Why rechargeable (AA/AAA) batteries not popular?

Re:Why rechargeable (AA/AAA) batteries not popular? by EECS on Saturday May 21, 2011 @10:29PM (#2572435)

You can find bulk batteries for cheap at Costco, Home Depot, and a ton of other stores. They sell them in 24, 36, 72 packs for almost nothing. And there are deals online that make them even more lucrative at times. Can't remember the last deal I got but I think it was like 72 AA batteries for like $9. While that's not typical, what is typical is spending less than $10 for Energizer or Duracell AA batteries around 24 to 36 packs. These are pretty common and each battery lasts pretty long.

On the flip side, as others have said, rechargeable are only good for the first week or two you have them if you use them a lot. The charge doesn't hold after awhile and they suck. The charger and the batteries are expensive compare to the non-rechargeable alternatives.

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Re:Why rechargeable (AA/AAA) batteries not popular? by pwg on Sunday May 22, 2011 @01:40AM (#2572719)

Home Depot online listing: 36 pack Energizer Alkaline for 13.97.

That is $0.39 per battery.

Rechargeable: $3.24 per battery.

3.24 divided by 0.39 is 8.31.

At the ninth usage, the rechargeable battery becomes cheaper than the very cheap one use battery.

I have four Energizer NiMH AA's that have to be at least 4-5 years old now and have been recharged at least 50+ times by this point. Are they quite as "strong" as when they were new, no. Are they still doing very well, yes.

A lot of the bad experience from rechargeable comes from using the cheapo chargers that are sold in the stores alongside the batteries themselves. Plunk down the one time cost of $30-40 for a decent charger and the rechargeable batteries will reward you handsomely.

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