series battery from the 70's 0 those were dire.

The blue HP-series were better...

[Andy Burns]

They seem to get more that their fair share of complaints for leaking, perhaps the USA ones are sourced separately from the UK ones?

[fred]

In article , Andrew Gabriel writes

Thanks for the warning, to be fair I've had a couple of leaks with GP supers too.