Finding a quality rechargeable battery is a lot harder than it sounds. In trying to find a quality battery to recommend to NewsTarget readers, I discovered that most rechargeable battery companies lie about their capacity, and companies like Duracell and Energizer that sell throwaway alkaline batteries don't even tell you their capacity!

The result is that consumers are left in the dark about which rechargeable batteries are really worth the money.

I decided to conduct an in-depth investigation to find out the truth about rechargeable batteries vs. alkaline batteries. So I purchased a $600 high-end battery analyzer with graphing software, then calibrated it with another $300 in electronics equipment. Once that was done, I started testing batteries to find out how they performed.

The following results are preliminary and will be improved with additional testing, but even what I've found in the first round of testing was downright shocking. See the list for yourself:

(Keep in mind that the term mAh stands for milli-amp hours, a measurement of electrical power capacity. It's like measuring how much gas is in your gas tank. Higher mAh numbers indicate higher capacity.)

Alkaline throwaway batteries: (based on 300mA discharge rate)

Duracell Coppertop AA: 1957 mAh
Duracell PowerPix AA: 1869 mAh
Energizer MAX AA: 1973 mAh
Energizer E2 Lithium: 3182 mAh (the highest performing alkaline I found, and costing about $2.87 each)

NiMH rechargeable batteries: (based on 10/C charge for 16 hours, 300mA discharge rate)

Sony 2700 AA: 2774 mAh (the highest performing NiMH AA that I found)
Sanyo 2700 AA: 2729 mAh
Powerex 2700 AA: 2724 mAh
Tecxus 2700 AA: 2627 mAh
Duracell 2650 AA: 2597 mAh
Unitech 2700 AA: 2524 mAh
Vipow 2700 AA: 2258 mAh
TWD (China OEM) 2700 AA: 2447 mAh

In other words, NiMH rechargeable batteries performed better than nearly all alkaline batteries! Only the Energizer E2 Lithium battery beat the NiMH batteries, and those Energizer E2 Lithium batteries cost $2.87 each in the United States!

Clearly, the best bang for your buck is found in using NiMH rechargeable batteries. Consider this:

Cost to buy 1,000 Duracell PowerPIX AA batteries: $2,240

Cost to buy and recharge a Powerex 2700 NiMH AA battery 1,000 times: $24

Which would you rather pay, two thousand dollars or a little over twenty dollars? You actually get more power out of the Powerex, too!

More than just capacity

In terms of capacity, the top three batteries I found were Sony, Sanyo and Powerex, and they all performed very close to each other, exceeding their 2700mAh specification. But evaluating a NiMH battery requires more than just looking at the capacity. It's also important to know how long will the battery last? How will its performance hold up over time?

Unfortunately, I have no way to know that without running these batteries through 1,000 charge cycles to see what holds up. I'm planning on doing that, but it will obviously take many months. Until then, what impressed me was knowing that the Powerex batteries are made in Japan and come with a five-year manufacturers warranty. That means Powerex will replace them for you any time over the next five years if they fail to operate. That demonstrates a lot of confidence in their product.

Sony and Sanyo batteries are made in Japan, too, and that's probably why they performed so well in my tests. Many other batteries, however, are made in China, and they didn't do well at all. Other OEM brands I tested and didn't list here actually performed under 2000mAh!

I'm still conducting more testing and plan to report more detailed findings at www.NewsTarget.com as soon as I have the data. In the mean time, the Powerex battery was the best I could find that was RoHS certified (meaning it contains no toxic heavy metals or hazardous materials) and came with a strong manufacturer's warranty.

And that's the story on why we carry the Powerex battery. Apparently, we're not the only ones who recognize how great this battery is. It won the 2006 Editor's Choice Award by PC Photo Magazine.

What about the price?

At the time of this writing, a 4-pack of Sony 2700 NiMH AA batteries was selling for $27.19 at Adorama.com, a pro camera shop with really good service (I buy camera gear from Adorama frequently, and they have great service).

The Sanyo 2700 NiMH AA batteries are selling for as low as $4.25 each on some other websites.

We're selling a 4-pack of 2700 NiMH AA Powerex batteries for just $14.95. It's a great deal on a superior battery, and it's from a company (Better Life Goods) that's focused on eco-friendly products with a mission towards supporting grassroots organizations that protect consumers from toxic chemicals, greedy corporations and dangerous products.

So if you're in the market for high-quality NiMH rechargeable batteries, I invite you to purchase them right here. We ship quickly, and we don't mark up the shipping charges like a lot of other companies do, plus we have a no-hassle 30-day satisfaction guarantee.

You'll like these Powerex batteries. I use them to power by Canon Digital Rebel XTi camera! They work extremely well in any application that uses AA batteries, including MP3 players, digital cameras, toys and electronics. My opinion is that if you have some piece of electronics worth buying batteries for, it's worth buying batteries that actually work well, isn't it?

Buy now before the nickel price hike

By the way, as of this writing, the price of nickel on the London Metal Exchange is skyrocketing to 500% its traditional value. This huge price hike is sweeping through the NiMH battery industry, and prices will absolutely, without any question, increase substantially this year. The price you see right now is the lowest we will ever offer on these batteries, and even if you shop around, prices are headed skyward everywhere.

If you're thinking about buying NiMH batteries, beat the price hike and grab 'em now. They're only going to get more expensive from here forward.

This product is certified RoHS compliant. (Reduction of Hazardous Substances directive). This means it is free of mercury, lead, cadmium and other hazardous substances normally found in electronics. Click here to view the manufacturer's statement of RoHS compliance (PDF).