Chip and Charge

OK, enough on the Imus flap. I'm going to move to a topic that has mass appeal to everyone.

Rechargeable batteries.

About two years ago, I bought a Canon A-80 or some camera along those lines. They use AA batteries, either alkaline or rechargeables. Everyone said you had to get rechargeables because they, um, recharge. The other reason is that they last a lot longer than alkalines. Typically, these are NiMH batteries (nickel metal hydride).

Well, I never used the A-80 and eventually gave it to my brother ("gifted him" as the Indians would say).

The batteries lay unused.

Oh, and I bought some battery chargers. But being the geeky guy I am, I needed to find a good battery charger. And wouldn't you know, digital camera review websites have articles on finding a good battery charger. So I bought one for like 40-50 bucks by a company named Maha at Thompson Distributing. The website looks pretty cheap as if it were designed ten years ago, a shade below, say, Newegg, which also, for my money, a bit ghetto (can I say that? OK, how about lacking the clean lines and aesthetics of a well-done website). But they deliver quickly.

Needless to say, since I wasn't using the batteries, I was hardly using the charger. Which means I wasn't using the charger.

They were both gathering dust.

Then, I got braces, and braces must be Latin for mechanical device that claws at any food items. Food gets easily trapped in them. Fortunately, a coworker who has had braces very recently suggested Waterpik, except of course, Waterpik sucks because their design hasn't changed in years.

I bought a Panasonic oral irrigator (as it's technically called), and they only have one kind that they sell in the US. And wouldn't you know it, it uses batteries. Double A's. All of a sudden (not really), I have a need for my battery chargers (and the batteries too).

Except I wanted one for work and one for home. So I needed a second battery charger.

Again, I went to the Internet and found this article. It suggested the Maha MH-C9000 WizardOne Charger/Analyzer, which I got for like sixty bucks. Not only does it charge, but it can also determine how much juice your batteries have, and get them back to life. Now, sixty bucks (plus shipping/handling) is nearly twice the cost of how much a basic model costs at Best Buy. I really didn't plan to get it, but, you know, impulse buying.

What can I tell you?

It is amazing. Until I got this charger, my oral irrigator was draining the batteries within a week. Since I've charged it, which is about a month ago, I haven't hard to go to my other charged batteries. It's lasted a month, and is still going. I'm still waiting for it to lose power so I can switch over to my other batteries.

I'm totally convinced of this as a great battery charger.

If you're looking for one and don't mind shelling out the extra bucks (and why wouldn't you?), then you should do it.

The only downside is that the full recharge can take up to two days. But that's an easy problem to solve. Have more batteries than you need, and always have a fresh one ready to go. The plain recharge takes a few hours, so is comparable to other battery chargers. They say slow charging is best for the batteries in any case.

Now, I must go irrigate.