Duracell vs. Energizer vs. Rayovac
David Goldstein
I was battery shopping yesterday and noticed that a 10 pack of Rayovac
Maximums cost just 30 cents more than a 4 packof Duracell Ultras. I
went with the Duracells because I know what I'm dealing with when it
comes to them. Are the Rayovacs actually better than the Duracells
for Palm II use? And where does Energizer fit into the mix?
Thanks,
Dave
SPAMgo...@bigfoot.com
Remove the SPAM in my e-mail address to reply via e-mail.
Steve Shurtz
especially in quantity, than any of the big names and, according to
Consumer Reports, test out as equal or better than all of the major
brands. I've had pretty good luck with them.
George Caswell
> Hi all,
>
> I was battery shopping yesterday and noticed that a 10 pack of Rayovac
> Maximums cost just 30 cents more than a 4 packof Duracell Ultras. I
> went with the Duracells because I know what I'm dealing with when it
> comes to them. Are the Rayovacs actually better than the Duracells
> for Palm II use? And where does Energizer fit into the mix?
>
The following is just my opinion, of course--
1: The name-brand loyalty you feel is probably unfounded. There's nothing
wrong with that, but you might want to just keep in mind, commercials work. I
buy the silver batteries cuz I think the pink bunny kicks ass. (Seriously, I
really do tend to buy energizers most often out of the alkalines, and I have
little doubt that the bunny commercials started that)
2: Test them. Run uptime hack and do some tests on your own. I -would-
guess that the ones sold as hi-capacity alkalines or as premium brands
(energizer, duracell) might have longer life than others, but I can't say for
sure. If you don't mind changing your batteries a little more often, I'd bet
the rayovac's are if nothing else at least half as powerful as the duracells-
so if you buy more than twice as many for the same price, there you go...
If you're a little more electronically-minded, you might do some controlled
full-drains of some of these batteries to get some kind of measure of
watt*time or current*time.. Or you might just decide to do what I'm gonna do-
buy a really good battery charger and some NiMH's or NiCads- With the right
charger, you don't have to worry so much about memory effect, overcharging,
etc., which makes rechargings much more convenient. I don't know how hi-cap
Nicads and NIMH's compare for capacity to alkalines-- and because of their
steep power-dropoff it's probably a good idea to keep some fresh alkalines
handy...
---GEC
Philipp Drum
George Caswell <timb...@adamant.res.wpi.net> writes:
GC> 2: Test them. Run uptime hack ...
Do You have a url for that ?
thx.
--
Philipp. (pgp available)
Karl Gruenewald
other day that had an insert with a drawing of a Pilot on it. That
counts for something in my book ;)
> On Wed, 18 Nov 1998, David Goldstein wrote:
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I was battery shopping yesterday and noticed that a 10 pack of Rayovac
> > Maximums cost just 30 cents more than a 4 packof Duracell Ultras. I
> > went with the Duracells because I know what I'm dealing with when it
> > comes to them. Are the Rayovacs actually better than the Duracells
> > for Palm II use? And where does Energizer fit into the mix?
> >
--
Karl Gruenewald ka...@christnerinc.com
(314) 725-2927 W (314) 725-9275 H
7014A Tulane Ave. St. Louis, MO 63130
Raymond W. Howard
specifically require alkaline?
Doug Hoy
<timb...@adamant.res.wpi.net> wrote:
> 2: Test them. Run uptime hack and do some tests on your own. I -would-
>guess that the ones sold as hi-capacity alkalines or as premium brands
>(energizer, duracell) might have longer life than others, but I can't say for
>sure. If you don't mind changing your batteries a little more often, I'd bet
>the rayovac's are if nothing else at least half as powerful as the duracells-
>so if you buy more than twice as many for the same price, there you go...
