Ever since I had my children, I’ve been amazed by the amount of batteries needed to operate each toy. Almost every month I’m having to buy multi-packs of batteries to keep up with the power-hungry demands of these toys. It is getting so ridiculous expensive to buy batteries. The worst offender is the VTech camera but there are a group of toys that follow closely behind such as the Arc FX Gauntlet Iron man.
Being an environmental concerned consumer, instead of buying normal batteries, it occurred to me – why not get rechargeable batteries! Rechargeable batteries are great for the environment, they save you money and reduce waste by replacing hundreds of standard Alkaline batteries! These starter kits are not too expensive either. Rechargeable Batteries kindly offered to give me an Ansmann Energy 4 Speed Charger with AA NiMH 2700mAh Batteries and a Sanyo eneloop for review.
Ansmann Energy 4 Speed Charger
The Energy 4 Speed Charger is a microprocessor controlled fast charger designed to charge 1-4 AA and AAA size rechargeable batteries. This is a great superfast charger for home or when travelling as it is supplied with both a three-pin UK AC adapter charger and a 12V car charger.
The electronic controlling circuit ensure high performance, fast charging, whilst ensuring that the lifetime of the batteries are kept to a maximum. The charger comes with build in fan to cool the batteries while charging which can be quite loud. It can be quite annoying if charging in a quite room. The length of the AC adapter lead is a good length. The charger can be used in the UK, Europe and USA.
With the benefit of an electricity monitor, I could see it consumed 9W of power when charging and it took about 6 hours to fully charge. This equates to under 2p at our current electricity rates! The charger notifies you when it’s finished charging your batteries by displaying a solid set of led lights and it still consumes 1W of power. I rate this 4 stars out of 5 due to the noisy fan and the waste of standby power otherwise it works really well for me.
Sanyo Eneloop Rechargeable Battery
The high power XX range features up to 500 charge cycles, retains up to 85% of their charge after 1 year and are pre-charged in Japan using solar energy making them Sanyo’s greenest high capacity rechargeable battery! Pre-charged Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries are the latest in rechargeable battery technology. They provide superior performance, can be recharged hundreds of times, come ready to use straight from the pack and are suitable for all devices and uses.
I used this on my daughter’s VTech camera and it lasts her for a while longer than normal disposable batteries. They are super batteries and they hold their charge for a long time. The RRP is £12.98 which I think it is very reasonable as pack of 4 alkaline costs you around £4 for one use. Paying a bit extra, you get to use these again and again for less than 2p per charge cycle. Save money and save the environment!
Delivery from Rechargeable Batteries was fast and efficient, and they provide a unique despatch note that contains a photo of your actual product(s). Have you ever thought about using rechargeable batteries?
Disclosure: We received the sample for the purposes of writing this review, however, all thoughts and opinions remain our own.
We don’t actually have a recharger but I wonder about getting one. Do they work OK on high drain items like cameras?
We decided to switch to rechargeable batteries too! So much better!
We use so many batteries that we invested in a charger a few years ago. It’s great that this is so reasonably priced – you’ll save yourself a fortune!