Sony BCG34HLD4EN Cycle Energy Power Charger with 4 2500 mAh AA Batteries

• Simple and economic Sony battery charger
• Charges up to 4 AA or AAA NiMH batteries
• Compact design and worldwide voltage capability perfect for travelers
• Includes 4 high-capacity NiMH AA batteries
• Compact size and worldwide voltage capacity allow for easy charging anywhere
• Charges up to 4 AA or AAA Ni-MH batteries
• Includes 4 high capacity Ni-MH AA batteries

This set includes 4 AA cells Made in Japan for Sony by Sanyo, as well as a timed charger, NOT a smart charger as its similar looking Sony variants.

The Sony Power Charger can recharge 4 AAA or AA cells at a time. Unlike the Panasonic BQ-390 which I also used and reviewed, this Sony uses a timer to stop charging. The Panasonic BQ-390 has advanced circuitry inside to monitor charging through temperature, voltage drop, and the cell's internal resistance, so that you'll get more precise charging and less damage from overcharging of simpler chargers. Sony also offers a similarly advanced product, but this model is a cheaper timed model. It charges the 2100mAH cells for 8 hours straight, or 800 mAh AAA cells for 7 hours straight. If you charge a partially used cell, it will not detect when the cell reaches full charge, and might overcharge. It's best to charge a fully depleted cell with timed chargers.

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This was the best deal I found on rechargable NiHM batteries and that too these are made in Japan by Sony. It has a capacity of 2300mAh.

There is one problem with this. This charger does not automatically shut off when the batteries finish charging. So the first time I charged them, I kept waiting for the indicator to go off and I realized after 18 hrs that they are not going to go off.

So, though the batteries are good the charger is not. I would suggest people to go with another sony rechargable model that sells here for just a few dollars more.

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This is a timed charger, but well matched to the supplied 2100mAh NiMH batteries. The manual recommends charging after a full discharge, so it may overcharge your partially depleted cell or an older cell with lower capacity. As long as you recharge a fully empty, ~2100mAh cell, it shall be fine.

The included cells, actually made by Sanyo-GE, are premium cells, and only surpassed by Sanyo's latest 2300mAh cells.

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SONY has updated this package ("Sony Cycle Energy Power Charger with 4 2500 mAh AA Batteries") recently. It now looks quite different from what was once shown on the Amazon product description page. For example, the old charger is silver in color, while the new charger is white. But beside colors, they looked almost identical, and even share the same model number (BCG34HLD). So is this really a new and improved model, or just a simple cosmetic update?

According to all the older Amazon spotlight reviews, the old model is a timer-based dumb charger. I'm happy to report that this is no longer the case. The new model is actually a 'smart' charger, meaning that it monitors each battery's voltage independently during charging, and stops when each cell is fully charged. In fact, it is very nicely designed for such a value-priced charger. Here are some things I like about this charger:

+ Charges 1-4 AA/AAA cells individually no need to charge in pairs

+ Compact, one-piece design with fold-down AC plugs no need for power cords or wall adapters.

+ Low-profile (just 1.1" thick) so it fits in camera bags easily.

+ Accepts 100-240V universal voltage.

+ Bad cell detection indicator light flashes in case the resistance is too high (alkaline cell).

The average charging current is 360mA for each AA cell (actually 1.44A pulsed at 25% duty cycle), 140mA for AAA cell. That means it takes about 7-8 hours to fully recharge 2500mAh AA cells.

The included four SONY AA batteries, however, appear to be just the same old 2500mAh cells with a new shiny wrapper. This is very disappointing, because that means they will also suffer from rapid self-discharge problem after just a few cycles. So you always have to recharge those batteries the night before you need to use them (remember this is a slow charger). Keeping a set of batteries in the charger does not help, because this charger does not maintain a trickle charge after charging is done.

If you like this charger but don't want to take chances with those 2500mAh batteries, my recommendation is to get the "Sony Cycle Energy BCG34HLD4KN Power Charger with 4 Pre-Charged 2000 mAh AA Batteries" package instead. It contains the same BCG34HLD charger, but comes with four low-self-discharge cells similar to SANYO eneloop. It is even priced a few dollars lower as of this writing.

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This kit is exactly what I needed to keep my wife from throwing her camera in the junk drawer for good. The camera's flash would burn through the alkalines at a rediculous rate, and these Ni-MH power through hundreds of shots with ease. I'm really impressed especially at the price.