Rechargeable batteries rank high on the list of those little things that you’ve been meaning to integrate into your life, but which, due to some off-putting inconvenience, you simply haven’t; in this case, the fatal drawback has been self-discharge, the inevitable loss of energy that occurs among rechargeable batteries even when not in use. In your defense, a battery that comes without a charge before you buy it and which gradually loses it afterward doesn’t exactly qualify as a hot consumer item anywhere outside of the Soviet Union circa 1983.
Thus it is that we’re understandably hyped about Eneloop, SANYO’s vastly-improved take on the rechargable battery. In contrast to its more leaky counterparts, the Eneloop retainsabout 85 percent of its charge after a year of storage, making it every bit as convenient as those dirty Duracells in your kitchen drawer. And then, of course, there are the advantages that put rechargables on the market in the first place – an Eneloop can be reused hundreds of times, thereby sparing the planet hundreds of alkaline batteries worth of leaked mercury while also sparing you, the battery aficionado, from having to buy hundreds of the damned things in the first place. Go get yourself one.
