Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

(IGNORE THIS INITIAL REVIEW; SEE UPDATE LATER) Believe the positive reviews of these batteries they are the best you can buy, and that even means the other brands rated 2700mAh (or more). I have more than 60 of these, I use them in torches, remote controls, wireless mice / keyboards, anything that will take them. If you have a charger like mine (Maha WizardOne MH-C9000) that will take a capacity reading, do a comparison for yourself against Energizers, generic, chinese cells, anything. And you will find like I did that the Duracells have higher capacity and lower leakage than any high capacity AA cell. After a slow charge, you will find, Duracells: All read very close to 2650mAh Energizers: Rarely more than 90% of stated capacity Others: Almost never their stated capacity. BTY brand bought on Ebay from 'superglobalstore' were abysmal, and measured 800mAh (2500mAh stated) In terms of leakage: Duracell 2650mAh AA: These hold their charge a very long time, not quite to the Eneloop level but much more capacity and current delivery capability than Eneloop. Energiser: These are VERY leaky, after a month they are nearly discharged completely, Duracell are still at about 85% capacity. Others: I have not waited to test but my hopes are not high. Another indication of the quality of these Duracells is their weight. Duracells are 30.4 grams each, Energizers are also good at 29.4 grams. But you try some other cheap brands and they are impossibly light, some at 15 grams or less. If Duracell could make them lighter with the same capacity I am sure they would, so clearly the weight is required to achieve the stated capacity. To be fair, I had one of these Duracells that leaked severely and was flat in a few days, but the remaining cells (more than 60) all hold charge like champions. I know because I have them in test equipment that hasnt been touched for 12 months and they still fire up nicely. Same with remote controls, which have trivial discharge rate during operation and only need replacement when the cells discharge on thier own. The Energizers are the closest I could find in quality. They are quite good if you charge them and use them immediately, otherwise they discharge too fast, and are not quite up to their capacity rating either. But they can supply a lot of current quickly for things such as flash units (as can the Duracells). Unfortunately you get what you pay for with batteries, and Duracell are close to the most expensive, but I find them well worth it. ==================================== IMPORTANT UPDATE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wrote the above review about 8 months ago; At the time I felt these were the best batteries available. Recently I needed some more, so I bought another 20 of them. TO MY SURPRISE THEY ARE GARBAGE. The superb ones I got initially are like those pictured here, with a green and black body. The new version ones have a gold top more or less where the green area is in the picture. Its the typical duracell style gold top, but rechargeable and the same capacity. I dont know why, but the new batteries I bought are VERY leaky and dont hold a charge longer than a week or two. And their discharge rates vary so that some are still half charged when the others are empty. Compare this to the ones I reviewed before, which last in some devices for 12 months or more. I should mention again that the good ones have the green top and the crap ones have the gold top. I do not know if this is a rule that can be relied upon but I do regret giving folks the impression that all AA Duracell 2650MAh rechargeables are high quality. PLEASE RETHINK BUYING THESE. IN FACT JUST DONT BUY THEM FULL STOP. ==================================== ANOTHER UPDATE!!! For those seeking a suitable alternative, I have done a lot of research and testing, and I have had great success with the 'Energizer Recharge Extreme' variety. They are in a green packet with the batteries themselves being a silver finish with green markings. They are marked 'ready to use', referring to the fact that they hold their factory charge long enough to be useable straight out of the pack. The packet has a red region with a notation such as '6x Longer Lasting'. This refers to their 'shelf life', or the length of time they retain their charge when not being used. You should aim for the highest multiplier, I have seen 4x and 6x but if possible get no lower than 6x. They seem to improve this multiplier as they improve their formulation. Beware of the ones marked with 9x, these are Lithium and will not play well with a NiMH recharger. I should note that they are slightly less capacity (2300mAh) than some others out there, but this is a realistic capacity, compared to the optimistic capacities given by many (most?) other manufacturers. And they fact that they are ready to use even a year after charging is a major bonus for me. That means they will work fine in remote controls, and other low consumption devices that you don't want to have to recharge every month or so. Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Duracell or Energizer or anybody else, these are solely my observations and I am happy to share them if it helps somebody.