Rayovac 1-hour charger $24.99 at Walgreens

[rdh]

Message title says it all. These are normally between $30- $35 at Walgreens, Walmart, Kmart, etc. If you bought some of those cheap AA or AAA Nimh batteries, then this deal is for you!


Link for rayovac charger

 

[kassaam]

Anyone know if this available at the B&M?

 

[Borg20001]

Yup,
I saw this advertised in their flyer which came out Sunday.

 

[dude]

I wonder how good these are. Do they heat up the batteries too much?

 

[Mallow]

I'd love to help out the environment and use rechargable batteries... how much do the batteries themselves cost?

 

[alm99]

Originally posted by: Mallow
I'd love to help out the environment and use rechargable batteries... how much do the batteries themselves cost?

Depends on where you buy them, if you buy them from a company in this thread, they are about ~.85 a piece. If you were to buy from BB, Walmart, CC they are about $11 for 4 AA, $2.75 a piece.

 

[cyberia]

I was checking out this charger and various AA rechargeable batteries at Walmart B&M yesterday. I noticed that Rayovac AA batteries have 1600mAh rating whereas Energizer's AA's are rated 1850mAh.

Is the roughly 10% difference significant? How long do AA rechargeable batteries usually last in a 1.3 megapixel camera?

 

[Mallow]

can anyone actually comment on how long they take to recharge and how long they last in compairison to regular batteries?

 

[ShotgunSi]

Originally posted by: Mallow
can anyone actually comment on how long they take to recharge and how long they last in compairison to regular batteries?

From what i've read NiMh batteries can be directly used in almost anything that takes batteries. I myself use them in my Digital Camera, Palm Pilot, Walkie Talkies, etc etc.
These batteries are awesome for high drain devices, that don't last a long time. The perfect example is the digital camera. You typically take a lot of shots on the camera and using the screen drains batteries like crazy. Then charge them up again, or switch out to your back up set of batteries.

These batteries are NOT idea for low drain devices that sit for a long time. Such examples are clocks, flash lights, etc etc. Nimh slowly loose their charge over time, so they are not good for emergency use. Alkaline's have a much higher shelf life, so its good to always keep some around, when you don't have a freash pair of Nimh's.

 

[Mallow]

thx for the very informative post shotgun... helped me make my decision

 

[msn]

NiMh lose about 1% of their stored capacity each day - that's why they are not well suited for devices that sit unused for months at a time.

With a good, intelligent charger - that is, one that charges each cell individually and can "condition" batteries - you can charge in as little as an hour.

Next year, Rayovac will introduce I-C3 technology NiMH cells - using in-cell charging control - which will charge in 15 minutes each.

 

[Mallow]

nice, too bad I still don't have much of a use for short term battery usage... I'm more of a long term flashlight kinda battery person.

 

[rdh]

Personally, I use NiMH in nearly everything. They work great in remotes (go about 6 or 8 months between charges.... ). For flashlights, I have a set of Ds and a set of AAs fully charged..... For digital cameras the beat alkalines hands down...

I have seen them run down much faster than alkalines in some FRS radios (they run down in eight hours vs. 20 hours for alkalines).


The scoop on this particular charger though, is that it 1) charges in 1 hour at 1500mah, 2) charges cells individually(like a single for a nomad player or three for an FRS radio) instead of pairs. This charger, along with the (MAHA MH-C401FS 100, are a couple of the very few chargers that will do individual cells. Most require pairs or all 4 . If you look around the net, most folks consider the MAHA charger the better of the two, but the Rayovac 1hour charger is well regarded (especially at half the price).

Until this charger, I have been using an older MAHA MH-C204F, but it was starting to take a long time to charger up the newer 1800mah batteries. Me and a couple of friends went for the Duracell Accu deal (.85 AA and .75 AA free shipping for orders over $50).

This Rayovac deal can be had with either two batteries or the car kit. If you already have lots of batteries, get the car kitted charger!

 

[GetReal]

Originally posted by: rdh
Personally, I use NiMH in nearly everything. They work great in remotes (go about 6 or 8 months between charges.... ). For flashlights, I have a set of Ds and a set of AAs fully charged..... For digital cameras the beat alkalines hands down...

I have seen them run down much faster than alkalines in some FRS radios (they run down in eight hours vs. 20 hours for alkalines).


The scoop on this particular charger though, is that it 1) charges in 1 hour at 1500mah, 2) charges cells individually(like a single for a nomad player or three for an FRS radio) instead of pairs. This charger, along with the (MAHA MH-C401FS 100, are a couple of the very few chargers that will do individual cells. Most require pairs or all 4 . If you look around the net, most folks consider the MAHA charger the better of the two, but the Rayovac 1hour charger is well regarded (especially at half the price).

Until this charger, I have been using an older MAHA MH-C204F, but it was starting to take a long time to charger up the newer 1800mah batteries. Me and a couple of friends went for the Duracell Accu deal (.85 AA and .75 AA free shipping for orders over $50).

This Rayovac deal can be had with either two batteries or the car kit. If you already have lots of batteries, get the car kitted charger!

Interesting analysis. The MAHA is defiantly the more popular although I don't under stand why since they are both made by the same OEM and have identical PC logic boards inside. I have used the MAHA C401FS100 and the Rayovac and prefer the Rayovac especially for AAAs since the MAHAs for some reason provide false charges on these small AAA cells.

