E8GE 1000, GP Recyko+, Sanyo Eneloop, Uniross Hybrio Pre-charged Battery Shootout Review

I was sent a bunch of E8GE 1000 Pre-charged Batteries (website here) for review. So I went and bought even more pre-charged batteries just to do this review. In Malaysia there are several Pre-charged Batteries up for grabs at your local hypermarts and IT stores. So what’s readily available? You could get these quite readily, apart from the E8GE 1000, which are new and will probably hit the mainstream stores soon. I hear from the supplier that you can already get them in Babyland SS2 and Amazon.com.

E8GE 1000

GP Recyko

Sanyo Eneloop

Uniross Hybrio

What’s the Diff?

Some background on these batteries, basically, these batteries are different from your standard run of the mill rechargeables. They differ in several areas – Typical NiMH batteries will lose their charge relatively quickly, while these “Ready to Use” pre-charged batteries can retain their power for much longer. What this means for you and I is simple – it’s not a good idea to use an NiMH battery for say – an Air Condition unit remote control because it will be depleted within 3 months. The “Ready to Use” versions will service you for much longer, most literature on these batteries will say that after 3 months normal rechargeable NiMH batteries will be almost depleted but these hybrid rechargeable batteries can still retain about 85% of the initial charge amount.

E8GE Website: Low self-discharge capability - NiMH batteries completely deplete over 1 year, while E8GE 1000 batteries still retain their charge.

Testing Rig : Battery Characteristics

We got ourselves a Maha Powerex MH-C9000 WizardOne Charger-Analyzer tester and basically gone through the product guide! WHEW! It’s a helluva product guide. And basically used the “Discharge”, “Break-in”, “Refresh and Analyze” and “Charge” features a lot to determine different aspects of the battery. We used these features in this manner:

Feature	Does
Discharge	Discharges the battery at pre-described rate – can be used to determine: remaining charge operational voltage during high or low discharge rates
Break-In	This feature prepares the battery for actual use. It also is used to “revive” dead batteries.
Refresh and Analyze	Performs a series of discharge, rest and recharge cycles, this feature is used to determine the maximum charge of a battery.
Charge	Quite obvious, … this is used to CHARGE the battery 😉

So after fumbling around for what seems like DAYS (Refresh and Analyze takes about 2 days to complete 1 test!!!) we got the following results from our sets of batteries:

Brand and Size	Battery 1	Battery 2	Battery 3	Battery 4	Advertised Level (mAh)
E8GE 1000 AA	2073	2107	2119	2106	2100
GP Recyko+ AA	1976	1980	1943	2006	2000
Sanyo Eneloop AA	1839	1610	1850	1553	2000
Uniross Hybrio AA	1447	1457	1528	1510	1900

Conclusion :

• In terms of maximum charge we find that E8GE 1000 batteries were tops and follows the rated and advertised charge levels accurately.

Test Result : High Discharge Flash

We rigged up our test machine comprising a Canon connected to our Sony Vaio with the Canon EOS Utility installed with a Canon 550EX Speedlite set to maximum exposure (+3) in our labs and started to fire away. The interval period is set to 5 seconds between shots. We save the shots collected into our hard disk space and we can then count how many flashes it can produce before the batteries go entirely flat. I have posted a short video on how we do the test and also how the test results were interpreted on YouTube.

Strong – Ability to continuously provide a steady charge up rate of 5 seconds without any loss in the brightness of exposure.
Medium – Batteries need about 15 seconds to charge between flashes
Weak – Batteries need more than 15 seconds to charge and fire between flashes. The amount of time can be nearly 1 minute between but as long as the battery does not run out of juice the count is continued.

Here are the results:

Brand & Type	Strong	Medium	Weak	Total
E8GE 1000 AA	1305	26	13	1344
GP Recyko+	173	121	6	300
Sanyo Eneloop AA	810	96	17	923
Uniross Hybrio AA	996	8	8	1012

Additional Notes:

• Tests were carried out on a Canon 5D camera with a Canon SpeedLite 550EX.
• GP Recykos performed the worst of the lot.
• I believe the usage of the flash overloaded the capacity of the batteries as they were hot to the point of I can’t handle them right out of the flash unit with my bare hands the first time around.
• The plastic packaging sheath of 2 out of 4 GP Recyko that were used in the test were visibly damaged probably due to the batteries expanding and material warping from the insane heat.
• All batteries tested are NEW.

Conclusion & Wrap Up

• I guess it’s pretty plain to see, the E8GE 1000 batteries came out tops in our usage tests.
• Performing 30% better than the nearest competitor, I am really impressed that the E8GE 1000s although they’re brand new in the market. The results above would make you photographers really happy as you can really count on the batteries to go the extra mile with every charge up!
• In Malaysia, the E8GE 1000 batteries will be retailing for :
  • RM30 for the AA versions that come in a 2 piece pack.
  • RM50 if you buy 2 packs with a single purchase.
  • This is very good value as it represents a minimum 20% saving per battery unit compared to the nearest competitor. Normally these batteries retail for about RM36 to RM42 for a 2 piece pack.
• To conclude: For batteries that are cheap and good – look no further than E8GE 1000!

The Winner – E8GE 1000 Batteries

E8GE 1000 - winner of the shootout, 30% better than closest competitor.

Before I go – Happy New Year 2010 – let me know if you have any stuff for me to review. Buying review items are expensive 😛