Does anyone have any experience/knowledge of Nikel Hydride batteries? How do they compare with regular "AA" or NiCads in the cold? Do they have a high intial discharge like Lithium batteries? Is milliamp output high enough to efficiently drive a flash?

-- John Rountree (j.rountree@usa.net), February 16, 2000

Answers

Nickel-Metal-Hydrides can be used in almost any application where Nickel-Cadmium cells are suitable. They typically have twice the capacity (mAH) of NiCds, and at the moment cost just over twice as much. They don't suffer from the "memory effect" of NiCds though.

I'd definitely recommend them over NiCds. The only slight drawback is that most chargers you can buy are still geared towards NiCds, so charging times can be very long.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), February 17, 2000.

I agree NmH is superior to Ni-Cads. Along with the memory effect goes longevity. More recharges, longer charges, no memory.

-- Rod Rich (rodrich@mindspring.com), February 24, 2000.

It is best if you charge them with a proper NiMH charger.

Also watch out, there are NiMH AA cells of only 1100-1200 mAh capacity and NiCads with up to 1500 mAh capacity, so not all NiMH have more capacity than all NiCads.

Also NiMH tend to self discharge faster, so unless you are using your equipment on a regular basis you may end up wit dead batteries when you need them.

-- Terry Carraway (TCarraway@compuserve.com), February 29, 2000.