BTW ? The Rayovac PS4 one hour rapid charger is not available in a bundle with the car kit as you indicated unless it is done by the retailer. I thnk you may be referring to the PS4-B which includes cigarette plug, but not the carrying case) Each piece is sold separately. However, unless you want the case, save yourself some $$$ and simply forget the car kit and buy a generic cigarette adapter from Radio shack for $3.95 that works just as well. The PS4 was initially bundled with two AA cells during its initial rollout promotion, but Rayovac has stopped including the bonus AAs with the newer units . However, you can still find the kits with the bundled AAs in most places. The PS4 will become discontinued Rayovac product at the end of this month and a new model that features the new 15 minute RapidCharge technology licensed from Panasonic will be released early next year. The new model is supposed to be unveiled next month at CES in Las Vegas and has a SRP of $39.95.

 

[msn]

Bravo!

 

[sontakke]

Can you provide information about the Panasonic RapidCharge technology? This is the first time that I have heard Panasonic has specific charging technology. I have never seen any Panasonic charger which would come close to functionality with either Maha or Rayovac.

BTW, I have Rayovac PS4 and it is fabulous. I also have the Panasonic 5-hr charger which I threw away once I purchased the PS4

- Vikas

 

[GetReal]

Originally posted by: sontakke
Can you provide information about the Panasonic RapidCharge technology? This is the first time that I have heard Panasonic has specific charging technology. I have never seen any Panasonic charger which would come close to functionality with either Maha or Rayovac.

BTW, I have Rayovac PS4 and it is fabulous. I also have the Panasonic 5-hr charger which I threw away once I purchased the PS4

- Vikas

Try Here for details on I-C3 NiMH technology.

 

[speeddragon]

Will this charger charge 1800 mAh batteries to full capacity in 1 hour? Is this the best in this price range?

 

[speeddragon]

Originally posted by: speeddragon
Will this charger charge 1800 mAh batteries to full capacity in 1 hour? Is this the best in this price range?

I assume it will take a little longer to charge 1800 mAh batteries since it is a 1600 mAh charger. Is that correct?

Is $25 really a good deal? I went to Walgreens today and there are 3 of them sitting there. Didn't seem too hot to me. Any comment?

Are there other slower chargers that are better and cheaper?

 

[rdh]

Originally posted by: speeddragon

Originally posted by: speeddragon
Will this charger charge 1800 mAh batteries to full capacity in 1 hour? Is this the best in this price range?

I assume it will take a little longer to charge 1800 mAh batteries since it is a 1600 mAh charger. Is that correct?

Is $25 really a good deal? I went to Walgreens today and there are 3 of them sitting there. Didn't seem too hot to me. Any comment?

Are there other slower chargers that are better and cheaper?

It will charge 1800mAh batteries in about 70 or 80 minutes (if they are nearly discharged)
$25 is really a good deal, as they almost never go on sale anytime, anywhere! Since normal price is $30-$35 in most places, then this is a deal (about 20% off). The reason that you find them in stores is the same reason that they are almost never on sale... they are not exactly a "must have" item for most people. For geeks with lots of cheap NiMH batteries though, this IS hot.

 

[speeddragon]

Thanks, rdh.

I went to 2 stores and all they have are the PS4-B with 2 AA 1600 mAh bundle. No car kit bundle.

I read that one possible drawback of the PS4 is the heat issue because of its quick charge. Here is the article. It seems to degrade other batteries as well.

The Maha MH-C204F and MH-C401FS seem to be the better choices even though they are slower. Not sure how expensive they are compare to this deal. Here is another good article.

Any comment?

 

[neuroking]

I have been using this charger sicne it came out, with the same battereies that shipped with it (among about 8 older Engergizer rechargables - the green ones). I have rechargables in nearly, no wait, actually, everything.

The last time I bought batteries was during a vacation in October. Before that I can't remember the last time, but it wasn't in the last year. If you aren't using rechargables, just get this and stop worrying if the battery life will degrade by .001 mA over the next 10 years, vs .0008 mA. If yer a battery whore, then I can understand debating a little, but really people. If yer not using recharables, or still using one of the older 15 hour chargers, this is a great deal.

And as for waiting for the 15 minute charger to be introduced... remember that the charging time for the batteries is well under half the drain time for 'normal' devices (ie-CD players, etc.), so as long as you have an extra set, the difference will not be significant. Going from a 15 hour charger is different. You'd need 7-8 sets charged and ready (if you were to hypothetically use the device continuously).

My $.02

 

[Pliablemoose]

I grabbed one of these yesterday, they're great, charged up 16 batteries in <6 hours.

I also grabbed a couple of Rubbermaid drawer organizers for 88 cents (the little interlocking bins to organize ofice/kitchen drawers), labeled one "dead" & one "charged" to try & get control of the 30-40 aaa & aa NiMH batteries I have spread throughout the house.

Because of the speedy charge time, I could make due with 1/2 of the # of rechargeable batteries I own...

 

[Salvador]

Is this just online or is it available at a Walgreens B&M? Also, any idea what shipping costs if I do order it online. I hate to go through a sign up and order process just to find out that I don't want it because shipping costs too much.

Edit: Never mind. I just did the process and it's $5 shipping plus tax. Puts it into the category of "I could get this anytime for just a few bucks more". If it's this price at an actual Walgreen's store, I'll probably pick on up though.

TIA,

Sal

 

[GetReal]

For those of you who purchased the PS-4. Rayovac is offering a free carrying case for this unit ($1.99 S&H) here. Also Rayovac just started another promotion this week were you can get the PS-4 car adapter free ($2.99 S&H) . The form for the free car adapter is not on their website yet, but it is shipping on the new PS-4 packages. Check one of the high volume retailers such as Best Buy or Wal-Mart and you should nbe able to get the form off one of the new packages. If you don't want to wait, you can still purchase a generic 12V cigarette adapter from Radio Shack for $3.95 that will work just as well.