Re: "Why Rechargeable Batteries Are Rarely Cost Effective" Message #11 Posted by Paul Guertin on 22 Sept 2009, 8:28 p.m., in response to message #8 by Garth Wilson
Quote:
That's mostly why, when I bought a digital camera recently, I insisted that it use AA batteries
I bought my digital camera five years ago, and did the same thing. I use low-self-discharge NiMH Eneloop batteries in mine and they work very well. On more than one occasion over the years, the possibility of using readily-available AA cells saved the day.
The modern trend toward custom, often non-replaceable batteries worries me. I was shopping for an MP3 player recently, and thought my requirements were pretty simple and reasonable: decent sound, an SD card slot, takes standard AAA or AA cells and has a usable interface for selecting the song order (i.e., not just a shuffle player). No need for video or other PDA stuff.
Well, it turns out that AA/AAA music players are extremely rare nowadays, and most modern MP3 players even have non-replaceable batteries, the idea being that when the battery doesn't take a charge anymore (which may be in 3-7 years), people will just buy a newer model with more features. In effect, you end up renting your MP3 player instead of buying it.
|