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Posts Tagged ‘AA batteries’
We have already tested more than 10 various 1.5V AA-size primary batteries (single use non-rechargeable models) from various brands including some of the most popular such as Duracell, Energizer, Panasonic, Toshiba, Varta and others so we have decided to do a little ranking by listing the top performing models in our tests in the various load scenarios we are using for testing. As a reminder we are using constant current load tests with 0.1A, 0.2A, 0.5A and 1.0A for the 1.5V AA-size Alkaline batteries, so we are going to rate the best batteries in four different charts as we’ve seen that one battery that performs very well under low load may not be the best with higher load and vice versa…
Here is our current top 10 of 1.5V AA Alkaline batteries at 0.1A constant current load:
2748 mAh – 1.5V AA Varta Max Tech Alkaline Battery
2700 mAh – 1.5V AA Varta High Energy Alkaline Battery
2557 mAh – 1.5V AA Duracell Procell Alkaline Battery
2517 mAh – 1.5V AA Panasonic Pro Power Alkaline Battery
2467 mAh – 1.5V AA Toshiba Alkaline Battery
2377 mAh – 1.5V AA Maxell Super Alkaline Battery
2348 mAh – 1.5V AA Duracell Alkaline Battery
2326 mAh – 1.5V AA Energizer Industrial Alkaline
2237 mAh – 1.5V AA Maxell Alkaline Battery
2231 mAh – 1.5V AA GP Super Alkaline Battery
Here is our current top 10 of 1.5V AA Alkaline batteries at 0.2A constant current load:
2120 mAh – 1.5V AA Duracell Procell Alkaline Battery
2114 mAh – 1.5V AA Varta Max Tech Alkaline Battery
1959 mAh – 1.5V AA Maxell Super Alkaline Battery
1941 mAh – 1.5V AA Varta High Energy Alkaline Battery
1903 mAh – 1.5V AA Toshiba Alkaline Battery
1873 mAh – 1.5V AA Q-Lite Alkaline Battery
1869 mAh – 1.5V AA Energizer Industrial Alkaline
1859 mAh – 1.5V AA Panasonic Pro Power Alkaline Battery
1839 mAh – 1.5V AA GP Super Alkaline Battery
1808 mAh – 1.5V AA Duracell Alkaline Battery
Here is our current top 10 of 1.5V AA Alkaline batteries at 0.5A constant current load:
1287 mAh – 1.5V AA Duracell Procell Alkaline Battery
1216 mAh – 1.5V AA Varta High Energy Alkaline Battery
1178 mAh – 1.5V AA Panasonic Pro Power Alkaline Battery
1129 mAh – 1.5V AA Energizer Industrial Alkaline
1078 mAh – 1.5V AA Varta Max Tech Alkaline Battery
1070 mAh – 1.5V AA Maxell Super Alkaline Battery
1050 mAh – 1.5V AA Duracell Alkaline Battery
1062 mAh – 1.5V AA Q-Lite Alkaline Battery
1025 mAh – 1.5V AA Toshiba Alkaline Battery
1010 mAh – 1.5V AA Maxell Alkaline Battery
Here is our current top 10 of 1.5V AA Alkaline batteries at 1.0A constant current load:
619 mAh – 1.5V AA Duracell Procell Alkaline Battery
572 mAh – 1.5V AA Panasonic Pro Power Alkaline Battery
566 mAh – 1.5V AA Maxell Super Alkaline Battery
545 mAh – 1.5V AA Varta Max Tech Alkaline Battery
537 mAh – 1.5V AA Varta High Energy Alkaline Battery
506 mAh – 1.5V AA Duracell Alkaline Battery
500 mAh – 1.5V AA Energizer Industrial Alkaline
483 mAh – 1.5V AA Maxell Alkaline Battery
482 mAh – 1.5V AA Q-Lite Alkaline Battery
458 mAh – 1.5V AA GP Super Alkaline Battery
We are going to be updating these charts as we test new batteries in order to get a clear view of the situation with battery capacity and what batteries will work best for your specific needs. Have in mind that it is not always up to the highest capacity and you should always take into consideration the price of the batteries as well. For example if the second battery in the chart offers just 1% less capacity, but you can buy it for 30% less then you might sacrifice the minimal gain in extra capacity because of the much better price, so do have that in mind as well.
