Customer Reviews

Sony BCG-34HRMF4 Battery Charger with LCD Display and 4 AA Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries

5 star:		(159)
4 star:		(69)
3 star:		(29)
2 star:		(21)
1 star:		(61)

 

 

I had purchased Energizer rechargeable batteries with a cute "automatic" charger included. The "automatic" part referred to an 8-hour timer built into it. You pop in the batteries, plug it in and whether the batteries wanted it or not they got a full 8-hour charge. The batteries gave outstanding performance compared to the pricey alkalines. But within six months the rechargeables lost probably half of their nominal 2400 mAh capacity.

My NiMH Energizers were advertised to be good for 1000 charging cycles, but that amount was turning more like 100 if not less. I figured that the 8-hour charge can't be too healthy for them so I decided to look for a better charger with automatic detection and adjustment of the charging times for each individual battery.

I considered several good automatic chargers that treat each battery individually. The Sony BCG-34HRMD4 seemed optimal because of the following: (1) very reasonable price with the four great batteries included, (2) universal 110-240 voltage, (3) no-frills individual indication of the charging process, (4) rejuvenate function - very handy even for NiMH batteries, (5) ease of use - it was going to be used by several people with differing degrees of tech expertise.

I didn't want a super-duper split-second blink-your-eye quick charger because I am not in a real hurry to get the batteries charged plus high charging currents heat up the batteries to a boil and shorten their life span. "Normal" was fine for my needs, so I was actually pleased to read in the reviews that the "Super Quick" is false advertisement. Shame on you Sony!

Overall: this is a very good charger, highly recommended. It carries a reputable brand name, so it is likely to last a long time without surprises. And, last but not least, it is cheap - thank to the working men, women and children of China.

===== Edit =====

I noticed that the price has changed. The price is rather crucial for my positive review. I bought this charger and rated it full 5 stars when it was $24.99 apiece with a free shipping.

===== Edit on May 26, 2009 =====

Charger still running strong after 3+ years. It is used extensively by many people, and I replaced all batteries for Eneloops which are performing really great. Nothing broke in the charger except that someone took off the top lid and lost it - no big deal because the batteries get better cooling without it. I also have BC-900 charger but prefer the Sony with single button for "refresh".

Again: a great product. Highly recommended.

I've found this to be an excellent charger, as long as you only need to charge AA and AAA batteries. The charge cycle is quite fast, the design is good-looking and functional, and the refresh feature has restored quite a bit of lost capacity to some of my older batteries.

By the way, to answer an issue raised in a previous review, you know that a battery is fully charged when the LCD display stops flashing for that battery.

Charges fully? Sleek and stylish? Rejuvenates aging NIMHs?
Handy display that shows power remaining and charge status?
YES YES YES and YES!

Super Quick?
HELL NO! (Hey Sony, 15-30mins=SuperQuick, 4 hours=NOT)

"Refreshing" 4 batteries can take 4-6 hours, THEN the charging
starts!! "Charging" then takes another 3-4 hours all on it's own.
(you don't HAVE TO refresh, it is a seperate button on the top)

BUT.......
If you need quality, features, ease, confidence, and bang for
buck (but NOT speed) THIS is the best quality $30 range charger
around hands down. What's also nice is it reads and
reports/charges each battery independently too.

PS: If unit is allowed to get too hot, the LCD distorts. It returns to normal after cooling down. FYI.

While the charger itself is fine, the 2700mah batteries are a nuisance in that they completey discharge when idle for only a few days. Unless you use your camera every day and always return the batteries to the charger at night, it's easy to get caught with dead batteries. Even sitting in the charger for a couple of days after they are done charging, you'll have dead batteries.

For example, on Tuesday I took about 20 pictures, put the camera (Canon S3-IS) back in the case, thinking the batteries were hardly used at all. On Friday, I turned on the camera and it promptly told me to replace the batteries and shut off.

The Sony Super Quick Charger with LCD is just fantastic. The LCD display is the best feature ever. (I don't know why other rechargers don't have it!) You get the status of each battery at just a glance. And I really recommend Sony batteries. Their safety orange color means you won't accidentally throw them away (Both Energizer and Rayovac look too similar to their regular batteries).

THE GOOD: Sleek design, LCD Display, no AC adaptor power brick, somewhat fast 4 hour recharge, refresh button drains batteries before recharging.

The BAD: Plastic door is a little flimsy -- drop it once, and I'm sure it'll break off. Batteries are untouchably hot immediately after recharge. No power button -- you must unplug unit before inserting and removing batteries.

I manage rechargeable batteries for a company of 45+ people, and this charger is the best I've used -- and we've been through four vendors at this point. This charger allows for a "refresh" cycle (in other words, discharge any remaining bit of charge, then recharge from scratch) which I use all the time. This feature that isn't available on many other chargers, including others from Sony (see below for more on this topic). Almost as important, it has four INDEPENDENT charging circuits, which means that you can put in any crazy combination of AA and AAA batteries you like. (In practice, this means I can top off one AA/AAA battery to match a set of two or three other charged batteries that I may have...very handy, and impossible with units that require charging in pairs!)

