Customer Reviews

Kodak Ni-MH 1-Hour Battery Charger K6200-PC-C+4

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I was looking for a travel charger to go with my backup digital camera (Canon S5). To me, the ideal charger unit should satisfy the following:
1. Smart charger that charges each cell individually
2. Accepts universal voltage of 100-240V AC
3. Compact, one-piece design (without separate AC adapter and cord)
4. Reasonable charge time (no '15-minute', no 'over-night')

Most low-cost compact chargers are dumb and have to charge cells in pairs only. The Sony BCG-34HE4 is very nice as a smart travel charger, but the four 2500mAh cells included are the traditional type (which suffer from rapid self-discharge problem). The Sanyo Eneloop Battery Charging Kit comes with four low-self-discharge cells, but the charger is slow (7 hours) and only works with 110V input.

Finally, I came across this package (KODAK K6200 Battery charger with 4x AA NiMH). The K6200 is close to an ideal travel charger according to my criteria above. The four rechargeable cells included are the new 'Kodak Pre-Charged' 2100mAh cells. I have previously tested them, and found them to be just as good as the better-known Sanyo eneloop and Rayovac Hybrid cells.

The K6200 '1-hour' charger is very fast for such a compact unit. But the actual charge time depends on the number of cells and capacity. When charging one or two AA cells, the current per cell is 2.3 Ampere. This means one hour charge time for the included 2100mAh cells (shorter time if the cells were not fully depleted). However, when charging 3-4 cells, the current per cell is reduced to half, and so the charge time is doubled.

Some minor annoyance I have with this charger:
1. There is just one status indicator light, which goes off only when all cells are fully recharged.
2. For AAA cells, you can only put in 1-2 cells. But while charging two AAA cells, you cannot charge any more AA cells (see my Customer Image for the reason). Most other chargers allow two AA and two AAA cells to be charged together.

Other than those minor issues, this charger/battery pack is just perfect for my digital camera. Considering its low price, I really cannot ask for more.

[Update on Sep 21, 2010]
The charger package I reviewed (K6200-PC) is no longer available. Appearantly, Kodak has discontinued this charger and replaced it with Kodak 1 Hr Charger K6600. But the new charger is not as good, because it can only charge in pairs. As of right now, the only way to get the old K6200 charger is to buy the package with ordinary NiMH cells.
Kodak Ni-mh 1-hour Battery Charger K6200-C Includes 4 X AA 2500 mAh Rechargeable batteries

These batteries work very well in my Canon S3 IS. I get just as many shots out of these batteries as any other I've used. The charger works great too. As the other review said - and as it states on the back of the charger - it works between AC 100V and 240V. So you can use this charger both in the U.S. and overseas. I've personally used it on both sides of the world with no problems at all. I can't say definitively how long the charging time is because, quite frankly, I can think of a lot of better things to do than hold a stopwatch to my batteries while they're charging. However, I can tell you the advertised 1 hour charge is only for two AA batteries. It's double for four AA.

To sum up my feelings: After doing a fair amount of research for a week or so, I found myself becoming very overwhelmed by all the "smart chargers" and "programmable charger" options. I'd rather not have to spend 15 minutes programming my battery charger before I start the charging process. So I ended up going with the simplest universal voltage charger I could find and I don't regret it for a minute. Yes, you could probably get an extra .7% of performance/longevity out of your NiMH batteries if you opt for one of the more expensive chargers. But really, is it worth paying twice as much for a negligible performance increase? Not to me! If you want a simple universal charger with some good batteries, do yourself a favor and buy this one. If you really have your heart set on spending $40 on some NiMH batteries and a charger, the answer is simple: Buy two!

I am a profesional photographer and I have 5 "Speedlight" flashes that I use regularly for "strobist" style location shoots. The SB-800s that I use have a 5th battery holder that makes flash recycling time even faster.

Before I had rechargable batteries, I was stuck with alkaline recycle times and didn't know what I was missing out on...