Maxell makes two kinds of Alkaline batteries and since we’ve tested both the standard 1.5V AA Alkaline as well as the Super Alkaline version of these batteries we’ve decided to make a direct comparison between them in order to see what is the difference. These two types of Alkaline batteries are performing very well and are providing a capacity that is a bit below the one provided by the Duracell Copper Top batteries that we are using as a reference for the standard Alkaline batteries and the Super Alkaline batteries are a bit better than the Duracells.
You can see that at low current drain the difference is about 6% at 0.1A constant current load in favor of the Super Alkaline version, at 0.2A their advantage is about 8%, at 0.5A we are back at about 6% and at 1A it is the highest at about 17%. So the Maxell Super Alkaline batteries are offering slightly better capacity than the standard Alkaline batteries that the company makes and while the difference at lower constant current loads is below 10%, at 1A load the Super Alkaline batteries manage to perform much better.
Maxell – Alkaline – Super Alkaline
0.1A load – 2237 mAh – 2377 mAh
0.2A load – 1807 mAh – 1959 mAh
0.5A load – 1010 mAh – 1070 mAh
1.0A load – 483 mAh – 566 mAh
In the end it is probably up to the price difference between the two types of batteries that can help you decide which one to buy, the standard Alkaline batteries are a bit cheaper than the Super Alkaline version from Maxell as to be expected. And while in general the Maxell Super Alkaline batteries are providing a bit more capacity at all load levels they are doing their best at the 1A constant current load test, meaning that they are definitely the better choice for applications with higher power requirements, though for others with lower power requirements you might still be Ok with the standard Alkaline batteries from Maxell.
We have already tested the 1.5V AA Varta High Energy Alkaline batteries and as well as the 1.5V AA Varta Max Tech Alkaline batteries and they both did perform really well giving the hughest capacities among all other AA-sized Alkaline batteries we’ve tested. And since the 1.5V AA Varta High Energy batteries had the +23% more power than Varta Simply Alkaline claim and the 1.5V AA Varta Max Tech batteries are labeled as +130% in digital cameras versus Varta Simply Alkaline we are expecting these to perform better, even though such marketing labels are hard to interpret in terms of real performance unless we compare both types with the results of our testing.
You can see that at low current drain the difference is just about 2% at 0.1A in favor of the Max Tech model, however as the current draw increases to 0.2A the gap also increase and the Max Tech batteries are able to deliver more – about 9%. Though at the at 0.5A load the things reverse in favor of the High Energy batteries where they take the lead with close to 12% and by and going to 1A the difference in useable capacity you get is just about a percent. So the 1.5V AA Varta High Energy Alkaline batteries are actually not that different as compared to the 1.5V AA Varta Max Tech Alkaline batteries as they provide you with a very similar performance in lower load applications and in very higher load ones, as for the middle ones that we test with they just swap the leading places once for each.
Varta – High Energy – Max Tech
0.1A load – 2700 mAh – 2748 mAh
0.2A load – 1941 mAh – 2114 mAh
0.5A load – 1216 mAh – 1087 mAh
1.0A load – 537 mAh – 545 mAh
In the end it is probably up to the price difference between the two types of batteries that can help you decide which one to buy, the Max Tech batteries from Varta are slightly more expensive with something like 10% more as compared to the High Energy version (though that difference in price may vary) and as you can see from our tests this difference in price may not be justifiable depending on your specific needs and requirements. Another thing to note is the fact that the Varta Max Tech batteries are also only available in some of the popular sizes and the Varta High Energy product range is much wider in terms of battery sizes and voltages available.