Previously, my office used a charging unit from Emerging Power, also purchased on Amazon. That was an okay charger, but lacked the refresh cycle and required batteries to be paired for charging. Also, the lack of a real user interface (the UI consisted of single LED's per channel that were either on, blinking, or off) made it hard to tell what was going on. This Sony charger has an LED graph that shows you a rough percentage of battery charge, which makes it much easier to judge how much time remains. Finally, the Emerging Power charger had big springs (versus metal tabs) that held the batteries in place...guess what, one the springs went wonky after a few dozen charges, making it a dicey proposition to try charging four batteries at once. This Sony charger uses better-designed tabs to hold the batteries in place -- much better!

In an office with 45+ users, this charger is used by many people in my office every day. It's dead simple to use -- just pop in some batteries and off you go. If you want a "refresh" cycle (discharge before the recharge), just hit that button after inserting the battery (or batteries). Very easy and user-friendly, and built for tons of charge cycles...unlike some other units that have big springs that can break or go limp after a lot of use.

The only restriction is that this charger only handles AA and AAA batteries. In our office that's okay -- we use those batteries for wireless keyboards, mice, and pagers. But if you need 9V or other battery sizes you might consider a different system.

All told, I'm very pleased with this unit. It's worth the extra cost compared to the "BCG-34HE4" charger -- I have that unit at home, and the lack of LED, refresh cycle, and independent charging channels makes THIS unit much, much better. (In fact, I'm going to buy this unit for home too, and eBay the BCG-34HE4 -- which is an okay charger, but not worth the extra hassle.)

UPDATE: roughly two years later, I'm still using this charger and it's still awesome. Get it! For what it's worth, I'm using it primarily with Sanyo Eneloop batteries at this point, though I do still use a few Sony batteries as well. It works just fine with the Eneloops as well, including the "Refresh" feature.

Was looking for a charger for a trip to New Zealand, wanted a dual voltage charger. Discovered this charger after some research and ordered it. Was thoroughly pleased with this choice, it fully charges the batteries in about 4 hours ( I know, not too fast but well worth the wait) the batteries then lasted a full week with me taking pictures daily. These batteries are far superior to all the other batteries I have tried. There is a screen to see the charging process and this charger will first drain the battery then charge it if you like to remove the memory effect. I would just plug in the charger in the evening and by morning my batteries were ready to go. If you need a super fast charger don't buy this one. If you don't need super fast charging but great battery life, I recommend this unit.

It's worth pointing out that the Amazon description is for the BCG-34HRMD4, which is replaced by this BCG-34HRMF4. So, the included batteries you get are actually 2700mAh instead of 2300.

When you take that in to consideration and subtract the value of the batteries, you're getting a VERY nice charger
with an LCD for about $13.

No, it isn't "super quick" by any comparison other than overnight trickle chargers. But again, for $13, that's less than a decent trickle charger will cost you.

The refresh function is something that I have not seen on many chargers. What it does is , it drains the battery completely before it charges it up again. As an old radio control hobbyist I know the value of this function. This simple function can greatly extend the life of rechargeable batteries. Without getting technical if a battery is only used for say an hour and recharged, and this pattern is repeated over and over after a while a battery that has the potential for lasting 2 hours will only ever give you that hour that you have been using it for.

A great charging unit with high capacity batteries. The reasons I give it 5 stars are as follows:

The batteries supplied are 2700 mAH, which is probably the highest rating (haven't seen any higher rated AA batteries) - this means longer life per charge.

The Memory Refresh function is an absolute must. Why? ...suppose your batteries still have 25% juice left when you decide to recharge them (as you want full strength batteries before you start a new photo shoot day tomorrow). The fully recharged batteries will run dry on a 75% drain (25% is lost due to the memory effect). The memory function allows you to drain the balance 25% before a full 100% charge, giving you 100% capacity utilization. This will enable batteries to last longer requiring less frequent charging and increased life.

The 100V-240V AC input range means you can use it in US/Asia/Europe - any where in the world. But mind you, you will need to purchase an adaptor (only plug but not converter - which is cheap)so that you can plug into the European/Asian power sockets (which are shaped differently).

The LCD adds life to the charger. You can see it charge. It's similar to how a great graphics display on your music player adds life to music player. You can see the music too!

The looks are great and there is no heating of the batteries that you would witness in most high speed chargers, which may reduce battery life.

This one is not super quick. It takes about 5 hrs to charge and an additional 3-4hrs to erase memory (drain to zero and begin charging)- both depend on the battery capacity, if the capacity is lower say 2000 mAH then lesser time taken. If you are not in a great hurry and can plan your charging to the previous night - there is no doubt this one is for you. And believe me 2700 mAH makes a positive difference.

This one isn't bulky at all and does not weigh much.

Further, IT'S A SONY.

In a nut shell, if you are not always in a hurry trying to charge in a jiffy, a world traveler (believe me, the odd overseas trip too will mean you don't need a new charger that works on 240V) and would want the highest rated/capacity Sony batteries then you don't have too many other options.

Hope this will help you decide (and yes - I am NO Sony agent, just a fan)