Computers & Tech
·5 min read

Best Rechargeable AA NiMH Batteries For Your Flash (Don’t Buy Eneloops…)

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Rechargeables Are Better

Fact: using rechargeable NiMH batteries in your flash will give you dramatically better performance than shooting with alkaline batteries. This might seem counter-intuitive at first, since rechargeables are labeled with slightly lower voltage values than alkalines (1.2v rather than 1.5v), but voltage isn’t everything 1 For full details, read about Ohm’s Law or the hydraulic analogy .  NiMH batteries have much lower internal resistance, and can dump current into a flash significantly faster than alkalines.

Many of you already know this to be true from experience, but for those of you who are skeptical, I ran a short series of tests with a few flashes:

Flash TypeAlkaline BatteriesNiMH Batteries
Nikon SB-8006 seconds4 seconds
Canon 430EX II3 seconds1.75 seconds
Yongnuo 568EX3-4 seconds2.1 seconds
Sunpak 62213 seconds
(Duracell C)		3 seconds
(Tenergy C)

As you can see, using NiMH batteries reduced recycle time for my flashes by about 1/3 at least, sometimes more.

Which Are The Best?

At this point, there are at least a dozen major brands selling NiMH AA batteries, and countless discount brands selling cheaper batteries, many of which will only hold a fraction of their claimed capacity. So which ones are the best?2 This article relies heavily on test data provided by NLee the Engineer, as well as several online forums and websites.

Standard vs Low Self-Discharge (LSD)

One of the major drawbacks of early NiMH batteries was that they didn’t hold a charge for very long while being stored; after only a couple months sitting unused,  your batteries might be discharged beyond usefulness. About ten years ago, however, a new type of battery was developed that held it’s charge much longer. These are generally known as “low self-discharge” or LSD batteries, but when purchasing batteries, the packaging may call them “pre-charged”, “hybrid”, or “ready to use”. Depending on the the brand and technology generation, an LSD battery may retain 85% of its charge after a full year, or more. This makes the batteries much more practical for low-drain devices like remotes and flash triggers, where the batteries might be in use for several months at a time, but they’re also great if you don’t want to deal with charging all of your batteries directly before a shoot. As such, all of the batteries that I recommend below are low self-discharge.

Top Ten Recommendations (Last Updated: June 2019)

mAh ratingCharges
Possible		Power Retained
(1 Year)		Price for
4		Price for
8		Price for
12 or 16
ENELOOP2000210075% after 5 years$13.00$24.4816 for $44.99
ENELOOP Pro255050075%$21.79$36.45
Powerex PRO2700"hundreds"75%$13.95$22.95
Tenergy PREMIUM2500120085%$8.99$14.9912 for $19.99
24 for $36.99
Tenergy Pro28001200Not Specified$11.99$18.99$26.99
AmazonBasics
High-Capacity 		2400"hundreds"50%$8.59$15.9916: $20.89
AmazonBasics Standard2000100080%$10.21$18-1916 for $18.04
Fujitsu2000210070% after 5 years$26.8512 for $32.25
Energizer Universal20001000?$15.64$15.00-
Energizer Recharge Plus2300500?$12.69$22.00$33.80
IKEA Ladda24501500?$8.99

Don’t Buy Eneloops Just Yet…

When it comes to reliability and performance, Sanyo/Panasonic ENELOOPs have been the leaders for years. However, Eneloops are now (very likely) packaged under a couple of different brand names that cost significantly less 3I haven’t seen any definitive confirmation of this fact, but I have seen the tests that show that the batteries behave identically. So, they are either re-branded Eneloops, or they’re cloned so well that it doesn’t matter that they’re not Eneloops. The prices in the table above update automatically every day, so check it for deals!

For several years now, I’ve been recommending AmazonBasics branded AA Pre-Charged NiMH batteries (originally with a black jacket, then white, now now black with green ends). The are made in Japan according to the listing, like old Eneloops were (though now made in China), and may indeed be re-branded Eneloops from a previous generation.

It looks as though Amazon got a bad batch of these in 2017 or 2018, and there were several reported problems, but that seems to be behind them now.

