Best AA battery at the moment

[Paul_RK]

Originally Posted by Restoration73

I thought the Chinese ones were "Flying Bomb" brand - the picture shows "wings".

Seems this one may be a little scarce, there are plenty of photos online but they all seem to be of cylindrical cells or PP3s. I must have bought it new back in the day.

Paul

[McMurdo]

I just had to find an AA battery after all these comments, so popped next door to the bathroom and looked inside my nostril hair trimmer. Duracell Procell, 'made in USA'. And leaking!
My best results for leakproofness (?) and longevity have so far been Philips. But I will check out Aldi's if you lot have left them with any!

[Philips210]

So far I've been very pleased with Aldi's own brand AA cells. They seem to have good capacity and last longer than other alkalines. Touch wood, no leaks either. I haven't actually weighed them but they seem to be fairly heavy compared to other makes, possibly a good sign? I know you can't really compare alkalines against zinc chloride cells but Pounland's Kodak AA zinc chloride cells are as light as a feather compared to Aldi's alkalines.

Lidl and Tesco AA alkaline cells are also good with no leaks so far.

In the past I really rated GP alkalines but had one bad experience of a AAA cell leaking which caused some damage to the equipment. I think they're generally good batteries and perhaps I was unlucky. Similarly, Philips branded batteries are generally good but I've had at least two leaky AAA cells and signs of early leakage in others ie discolouration of the case around the negative terminal.

I've lost count on the number of times I've purchased items from car boot sales and charity shops that have had batteries left inside with horrible leakage. No prizes for guessing who made the batteries on each and every occasion!

OT, but I pulled an ancient zinc carbon cell from a Japanese 1980s analogue multimeter. It appears to be the original cell and is still serviceable and no signs of leakage. Not at all bad seeing it's over thirty years old!

Regards,
Symon

[Sinewave]

Leakacell! They've been leaky for quite a long time now.

[kalee20]

This has been a good thread, thank you Stevehertz for starting it.

It's a snapshot in time - the Aldi and Lidl brands could change their manufacturer at the drop of a hat, a bit like Tesco, Sainsbury forecourts changing the oil company to fill their tanks on almost a weekly basis. Though, on the basis they have reputations to maintain, I don't think they'd change to anything crummy.

[stevehertz]

Thanks Kalee. And that's so true, what's the best battery today could be the worst in a year's time, and that's why Which? do regular tests. I'll update as and when.

[Chris R]

Our village hall is designated as an emergency centre and has been used as such during extreme weather events. Several years ago we bought some CB (licence free) handheld radios for use when power is down and cellphones no longer working in the area.
Rather than buying rechargeable AA cells, I bought a bulk pack of Varta alkaline. Although they are coming to their sell by date, they are fully useable and show no signs of leakage. I have found all types of Varta batteries most reliable.

Chris R

[The Philpott]

Keep an eye on Philips and Varta alkalines though...i have had a few of both brand leak, both AA and AAA. One of the latter while still in date and still in packet.

[duncanlowe]

GP had a bad patch some years ago. I had a batch, bought through CPC, where most of the AAAs leaked while still in the box.

Currently using CPCs PRO ELEC range and they seem OK. Decent price if you buy the bigger packs (I share with family) and don't think I've had a leak.

Found another Duracell leak monster yesterday. Marked as an 'industrial' version. Single AA in a quartz clock. OK, fair enough it would have been fitted back in 2015, so would have been dead by now. But said clock had been fitted to a panel and fallen apart so the body of the clock had fallen into a void during manufacturing. During manufacturing, rather than rescuing that clock, they simply fitted a second one. I found the first when rescuing the second, after that fell apart depositing the clock body in the same void. Cheapest nastiest quartz AA powered clock you could imagine. Replacement price: £34 plus post. BTW the Sony alkaline in the second lost clock was dead but hadn't leaked. It has a PRO ELEC in now.

[duncanlowe]

Reviews, even with data behind them can be, and sometimes are flawed. Back in the eighties, they compared products including one that had been made by the company I was working for. I say had been as it had been out of production for 18 months, compared to competitors they were comparing's current product. Of course ours got panned, we had been selling something different for a while. Then again, right up and with it, a neighbour bought a domestic appliance because it was the 'Best Buy'. They hated it and thought there was a basic problem with the technology. On the other hand we didn't buy 'the best' and are more than happy with ours.

There are facts, and there are 'facts'.

[The Philpott]

Quite...and 5 star reviews that have been given on washing machines that have been in use for two weeks and haven't had a chance to break yet. Not to mention fake reviews; though fortunately in a lot of cases there's been so little effort that they're relatively easy to spot.

