In a previous post, I’d discussed the Energizer batteries and charger I’d purchased, only to be disapointed by the chargers’ lack of 220v capability.  At Patrick from OMG’s recommendation, I ordered a set of NiZn AAs from PowerGenix, and am pretty pleased overall.

In addition to better flash-charging performance (Which is amazingly hard to quantify, so you’ll just have to trust me), the NiZn units are quite a bit cheaper ($30 got me a 2hr smart-charger and 12 AA batteries), and marginally lighter for roughly the same watt-hour capacity.

The PowerGenix charger, for example, weights 121g while the Energizer one weighs in at  265g, a savings of around 60%.  To its credit, the PowerGenix charger seems to be transformerless.

The batteries are just a touch lighter, also:

• NiZn 2500mwh (1562mah) weight 98g
• NiMh 2000mah weigh 104g

2500mwh (1562mah * 1.6v) vs 2400mwh (2000mah * 1.2v) marginally more total watt hours available from the NiZn. To be fair, the voltage is 33% higher, and the actual amp-hour capacity is 25% lower. An additional benefit to the higher cell voltage is an increased cushion before a battery pack drops below the cutoff voltage for a given device.

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Products, Technology by Kevin