AmazonBasics are also available as AA Pre-Charged High Capacity NiMH batteries, now with a silver and green jacket and 2400 mAh capacity. These ones seemed to be rebranded Eneloop Pro (XX) batteries, and again, they cost quite a bit less… about 50% less for a pack of eight (sometimes)! I have a dozen of the previous generation (black jacket) and love them.

Fujitsu batteries are made in the original (and now updated) Sanyo Eneloop Twicell factory in Japan. After the Panasonic takeover, they started making some Eneloops in China, and the batteries made at the Twicell factory were sold as Fujitsu.  Compared withe the Chinese Eneloops, the Japanese Fujitsu batteries perform slightly better in flashes after the first 20 charges, according to some tests. So, Fujitsus are good… mabye even better than Eneloops.

One of the most popular options for high-capacity is the Powerex PRO 2700 mAh battery. This new model has higher capacity than the older Imedions (and they weigh a bit more than the others). I recently tested them and found that they more commonly have a 2550 mAh capacity, but that’s still higher than the others on my list.

The Tenergy Premium PRO series is an excellent battery at a great price, claiming 2800mAh (untested), but their diameter does tend to be slightly larger than standard. If you’ll be using them in equipment that has tight battery compartment slots, check that these will fit before buying them in bulk.

Near an IKEA? IKEA’s Ladda 2450 mAh batteries cost only $6.99 for a pack of four, and my tests showed that they actually typically have a 2500 mAh capacity. They also recycle my flashes just as quickly as any of these other batteries, and should last for 1500 charge cycles. They’re not conveniently available on Amazon, but if you’re near a store, pick them up.

That said, all of the batteries listed in the table above are quality batteries, and you should feel comfortable buying any of them if you run across a good deal.  I originally included the Rayovacs becauase I have a set of 12 of them, and they’ve served me well for the past six years, with heavy use, though their numbers are a little lower than the Eneloops.

Chargers

It’s worth noting that a good charger can prolong the life of your batteries and provide better charges; some of them give you the ability to “refresh” old batteries, helping to restore a battery to like-new performance. We recommend the OPUS BT-C2000 or the La Crosse BC1000 or BC700,  .

Questions? Comments?

If you have had good experiences with any other batteries, or bad with any of these, please let us know in the comment section below.

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Matthew Gore
Editor-in-Chief
Matthew Gore is the Editor-in-Chief and Administrator of Light & Matter Media.
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40 Comments

    1. There’s no limit; they can be charged as often as needed. If you run a set of them dry in an hour, you can switch in a new set while the first set charges. They will generally have a longer lifespan if you charge them more slowly (creating less heat), but 1 hour charging seems to be a good, happy medium.

      Reply

  2. Hi Matthew
    I want to buy for my steam controller rechargeable batteries so I couldn’t decide, now which one is have longer lifespan.
    For charger some guy recommend to buy nitecore as he said this charger have lowr voltage to charge and if we charge in low voltage the battery would have longer lifespan
    In your opinion can you give me one brand name for battery and one brand name for charger that they have longer lifespan combo.
    Thanks for information

    Reply

    1. Hello Hannan,

      Luckily, one of the good things about the good quality chargers these days is that you can choose how much current you want to use to charge your batteries, which allows you to use very low current when you can, and higher voltage when you need the quickest charge possible (with multiple levels in between). The Opus BT-2400 and BT-2000 both have this feature… I have a BT-2000 that has been great. The Powerex MH-C8000 and 9000 also have low current settings, with more charging slots.

      The PowerEx Pro 2700mAh batteries seem to be the best for the money right now, with performance that is about the same as the Eneloop Pro.

      Good luck!

      Reply

    1. They’re in my chart. When I originally wrote this article (8 years ago?), Tenergy was not selling low-self discharge batteries, but their newer batteries are good.

      Reply

  4. You left out the Powerex MH-C9000 charger which is at least as good as the La Crosse ones, if not better.

    also, unless one can be pretty sure something is a re-branded Eneloop, it’s far safer to only buy Eneloop’s (made in Japan) due to their proven reliability where as with other batteries, they will likely fail much sooner. it’s just not worth gambling on other brands of NiMh unless one don’t mind gambling on quality and gets them quite a bit cheaper than Eneloop’s as if a battery is roughly the same cost as a Eneloop(or not quite a bit cheaper), it makes no sense not to buy the Eneloop.