These batteries significantly sped up my recycle time. Specifically, when an SB-800 is on 1/2 power (which is often all I need) and I'm using the 5th battery option, the recycle time is almost instantaneous. Also, even at full power, it's still only about 3.5 seconds.

But 3.5 seconds is still a relatively long time to wait in between shots, so I use tandem SB-800s at 1/2 power to give the full blast of light and not have to wait the extra time.

This charger is compact, well built, has a fold-in plug, and can charge any number of batteries... from a single (no "pairs" needed) up to four AA batteries.

It charges a batch of AA batteries in about an hour (if they're a lower mAh rating... like 2000-ish). Otherwise, it's a little longer for the "super-capacity" batteries with a 2900 mAh rating, give or take.

The only "BAD" thing about this charger is if you're a habitual AAA battery person. An odd design quirk is that you can only charge 2 total AAA batteries at once or 2 AA batteries and then 1 AAA battery on the other side.

I pretty much ONLY use AA batteries, so for me, this is a no brainer.

Finally, I've read that the SUPER-fast chargers (15-min type) can really put "stress" on the cells and will cause the batteries to die a premature death (although I really have no hard evidence of this...).

Also, the 4-8 hour "overnight" chargers are just way too slow for me... so I bought 2 of these to try and loved them so much that I bought 3 more!

One battery was not functional right after delivery. At least charger refused to work if you put the battery in. The charger by itself does not charge battery properly. After several hours of charging they can work in my player for few minutes only. Although, it could be a problem of batteries came in the kit. And it's not a property of brand new batteries - I tried them for several weeks and the result every time is just unpredictable. In any case I need to find and buy another product. Waste of money.

I bought this one to replace a radio shack on that I loved. It has worked for awhile, the batteries that came with it are horrible and have never held a charge. I have been using Energizer with great luck, and need another set. I put the batteries in this moring and it started blinking, I grabbed the packaging and it said nothing about it, so I looked on here and read a review stating that it means that the batteries are bad, so I guess I need a new charger, I have not had this one very long, maybe a year tops and I am dissapointed, sense I do not have another charger to test the batteries, i will buy another set of the Energizer and check it, but I have a feeling it is the charger. I definently would never purchase the Kodak batteries.

I ordered this as it was one of the only ~1-2hr chargers that came bundled with Precharged (Hybrid) Batteries - Or so I thought. Apparently according to the vendor (Your Deal) item K6200-PC is the same as K6200 (no PC, PC=precharged) in Amazon's inventory listing - thus there is no control over which product you get. I recieved the [no] PC version, which is not what I wanted. It was a present and didn't have time to mess around with returns - I bought a spare set of Hybrids separately. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

When I first used this charger & batteries, the red LED flashed (error!). After repositioning the batteries several times and exchanging "other" NiMH batteries, I found I could not get the charger to "charge." I made a refund claim to Amazon and promtly was given a case # and instructions on returning & getting a refund. (Very good CS experience) However, before going through the hassle of repackaging and mailing the charger & batteries back to Amazon, I tried one last time to carefully position the batteries in the charger... Voila! The charger worked this time, ...and each time since!
NOTE: BATTERIES MUST BE POSITIONED PRECISELY TO FACILITATE PROPER CHARGING.

I was looking for a charger that wouldn't overcharge my batteries. This one won't charge batteries at all. I even got additional batteries from elsewhere, the charger acted like it was charging, but after one day inactive in my camera, and those batteries were dead.
REVISED: I received a replacement charger, and so far, so good. Works much better. We'll see....

I bought these as a replacement for my Kodak digital camera batteries, and they never worked. They would not hold a charge for my camera, let alone any other battery powered device in my house.

These batteries are really amazing. As stated in another review the charge for 2 batteries is 1 hour, but for 4 batteries it's 2 hours. I ordered two sets and they work really well. After reading some other reviews it appears that there are quality control issues where some customers receive bad or nonchargeable batteries, but that's rare case I'm guessing.

I use these batteries exclusively for my Canon 580EXII and they work wonderfully for about 50-70 full power shots. I'm planning to get more of these are it's always good to have back ups as reliable as these.