Best/Value AA/AAA Batteries?

[Belial88]

To be specific, what's a good value battery in terms of mah. ie a battery with half the mah but 1/4 the price would be a better value.

Specifically, I'm looking for batteries to put in a semi-permanent place to power a project. Even a 1000mah would last years for this usage, so any battery would be fine, but a higher capacity battery would be appreciated.

I don't care for rechargeable.

I see batteries are judt insanely expensive at the store, but some plain ones exist for super cheap. Thanks.

 

[corkyg]

You will pay more for lithiums, and get really long life, and also be saddled with HMD (Hazardous Material Disposal.) I try to equip all my battery loving peripherals with Eneloops - but they are rechargeable. If I have to go for plain ones, I go copper Top or Energizers., I find the best local deals are at Costco.

 

[alkemyst]

Costco has excellent deals on AA/AAA. I'd recommend them too.

Cheap batteries die quick.

 

[PliotronX]

As far as alkaline goes, there's not a whole lot of difference between them. As long as they're not carbon zinc you can't lose and about the cheapest I've seen is Monoprice even after shipping and at your local Sears.

 

[Belial88]

Oh I just found something interesting, this battery review (took a bit to find):

http://www.batteryshowdown.com/results-lo.html

It says energizer ultimate lithium/varta pro lithium are the best at ~3000mah (love they actually post those results) but have awful price to performance. I found them on ebay for 4x$7.50. So expensive, but maybe not so expensive if you need longevity, which I might. The crazy thing about these batteries it seems, is that most of their energy capacity is at high voltage (1.2v+). Every other battery seems to have the majority of it's energy below ~1.3v, meaning they all lose voltage quickly.

Think I'll get the energizer lithiums (4x$7.50) based on my project. It doesn't appear any old battery would do fine though, it very clearly seems that there's 3 class of battery - crap is like 1/4, mediocre/good is like 2/3, and then good lithium. I really can't have reduced voltages on these batteries or else I won't have enough power to the servo.

Seems like quite a large difference between certain alkalines.

Interestingly, Costco batteries were actually rated as one of the best batteries. I can't really find them online at a great price though (I find 48 @ $20 = 4 @ $5, which is the same as the varta lithiums).

I mean Ebay has a TON of cheapo, no name, etc batteries for super cheap, 4@ $2, but it seems cheapo batteries can suck so i'll avoid.

 

[corkyg]

If your need is long life, lithium may be your best bet.

 

[alkemyst]

Oh I just found something interesting, this battery review (took a bit to find):

http://www.batteryshowdown.com/results-lo.html

It says energizer ultimate lithium/varta pro lithium are the best at ~3000mah (love they actually post those results) but have awful price to performance. I found them on ebay for 4x$7.50. So expensive, but maybe not so expensive if you need longevity, which I might. The crazy thing about these batteries it seems, is that most of their energy capacity is at high voltage (1.2v+). Every other battery seems to have the majority of it's energy below ~1.3v, meaning they all lose voltage quickly.

Think I'll get the energizer lithiums (4x$7.50) based on my project. It doesn't appear any old battery would do fine though, it very clearly seems that there's 3 class of battery - crap is like 1/4, mediocre/good is like 2/3, and then good lithium. I really can't have reduced voltages on these batteries or else I won't have enough power to the servo.

Seems like quite a large difference between certain alkalines.

Interestingly, Costco batteries were actually rated as one of the best batteries. I can't really find them online at a great price though (I find 48 @ $20 = 4 @ $5, which is the same as the varta lithiums).

I mean Ebay has a TON of cheapo, no name, etc batteries for super cheap, 4@ $2, but it seems cheapo batteries can suck so i'll avoid.

How does 48 @ $20 = 4 @ $5?

4 @ $5 comes out to 48 @ $60.