Rayovac Rechargeable NiMH Batteries, AA-size, 4-count Carded Pack

by Rayovac

Product Features

• 3X more digital pictures than standard alkaline batteries - takes up to 275 digital photos
• Batteries work in all NiMH chargers
• No memory effect so batteries won't lose charge capacity over time
• Ideal for high drain devices
• One year manufacturer's limited warranty

Product Description

Rayovac AA Rechargeable NiMH Batteries can save you $100's over standard alkaline batteries.

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 6 x 5 x 4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item can only be shipped to the 48 contiguous states. We regret it cannot be shipped to APO/FPO, Hawaii, Alaska, or Puerto Rico.
• ASIN: B001KYFZ96
• UPC: 012800506910
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #95,799 in Health & Personal Care (See Top 100 in Health & Personal Care)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The undisclosed 1400mAh capacity makes them useless, September 26, 2009

By 

Eric "Badger" (South Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rayovac Rechargeable NiMH Batteries, AA-size, 4-count Carded Pack (Health and Beauty)

A decade ago, a 1400 mAh discharge capacity NiMH rechargeable battery would have been marginally acceptable. For today's digital cameras and the current state of NiMH battery technology, this RayOVac product is inexcusable.

You notice that neither the package or the battery indicates the discharge capacity. Here's why: the specs on this product are so inferior that nobody would buy it for digital camera use if they knew the truth.

My information about discharge capacity for this product comes for RayOVac's own specification sheet, available at their website.

Copy and paste this link in your browser to see the data sheet:

[...]

For less demanding devices like some GPS receivers, portable scanners, flashlights, etc., these batteris might be fine. But the package shows a digital camera and leads customer to believe that they are appropriate for a digital camera.

I give the product one star partly for being substandard as far as discharge capacity and partly for the deception that RayOVac uses in order to trick people into buying this product.

Here's the lesson for you: unless you know for certain what you're buying, don't buy it. If the manufacturer or salesperson can't provide the information you need, walk away.

Historically, RayOVac dry cells were very good in their day. I'm very disappointed in the way RayOVac has "modernized" the company with Chinese product outsourcing and deceptive marketing practices.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Low cost, but VERY low capacity, December 13, 2009

By 

NLee the Engineer (Nashua, NH) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 10 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Rayovac Rechargeable NiMH Batteries, AA-size, 4-count Carded Pack (Health and Beauty)

The latest family of Rayovac rechargeable NiMH batteries are all missing one thing: the capacity rating. Previously, you can see the charge capacity (such as '2500mAh') marked on every package and also on each cell. But newer Rayovac rechargeable NiMH cells are just grouped into three classes ('Everyday-Use', 'High-Energy' and 'Hybrid'), with vague claims such as 'Up to 275 photos' printed on their packages.

Of course, those claims make very little sense to us, because Rayovac never tell us which camera was used, and under what test conditions were those photos taken.

After a lot of searching, I was able to find the spec sheet for those cells from rayovacindustrial dot com:

- NM715-4OP 'Everyday-Use' AA, 'Up to 275 photos': capacity=1400mAh
- NM715-4B 'High-Energy' AA, 'Up to 375 photos': capacity=1900mAh
- LD715-4A 'Hybrid' AA, 'Up to 400 photos': capacity=2100mAh

The item offered here is the NM715-4OP (the 'OP' stands for 'Opening Product'). It has the lowest capacity amoung all Rayovac NiMH batteries. I have tested some in my La Crosse BC-900 Battery Charger, and the average capacity is actually higher than spec at 1500mAh. But this number is still very low by today's standard for NiMH AA cells. So although the price looks attractive, this is just not a good value.

As of this writing, the Rayovac 4.0 AA 4-PACK is available at even lower cost. Those are low-self-discharge cells with higher capacity of 2100mAh. So it is a no-brainer which package you should buy.

[Update on July 16, 2010]
I recently discovered a hidden benefit of those Rayovac 'Opening Product' AA cells: they are exactly the same size as alkaline AA cells, while other NiMH cells with capacity 2000mAh or over are all slightly thicker. So for some appliances with extremely tight battery compartment (such as the Rayovac Sportsman Xtreme 1W LED Flashlight), those are the only rechargeable cells I can use. For that I bumped up the star-rating by one.

[Update Sep 4, 2010]
As if the offerings above is not confusing enough, Rayovac has now discontinued the 'Hybrid' series, and replaced it with another two types:

- LD715-4OP 'Pre-Charged': capacity=1400mAh
- PL715-4 'Platinum Pre-Charged': capacity=2100mAh

[Update on May 19, 2011]
Long-term self-discharge test result: Measured a pair of those Rayovac OP cells after 5 months of storage. The average remaining charge is 73.3%. This is quite good for ordinary NiMH cells (most of them leak 20-30% per month), but cannot compare to low-self-discharge types such as Rayovac Hybrid (which can retain about 85% charge after 6 months)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good batteries, August 25, 2010

By 

Tina (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rayovac Rechargeable NiMH Batteries, AA-size, 4-count Carded Pack (Health and Beauty)

I use these batteries for our video game controllers for xbox and wii, and they last quite a long a time before needing charged. We are big into gaming and sometimes have been known to play for hours at a time. I am also a photographer, and would probably not rely on these for my camera. The charger I bought with these, has no indicator telling when the batteries are fully charged, and the little tester I had didn't work properly with them either. So, with that I'm never really sure about the charge they currently have. I just charge them for around 6 hours a time, because I have no idea how long they need to be on charge, but I've been using the same batteries for several years now and they're still holding up very well! And they were really inexpensive at Walmart when I purchased them.