Lithium vs Alkaline AA Battery Test

We have used bulk Alkaline batteries for many years now. They are fairly inexpensive and seem to work well in my digital cameras which are the largest user of AA batteries used by us daily. We take photographs for a living so we use our digital cameras every day and go through about a battery a day each month.  Alkaline AA batteries cost us about $10 for 24 (More or less depending on Sales, where we buy, etc) this is about 42 cents each or about $15 a month.

This year while attending SHOT Show in Orlando, Florida (A trade show for the hunting & shooting industry) one of our editors ran out of batteries. He happened to be near the Energizer booth, so he stopped by to see if he could buy a pack of batteries for his digital camera. They would not sell him a pack, but they did give him a pack of six batteries. He put two in his camera and offered our other editors the other four.

I have a system. I have a battery holder and I have developed a plan to use alkaline batteries to get the most life from them. I put a fresh set of alkaline AA batteries into my digital camera, then I take pics until they can no longer power the camera. At that point they are usually very warm, so I replace them and put the warm 'dead' batteries into the battery holder upside down. later these will have cooled and will run the camera again for a little while at least. I can sometime let them cool and get a third use from them, but not always. Once they will no longer power a digital camera I put them in a storage area and use them for remote controls, wireless mice, LED lights, etc.. any low power device that doesn't require the 'crisp' new voltage (like digital cameras need)

This system lets me get a lot of use out of the alkaline battery, so I was hesitant to even try the new lithium batteries because of their much higher price. But since Energizer gave us these to test I was more than happy to give them a try. This was day two of a four day trade show, each of our editors take hundreds of photographs each day. We each would typically use between 4 and 8 batteries each day. I was surprised to say the least to find I didn't need to change batteries again for the remain two and a half days, the trip home (where I also took photos) and a few days after we were home (again taking pictures) until I needed to replace the lithiums. These batteries seemed magic, they worked for five of the most camera intensive days I spend each year.

So I decided to give them a real test. I went to the store and bought the bulk AA batteries I typically use and a pack of eight AA Energizer Ultimate Lithium. The alkaline cost $10 for 24 this is about 42 cents each, the lithium cost $19 for 8 which is $2.37 each quite a difference. The test will be how long the lithium last compared to the bulk alkaline. This will be a long term test, at least a month, or two. Stay tuned to see how this battery test turns out.

The alkaline cost $10 for 24 this is about 42 cents each, the lithium cost $19 for 8 which is $2.37 each quite a difference. The litium batteries weigh just over a half ounce each while the alkaline weigh just over 3/4 ounce each. So when carrying many batteries the lithium would be lighter

The litium batteries weigh just over a half ounce each while the alkaline weigh just over 3/4 ounce each. So when carrying many batteries the lithium would be lighter