>
> If you're a little more electronically-minded, you might do some controlled
>full-drains of some of these batteries to get some kind of measure of
>watt*time or current*time.. Or you might just decide to do what I'm gonna do-
>buy a really good battery charger and some NiMH's or NiCads- With the right
>charger, you don't have to worry so much about memory effect, overcharging,
>etc., which makes rechargings much more convenient. I don't know how hi-cap
>Nicads and NIMH's compare for capacity to alkalines-- and because of their
>steep power-dropoff it's probably a good idea to keep some fresh alkalines
>handy...
I use NiCads too, but keep a couple of fresh alkalines in the case,
just in case, or for long trips.
If I recall correctly, alkaline battery weight correlates well with
amount of power delivered, since there is some simple chemistry
involved :-)
Doug
Lee Kanner
timb...@wpi.edu wrote:
>On Wed, 18 Nov 1998, David Goldstein wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I was battery shopping yesterday and noticed that a 10 pack of Rayovac
>> Maximums cost just 30 cents more than a 4 packof Duracell Ultras. I
>> went with the Duracells because I know what I'm dealing with when it
>> comes to them. Are the Rayovacs actually better than the Duracells
>> for Palm II use? And where does Energizer fit into the mix?
Another hack worth considering is Bat Panel. It plots battery voltage
against time. When a new set of batteries is installed, the previous
graph still shows, but as a dotted line. Thus, you can compare one set of
batteries to another.
Herb
>>
> The following is just my opinion, of course--
>
>> 2: Test them. Run uptime hack and do some tests on your own. I -would-
>guess that the ones sold as hi-capacity alkalines or as premium brands
>(energizer, duracell) might have longer life than others, but I can't say for
>sure. If you don't mind changing your batteries a little more often, I'd bet
>the rayovac's are if nothing else at least half as powerful as the duracells-
>so if you buy more than twice as many for the same price, there you go...
>
--
Herb and/or Lee Kanner
Tony T.
buy the least expensive alkaline battery you can find as they are all
about the same in quality and life. In fact, you may be surprised to
know who makes batteries for who.
Alan Winston
Now come on, that's not fair.
There really is a difference in some cases.
It can even be 3-5%.
For 30-500% more money.
abw
Michael Elliott
>As a saleman for a battery company for 12 years, I highly recommend you
>buy the least expensive alkaline battery you can find as they are all
>about the same in quality and life. In fact, you may be surprised to
>know who makes batteries for who.
Gasp! . . . And . . . and does that mean that maybe the more expensive
batteries are so, not because they use more expensive materials, but because
of huge ADVERTISING budgets?!? Whatever is this world coming to!?! ; )
Poindexter Fortran
TT> As a saleman for a battery company for 12 years, I highly recommend
TT> you buy the least expensive alkaline battery you can find as they are
TT> all about the same in quality and life. In fact, you may be surprised
TT> to know who makes batteries for who.
I concur. I get approximately the same life from Safeway or Walgreens
alkalines as I do from Energizer or Duracell. at 8 AAAs for $3.00, can't
beat it.
-- Kurt Weiske -- Fidonet : 1:161/418 (dialup +1 510 336 1035)
Internet: pfor...@pigdog.org --
.. Every solution breeds new problems.
The Phorce
built in battery checkers and the shiny copper colored sheaths. I am now
MUCH happier and more satisfied with Alk Batteries that I buy at a local
discount store: "McFrugals.
"SuperEnergy" alkaline AAA 4pack run only 98 cents! You read correct "NINETY
EIGHT CENTS!!!" I think you can get ONE Ray-O-Vac for that. How are they?
Just as good as those "Coppertop" or Bunny batteries, I'm still getting two
weeks per set on my PPP. Also try Walgreens, Factory to You, and Ace
Hardware for "off-brand-but-a-hell-of-a-buy-batteries" My kids' gameboys,
NOMADs and other battery vampires are no longer putting me in the
poor-house.
Lotfi BAGHLI
I would like to know if it is possible to use accu ( rechargeable )
instead of batteries AAA for the palm III or does it require (as some
cameras ) a high voltage level 2*1.5V > 2*1.2V ?
thanks for help
please answer by mail also.
