# Rechargeable batteries, are they worth it?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rechargeable-batteries-are-they-worth-it/940103>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [April 15, 2021, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rechargeable-batteries-are-they-worth-it/940103 "2021-04-15T19:58:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rechargeable-batteries-are-they-worth-it/940103/41 "2021-04-21T16:44:48Z")

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We were recently discussing this. We are considering buying 2-4 lights for music stands. We could buy lights that are rechargeable (more expensive), or that use AAs. I’m trying to figure out how many AAs we’d go through.

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**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2021, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rechargeable-batteries-are-they-worth-it/940103/42 "2021-04-22T00:30:46Z")

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> [@Wesley\_Clark](#):
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> I’ve tried multiple rechargeable ones and they all suck.

It depends on what you use them for. For low drain devices, like your CD player, it’s not the ideal fit. For high drain devices, they kick alkaline’s ass six ways to Sunday.

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**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2021, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rechargeable-batteries-are-they-worth-it/940103/43 "2021-04-22T14:23:29Z")

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> [@pulykamell](#):
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> For low drain devices, like your CD player, it’s not the ideal fit.

And yet, the newer ones, such as the oft-lauded Eneloops and my Duracells, seem to have largely solved the “low drain application” issue for NiMH. Well… I doubt they can last for 2-3 years which can occur with alkalines in clocks. But 6-8 months, probably, which to me represents a big advancement in capability.

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**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2021, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rechargeable-batteries-are-they-worth-it/940103/44 "2021-04-22T14:29:53Z")

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That is pretty darned good performance. It’s been awhile since I’ve tried them myself on something like that, so I will have to test again. I have a big stack of Amazaon alkaline AAs, and something like 48 rechargeable AAs (Eneloop Pros, Eneloop regular [white], and Amazon Basics) lying around, so I should test it out, though it may take awhile to get results, as I’d want to try them sequentially on the same exact device (not sure if I have two identical low drain devices I could check.) I have done this test the other way around (on high-drain), and it’s not even close with rechargables way ahead.

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