Sanyo Eneloope battery test

EDIT: at the end of the test is added another interesting link on the battery charge with a test release for a period of 7 weeks.

(C) photo by mertanus
Here's another short post on the subject of photo batteries. Influenced by Strobist, after watching his seminar I decided to buy Sanyo Eneloop batteries for myself and try them out. I must honestly admit that I am delighted with them, if nothing else, because they really hold charge for a long time after being charged.But the question is, if I'm already using batteries for flash, for which the speed of recharging is more important than long-term retention of charge, is it perhaps better to buy batteries which have greater capacity rather then Eneloop 2100mAh?


The other day I managed to get a set of Sanyo HR-3U 2700m with original Sanyo battery charger, with which I recharged both battery sets, so I timed how much time is needed to charges a capacitor in Canon 380 EX flash after 10 full power flashes .The table below brings you results. Although not accurate as in laboratory, as my left hand on the flash test button and right hand on my stop watch aren't totally synced, I repeated the test 10 times in order to obtain an average value. Thanks to my Casio G-Shock, which can measure 1 / 1000 seconds, here is a fairly accurate result ;-)

	Eneloop 2100 mAh	Sanyo 2700 mAh
1	3.32	4.046
2	3.229	3.98
3.	3.29	4.008
4.	3.31	4.057
5.	3.36	4.002
6.	3.352	4.009
7.	3.42	4.03
8.	3.46	3.96
9.	3.339	4.011
10.	3.388	4.001
avg	3.3468	4.0104

In any case, nothing alarming, but interesting. I know it is only about 10 test flashes, but conclusion however imposes that the Sanyo eneloop batteries regardless of the nominal capacity can certainly compete with something stronger competition, although in this example these were not a real competitors, since these two products came from the same company. Maybe if I could test a variety of products, preferably with a larger sampling.

Eneloop is on average faster by 17% during the filling, while its nominal capacity is 23% less then the other model. Luckily the same price for both models, so there is no much to think about, just get Eneloop ;-P

But everyone has their favorites. Well, that's about it this time

Link: A nice overview of the battery:

• Duracell Rechargeable Pre-charged
• Powerex Imedion
• President's Choice Rechargeable
• Rayovac Hybrid
• Sanyo Eneloop
• Sony CycleEnergy