Rick Miller
local Sentry (a supermarket).
Why pay more for advertising overhead?
Why pay for built-in battery checkers?
It reminds me of the oleo business... you know, margarine. I've heard
[unsubstantiated but likely rumor] that there are only a few factories in
the US which produce butter substitutes, yet look at how many different
brands there are and the competing claims to superiority that they make!
Oh, sure... they may vary the recipie somewhat but it's basically varying
amounts of fats, oils, water, a little salt, sugar, flavorings and colors.
My guess is that it's probably the same with batteries. They're all
basically the same, some may have more "filler" added to make them cheaper.
It may provide a little less battery life but what you lose there is MORE
than made up for by the larger difference in price. So my batteries last
about 85% as long as Duracell or Everready (maybe more, I haven't measured
it very precisely) but they cost less than 50% of what those name brands
will take you for. So for the same money I'm getting 170% of the battery
life.
I'll take value over marketing hype any day.
Rick
http://www.execpc.com/~rdmiller/
Kevin D. Timm
Marketing and Advertising is only one piece of the expanded cost of marque
batteries, the others are R&D expense and QC/QA. I used to video-tape weddings
(10 years) and 'always' purchased name brand batteries and video tape to use in
my equipment. Only one time did I chose a store brand product and sure enough,
I had a failure. The savings of $1-2 was long spent by the number of hours I
had to endure in the editting booth retrieving sound and video from alternate
sources.
The name brands never failed me and I would hate to have a store brand quit
while the machine is packed away and by the time I reached it, every was gone.
My 2 cents,
Kevin Timm
Dave Katz
them. Whether those, conventional alkalines or Renewal are best has been
extensively discussed on this NG but not unanimously resolved. Read up, and
see what suits your usage patterns.
Dave
The PC Guy
go wrong!
Lotfi BAGHLI wrote in message <365BDC...@green-uhp.u-nancy.fr>...
Tom Hoots
> I was battery shopping yesterday and noticed that a 10 pack of Rayovac
> Maximums cost just 30 cents more than a 4 packof Duracell Ultras. I
> went with the Duracells because I know what I'm dealing with when it
> comes to them. Are the Rayovacs actually better than the Duracells
> for Palm II use? And where does Energizer fit into the mix?
I tried the Duracell Ultras, figuring they'd be great, but I have
=always= had better results with the bargain-price RAYOVAC Maximums.
Though I've never tried Eveready batteries in my Palm III, the RAYOVAC's
haven't given me any reason to try anything else.
The RAYOVAC Maximums give me right around 30 days per pair, and I always
replace them before I ever see any kind of a "low battery" message. I
use my Palm III "halfway heavily" -- plenty of HotSyncing, plenty of
backlight usage, etc. I just couldn't be more satisfied with the price
and the performance of the RAYOVAC Maximums, which I buy on the cheap at
Wal-Mart in 12-packs...
----
Tom Hoots
tho...@teleport.com
Brian Hartman
PalmPilot now, and they work great. They don't seem to last quite as long
(3 days as opposed to 5) but they're rechargeables, so who cares? I just
keep some alkalines (Walgreens brand) with me in case I get a low voltage
warning. The only thing I don't like is that you don't get much of a
warning. The warning message comes on and then it's "Goodnight, Gracie".
Tom Hoots wrote:
--
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I
know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know
it's crazy."
Old Phoebe didn't say anything for a long time.
-- The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
Brian Hartman
bhar...@scils.rutgers.edu
bhar...@eden.rutgers.edu
http://www.eden.rutgers.edu/~bhartman
mickf...@bellsouth.net
> As a saleman for a battery company for 12 years, I highly recommend you
> buy the least expensive alkaline battery you can find as they are all
> about the same in quality and life. In fact, you may be surprised to
David Solimano
wrote:
not watching the thread :-(.
--
David Solimano
da...@solimano.org