AA Batteries

[sandall]

Anyone got any experience of life expectancy of Varta Alkaline AAs (as sold by Screwfix)? Claim to be made in Germany, but I'm starting to wonder. My go-to AAs used to be Clas Ohlson, which gave a similar life to Energiser at about half the price, but they pulled out of the UK a while ago. I've just got a low-battery warning on something that did a year with the Clas Ohlson, so am wondering whether Varta are actually cheap Chinese, but with a layer of German paint added.

[J Pearce]

I've given up trying to track which are good, as it seems to change as each company sticks their label on whatever they could buy at the right pricepoint.

 

For most of my use I've switched to rechargeables, usually the ones from CPC which seem to give a predictable life that I have some ability to trust.

[Junior8]

I was told years ago that all Alkaline batteries will meet a minimum standard but beyond that often it's a matter of luck. So pretty much as Jon says. I have had as many bad experiences with premium brands as good ones with bulk buys from the usual online suspects so I no longer pay for brand names. Edited April 16, 2021 by Junior8

[Stuart91]

We've had good experiences with GP Gold, but I'm not sure about longevity. Shelf life seems to be OK though.

[dje]

Procell are what most of our industry use... I think they might now be branded as Duracell industrial or something.

 

https://www.gaffatape.com/duracell-industrial-aa-batteries/

 

They're the same Duracell batteries you get in the shop but sold with a cheaper price tag by buying them 10s or 100s.

[david.elsbury]

We usually exclusively use Procell. The orange ones were great. There appears to have been a rebranding at least in this part of the world and they are now almost black. The new ones don't seem as good as the old orange ones...

[sandall]

I've never had a problem with shelf-life, & have learnt the hard way to avoid poundshop & similar for anything that eats batteries, but have found that some alkalines, including Energiser & Clas Ohlson, have a really long life in low-drain devices like ansaphones, so was a bit surprised to get a low-battery warning after 3 months rather than a year. For radiomics needing PP3s the GP Golds seemed ok, though more recently I've gone over to Duracell Industrial, but the hire business has died, so I don't get through enough to be worth buying in bulk numbers.

 

I take it that nobody has any direct experience with the Varta AAs. Reviews seem to be mostly 5-star (but usually based on price, rather than quality), with a few 1-stars in the US (none recent) for short life. (Like so much of life these days) all very confusing

[the kid]

I cant get the site working but Clas Ohlson is still in the UK via amazon and have online orders. I think they still have the shop in Reading ?

[sunray]

I've never had a problem with shelf-life, & have learnt the hard way to avoid poundshop & similar for anything that eats batteries, but have found that some alkalines, including Energiser & Clas Ohlson, have a really long life in low-drain devices like ansaphones, so was a bit surprised to get a low-battery warning after 3 months rather than a year. For radiomics needing PP3s the GP Golds seemed ok, though more recently I've gone over to Duracell Industrial, but the hire business has died, so I don't get through enough to be worth buying in bulk numbers.

 

I take it that nobody has any direct experience with the Varta AAs. Reviews seem to be mostly 5-star (but usually based on price, rather than quality), with a few 1-stars in the US (none recent) for short life. (Like so much of life these days) all very confusing

Varta used to be my goto for small quantities, primarily due to a local stockist. However when buying bulk it was Greencell or GP and I never thought about there being a difference between the three.Having not owned much kit for work in the last few years the missus now tends to get packs of 20 JCB's from supermarket and they seem to be fine. In regular domestic clocks, remote controls etc, I'd say there's no noticeable difference but I've not tried them in higher power kit. At the price I wouldn't expect them to compete with proper brands but so far so good, we purchased our 3rd pack to provide for Christmas presents... Grandchildren 'n all that.

 

 

We've been through the poundland version of Panasonic [carbon and alkaline], Kodak and some other yellow which almost inclusively leaked in long term use.

 

[TomHoward]

We switched from using Duracell / Procell / Industrial to using GP, but only because they’re wrapped. We had two times someone refilled a Procell box with deads after swapping mic packs and put it back with the new ones.

 

Whenever we get the “£10 off £50” voucher from Toolstation we just bulk buy the GPs.

[Stuart91]

We switched from using Duracell / Procell / Industrial to using GP, but only because they’re wrapped.

 

+1 for this, the wrapping is really handy. Especially with radio mic transmitters that use two batteries at a time.