Rudi
07-25-200725th July 2007, 03:11 AM
Hi everyone,
While this is not strictly a photo accessory, we all need to charge AA and AAA batteries these days, and I have only ever once had a charger that I was completely happy with. Up until I bought this latest unit, I had three chargers, two quick chargers and one slow, small, travel charger. My favourite of these was a fast charger, but lately I started suspecting that the charger was not working properly - it would indicate "charged" really quickly, and batteries were going flat really soon after first using them, stuff like that. Not to mention that it tended to cook AAA batteries (overcharging them :( ). For all I know, it was probably still under warranty, but frankly, I was starting to get sick of it. :)
So, I was in the market for a smart charger, one that would let me know the status of each battery as it was being charged, and preferably one that would enable me to refresh the batteries once in a while. If it ended up being a large unit, I was willing to live with that, since I already had the travel charger.
Well, I found one that is both small and lets me do all the things that I require! I am very impressed with this unit, and thought I would share my experiences here. The charger is made by SONY, and the model number is BCG-34HRMF4. It has an LCD screen that shows you the status of each battery individually, and of course, whether you are currently charging or refreshing the batteries. You can override the settings at any time to start charging or refreshing whenever you like. :) I haven't taken any photos of it, but the Amazon page has some photos that will give you an idea of how small and handy this charger really is. Best of all - it doesn't come with a power brick (it's all internal, even though the charger itself is tiny!). Only used it on one set of batteries, but after one refresh cycle they are holding up just like a new set (my old charger was obviously faulty!).
Check it out here: SONY Australia (http://www.sony.com.au/catalog/product.jsp?id=BCG34HRMF4) and Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Sony-BCG-34HRMF4-Charger-Indicator-Batteries/dp/B0002IOIMQ)
While this is not strictly a photo accessory, we all need to charge AA and AAA batteries these days, and I have only ever once had a charger that I was completely happy with. Up until I bought this latest unit, I had three chargers, two quick chargers and one slow, small, travel charger. My favourite of these was a fast charger, but lately I started suspecting that the charger was not working properly - it would indicate "charged" really quickly, and batteries were going flat really soon after first using them, stuff like that. Not to mention that it tended to cook AAA batteries (overcharging them :( ). For all I know, it was probably still under warranty, but frankly, I was starting to get sick of it. :)
So, I was in the market for a smart charger, one that would let me know the status of each battery as it was being charged, and preferably one that would enable me to refresh the batteries once in a while. If it ended up being a large unit, I was willing to live with that, since I already had the travel charger.
Well, I found one that is both small and lets me do all the things that I require! I am very impressed with this unit, and thought I would share my experiences here. The charger is made by SONY, and the model number is BCG-34HRMF4. It has an LCD screen that shows you the status of each battery individually, and of course, whether you are currently charging or refreshing the batteries. You can override the settings at any time to start charging or refreshing whenever you like. :) I haven't taken any photos of it, but the Amazon page has some photos that will give you an idea of how small and handy this charger really is. Best of all - it doesn't come with a power brick (it's all internal, even though the charger itself is tiny!). Only used it on one set of batteries, but after one refresh cycle they are holding up just like a new set (my old charger was obviously faulty!).
Check it out here: SONY Australia (http://www.sony.com.au/catalog/product.jsp?id=BCG34HRMF4) and Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Sony-BCG-34HRMF4-Charger-Indicator-Batteries/dp/B0002IOIMQ)