    Reply

  5. Hi Guys,
    I’m going to try the Amazon basics batteries. My question is it worth the higher capacity (400MA) over getting 8 more batteries for the same 23.99 price? I don’t do flash that much, but will be starting to get into it. I have 8 Eneloops now and some other brand I acquired a few years ago. Time to update all of them.

    Will the recycle rate be any faster with the higher capacity batteries? I Intend on using flash packs that hold 8-12 batteries. I have 2 580EXII flashes and one 430EXII.

    What multi chargers are good? for 8-12 celles at a time? I see chargers listed, but I really don’t want to buy 3 chargers.

    Thanks,
    Tommy

    Reply

    1. Hi Tommy,

      Higher capacity batteries will not improve the recycle rate of your flashes, unfortunately, but battery packs with more batteries in them will. I tend to go with the higher capacity batteries only because I prefer to not have to stop to change batteries, but if you’re using big battery packs, I suspect that battery life will not be much of a concern… you’ll be better off going with more batteries for less money.

      I don’t use an 8-cell charger, but I’ve heard good things about the PowerEx 8-cell charger. It’s a little expensive, but has separate channels and multiple charging speeds, and will be better for your batteries.

      Good luck!

      – Matthew

      Reply

      1. Hi Matthew,

        Thank you for your reply, very appreciated. I actually just picked up another 580EXII for 100.00 on ebay, just now. Make it 3 now and a 430EXII.

        Next will be some soft boxes for them. Ok, so basically, I’ll get the 2000MA versions since I’m using flash packs. If I’m going with a small mobile setup, (using one flash on the camera), I’ll run the high capacity ones. I have a 5D3 and 7DMKII. Time to upgrade the 5d3 soon lol.

        I’ll buy the standard ones for now and see how things go.

        I wanted to ask if lithium recharging is a better option? Amazon has some, but expensive. They charge via USB individually. Any experience with these?

        Reply

        1. Some flashes can take the Lithium-ion 14500 type batteries, which are AA size (the newly announced Nissin MG80 Pro can, for example), and they’ll provide much faster recycle times. I don’t know how other flashes handle them… they’re normally 3.6 or 3.7v instead of 1.3-1.5, and the ones that I’ve seen have lower capacity of 1200mAh or so. I don’t know anything about those flip-top USB ones. Unfortunately, the Li-ion 14500 batteries are not especially common or easy to find. Or cheap.

          Reply

          1. Hi Matthew,
            Yes, upon reading all the reviews on the Amazon basics, everyone says these new ones are made in China and not very good. I might just go with the Eneloops again. Is this true? I don’t want to spend money just to return them.

            Reply

  7. I purchased AmazonBasics AAA White Label (China) batteries a year ago and charge them with a Tenergy 456 charger. It is a great little charger. These AAA are rated at 800 mAh and the charger’s test mode confirms this (800 mAh +/- 30 mAh).

    This week I purchased AmazonBasics AAA High Capacity Gray Label batteries (Japan) because I thought it might be a good idea to get more powerful batteries. These batteries are rated at 850 mAh with a minimum rating of 800 mAh. These are suppose to be relabeled Eneloops according to your article. I cycle charged them several times to get an accurate power capacity for the batteries. They average only 750 mAh to 760 mAh. Only 1 battery in 8 came close to its minimum rating of 800 mAh. Is this typical for these batteries? Why spend more money on “High Capacity” (Japan) batteries when they have less power than the cheaper white label AAA (China) that consistently test out at 800 mAH?

    BTW, I noticed on the label of the High Capacity batteries I just bought says “Standard charge: 80mA for 16 hours”. Does anyone really spend 16 hours charging an AAA battery? I let my charger determine the charge rate which is 250ma to 300ma which takes slightly more than 3 hours.