Dave

[jamesperrett]

Originally Posted by duncanlowe

GP had a bad patch some years ago. I had a batch, bought through CPC, where most of the AAAs leaked while still in the box.

Currently using CPCs PRO ELEC range and they seem OK. Decent price if you buy the bigger packs (I share with family) and don't think I've had a leak.

I've had a couple of big packs of Pro-Elec batteries. No problems with the first pack but the second pack arrived with less than 2 years to go before their Use By date. As the Use By date approached I started to see the odd leak and residues left on the battery terminals. They certainly need careful monitoring.

I've now switched over mostly to GP Recycko rechargeables or the Amazon equivalents which may be made by GP as they are mentioned on the packaging. So far I've had no problems. I've also used the Aldi Alkalines and found them good.

[jamesperrett]

Originally Posted by G.Castle

I did recently remove a Duracell C battery from a wall clock I picked up from a house clearance sale, it is date coded 1995, hasn't leaked and still has a terminal voltage off load of over 1.5

Poor QC has crept in and production has moved around the world since that example was made. The 'good' ones like this seem to be produced in Belgium.

I think we finally gave up on using Duracells for work in 1998 after finding only around 50% arrived working after transporting our gear to Bermuda. Panasonic, Varta and Ray-o-Vac all worked fine subsequently.

[Martin Bush]

This may be a bit basic for many on here, but I found it an interesting listen: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001g38n

There's a line in there from Duracell on their claims about the longevity of their energy (not about leaking...)

[Whaam68]

Due to increasing cost and iffy reliability I switched all my AA's and AAA's to Ikea Ladda rechargeable (£7 for 4) a couple of years back. They are (or at least the white ones were) made in Japan and allegedly manufactured in the same plant making Panasonic eneloop batteries. I did see some proper test video's comparing them on youtube and the conclusion was the self discharge levels were comparable to Panasonic. They've been fine in my applications including a power hungry GPS synch unit for my nixie clocks. I've got a few Chinese made Duracell rechargeable and they have also been fine. Worth a go if 1.2v does the job oh and they are heavy and the ikea cell's are very well constructed....no leakage issues. I just looked and the current Ladda offering also says "made in Japan".

[Boulevardier]

Originally Posted by The Philpott

Quite...and 5 star reviews that have been given on washing machines that have been in use for two weeks and haven't had a chance to break yet. Not to mention fake reviews; though fortunately in a lot of cases there's been so little effort that they're relatively easy to spot.

Dave

Another worry - for example, I've just been looking at customer reviews for Samsung fridge-freezers on the John Lewis website. I looked at the reviews for one model of Samsung f-f, and then looked at the reviews for another Samsung model. They were exactly the same reviews for both... All adds to the suspicion about reviews in general.


Mike

[stevehertz]

Originally Posted by Boulevardier

Another worry - for example, I've just been looking at customer reviews for Samsung fridge-freezers on the John Lewis website. I looked at the reviews for one model of Samsung f-f, and then looked at the reviews for another Samsung model. They were exactly the same reviews for both... All adds to the suspicion about reviews in general.


Mike

In general, I couldn't agree more, I too am suspicious of many online reviews and how easy they can be falsified. But this is Which?, a time served, well established consumer advice organisation that has been operating for decades and boasts a very high degree of respect from many consumers and organisations. In fairness I think you're skating on thin ice talking about Which? while referring to hooky reviews. Here's some background info about Which? :https://www.which.co.uk/about-which/...e-azQ8t7R93VDg

[Radio Wrangler]

Thin ice indeed.

Tread carefully about criticising the content (even user generated reviews) of commercial and charitable websites. It's not just auction sites who might start revving-up their legal departments. Anything which could be interpreted as an accusation of fraud is in the big league.

David

[defender]

I currently like GP, Varta and Energizer, though I do buy from Lidl and Aldi, I completely fell out with Duracell and Costco Kirkland batteries (also Duracell) due to terrible leak resistance ruining equipment.
I've pictured the Duracell bunny half eaten away by battery leakage

[stuarth]

Breaking News!!!

I went to Aldi yesterday to stock up on AA cells, and whilst most of their stock was in their usual blue/grey livery, there was one box of AA cells in black/gold livery, the colours of the devil's own batteries. All had the same date code, Dec-2027.

The blue/grey boxes had a banner with a ribbon in dark blue with gold stars and the words "Made in Europe", the batteries themselves are marked "Made in E.U."

The black/gold boxes had identical layout and printing (apart from the colours) except they didn't have the "Made in Europe" banner, although the batteries themselves are marked "Made in E.U."

It looks like they've just changed the colour scheme, but maybe there are other, darker changes afoot .....

I bought a couple more blue/grey boxes, the black/gold ones may prove just as good, but they're unlikely to be better.

Stuart