    Reply

    1. Hi Brent,

      Unfortunately, I have no experience with the AAA batteries… I don’t really have anything that uses them (maybe a wireless mouse, now that I think about it). So, I don’t know what is typical of any of the AAAs, but I can say that all of the Amazon High Capacity AAs that I have do test to full capacity. I think that I have 12 of the high capacity batteries, now, in addition to the regular eneloops and standard capacity Basics. So, if you’re not getting proper numbers from your batteries, I’d recommend contacting Amazon support about it. But before you do that, you might want to try slow charging them to see if they take a better charge… some batteries do, particularly when they’re new. Good luck!
      – Matthew

      Reply

  8. So I’ve been looked up the Eneloop batteries on Amazon they brought up the white with blue writing and some orange ones black writing saying they’re precharged rechargeable batteries here’s the description on Amazon Description
    Be the first to have the New Eneloop batteries which recharges approximately 2, 100 times, an increase of approximately 20% compared to previous Eneloop batteries you need a battery, which is reliable even when having cold temperatures? before Eneloop was suitable for temperatures as low as -10a Degree – now even until -20a Degree. The New Eneloop is even more environment-friendly as it is pre-charged with solar energy in Japan original USA packaging – not bulk. This product is manufactured in Japan. Need an opinion if I should buy them or not

    Reply

    1. Sounds like you have your answer already :-) If those things are important to you, then go ahead and buy them… Eneloops are great batteries, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed. You might be able to save a few dollars buying a different brand, but get what is important for you and your conditions. Good luck!

      Reply

  10. I have found that the Panasonic labeled chargers with the model number BQ-CC17 do in fact charge one cell at a time, unlike the previous Sanyo which required two cells to be installed to charge. I’m still wondering why larger banks of rechargers aren’t sold. I keep seeing some 8 and 16 bank ones, but I don’t see enough reviews with regards of needing to charge two cells or it can be a single cell at a time. ex: B00SO25HUO (amazon ID)

    Reply

    1. That’s a good question; I haven’t found any 8 or 12 bay chargers that are as full-featured as the Lacrosse or Opus chargers that I mention above, but there are still some reliable, good quality ones available… and at a pretty reasonable price. The Tenergy 8 bay (and probably 12 & 16 bay) chargers are very reliable, charge individually, and have a “refresh” function. I have a 4-bay Tenergy charger that’s been great, but I’m going to get one of these 8 or 12 bay chargers and give it a shot.

      As with all chargers, the trick is to find one that doesn’t charge in pairs (or worse) so that each cell is charged to its full potential.

      Reply

  11. I have around 20 of the black Eneloop Pro. Recently my Flashguns would not start even with freshly charged sets. On investigation it turns out that some of the older cells have significantly higher internal resistance. I have measured up to 1.9 ohm, some mid-age around 0.5 ohm and newer at around 0.1 ohm. Testing the useful current confirms that the older cells reach a peak of 1 amp or less, whilst the newer cells exceed 10amps (meter maxed!!).
    On average they have only had around 40-50 charge cycles per year, and never below the charge threshold.
    The only dodgy thing I have done was to use a fairly basic charger to quickly bring up the charge, and I wonder if this damaged the cells.?

    Reply

      1. The oldest are the first generation Eneloop Pro cells HR-3UWX which must be about 4-5 years old.
        Out of interest, without the higher capacity cells available – I grabbed a set of Eneloop – the original 1st generation – which had been left on the shelf for many years, and these worked perfectly, without recharging, throughout a 5 hour shoot !!!

        Reply

  13. When I bought my SB-910 I decided to do some extensive researching on the net, for several weeks, to find the best batteries for my flash, and for my battery grip. For both hardware’s I was primarily looking for batteries that could give the fastest recharging and the most FPS.
    My results 2 years ago gave me Hähnel (2700) for MB-D12, Ansmann (2850) primary for SB-910, and Sanyo Eneloop (1900) backup for SB-910.

    I see you have not tested Hähnel. Reason?

    Reply

    1. Only because I’ve never heard of them. They’re not available from Amazon.com, which is where I buy most of my batteries… and I’ve never seen them in a local store. Glad they’re working well for you, though.

      Reply

    1. You can certainly get away with using less expensive chargers. For years, I used a cheap 4-battery Kodak charger that came with a set of Kodak NiMH batteries. The problem is that they don’t have the electronics to charge each battery, separately, to it’s full potential (and not beyond it); they don’t trickle charge; they don’t let you test the batteries, they don’t re-condition batteries. You end up getting a “good-enough” charge each time, rather than a perfect charge, and you run the risk of over-charging and damaging the batteries, with some chargers.

      The current Amazons are not bigger, in my experience. Some of the other batteries out there are, though, like the Ansmanns. Basically, they’re generic batteries made in Asia and shipped to manufacturers in other parts of the world (like Germany, with the Ansmanns) where they get another branding wrapper put over the generic wrapper. So, they’re bigger by the thickness of a battery wrapper.

      Reply

  15. My Amazon basics ( the first batch) are going on three years. Have not missed a beat and still work as well as the eneloops. The AB actually held up better when I ran my old “battery hell” test of full power dumps in a old school vivatar flash. The new XX ABs are only 6 months old but they do last measurably longer and I have not had any “fit and finish” issues with them or the original AB. At this point, I have about 40 of them kicking around for my flashes, my wireless mice, toys and whatnot. In fact the only device that the enveloops and ABs are snug in is the Microsoft Xbox controller. But it’s snug, not tight.

    Reply

  16. I haven’t yet tried some of the others, but I can definitely say that my Eneloop (standard) batteries have out-lived the Tenergy alternatives I’ve been also using.

    I’ve used over a dozen of both brands for over 3 years now, and basically half of the Tenergy batteries now simply don’t hold a charge, or accept a charge, while 100% of the Eneloops are still going strong.

    Until someone else can give a 3-year, heavy usage report on the other alternatives, (Duraloops and Amazon Basics do sound promising, though) …I’m going to stick with Eneloop standards.

    Reply

    1. Good information, thanks! I also haven’t had any problems with my Eneloops. Somewhat surprisingly, my Rayovaks are now five years old and still going strong, after heavy use for the first 3 years, and more occasional use over the past two. These days, I’d buy the Amazon basics instead, but I’ve been impressed with the Rayovaks anyway.

      In general, any battery’s life will depend on how you charge it. If you use a 15-minute charger, you’re going to reduce your battery life, using a 1 hour charger isn’t so bad.

      Reply

  17. Seems that the Amazon basics are rated for 1000 charge cycles, not the 1800 as this article mentions. That means the real Eneloops at 2100 charge cycles would have more than twice the life in the long run and a way better LSD at 10 years shelf life. More than twice the life makes the cost in the long run cheaper for the real Eneloops. I’ll stick with the real Eneloops.

    Reply

  18. just began using eneloop std eneloop pro mainly for photographic applications.they are definitely the best.i used duracell rechargeable prior and
    they did not perform as well.i own the la crosse bc1000 and it is an awesome charger.i also own the maha wizard one c9000 and it is if anything an even better charger than the bc1000.it has a breakin cycle that charges at .1c for 16hrs,rest for 1 hour,discharge at .2c,rest 1hour and finally charge at .1c for 16hours a second time then follows up with a 100 ma top off charge for 2 hours and then a trickle charge.i have brought useless and old nimh batteries back to life with this feature.also it does a impedance check at the beginning of the charge cycle to see if the battery is still good.

    Reply

  19. AmazonBasics are fatter than their Eneloop counterparts. May not be worth the savings if you can’t get them in or out. There’s a lot of variation when it comes to their exact capacity.

    Reply

  20. I *just* bought some batteries and I have to say, those black Eneloops made my shorts a little wet, but I couldn’t justify the cost. I grabbed 4 Amazon whites and 8 Amazon blacks. It sounds like I made a good buy!

    Reply

    1. Agreed. I bought a dozen Eneloops last year, and I’m getting everything I need out of them, but I wish I’d known about the Amazonbasics then! Definitely the better buy. My feeling, generally, is that I’d rather have an extra set of batteries with me than an extra 15-20% of power out of a set of high-capacity batteries, but if the cost is similar, it’s worth getting them… and they’re definitely nice for those times when you don’t want to carry extra stuff (like more batteries) around.

      – Matthew

      Reply

      1. That is *exactly* how my train of thought played out. “Well, the Eneloop Pro is 20% more capacity. But I could buy a 2nd set for the same price. And while I don’t want to carry around more batteries, 20% more isn’t enough to get me through an entire extra day of shooting.”

        Reply

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