Bottom line: it works well, but, like computers, now you can get better for less.

17 of 18 found the following review helpful:

Compact but slow, and not for overseas.  Jul 26, 2009
By David
I purchased this compact Energizer AA/AAA charger about 4 years ago to replace my unwieldy Energizer universal charger, which worked with AA, AAA, C, D, and 9V. (Turns out I only use AA and AAA batteries.) This charger is compact and has a sleek design, but the technology now lags far behind the competition. In fact, I am surprised to see that the exact same product I bought in 2005 is still available!

Charger pros:
-Compact
-Sleek design

Charger cons:
-Only charges in pairs
-Charges based on time, not battery charge (a.k.a. "dumb" charger)
-Does not work internationally (120V rather than 100-240V)
-Full charge takes 8.5 hours (must leave in wall overnight)
-Only one light to indicate full charge for all 4 batteries
-Light goes from green to off, not from red to green (confusing)

Battery pros:
-AA 2500mAh rating lasts a long time during a single use (e.g., a full day of photography)
-Included batteries have lasted 4 years without excessive memory loss

Battery cons:
-AA 2500mAh rating cannot be paired with AA 2450mAh, which is the rating for Energizer's standalone battery packs
-Batteries have high drain when not in use, unlike newer low self-discharge designs

If you are going to go with an inexpensive battery charger, consider a 100-240V Duracell, Kodak, or Sanyo charger with better charge time instead. You can purchase these chargers alone or in combination with low self-discharge rechargeable batteries, which are better than those included here. A value pack from Sanyo, for example, costs less than this Energizer pack and includes a "smart" (charge-based, not time-based) charger!

Ultimately, this item is obsolete. Buyer beware.

12 of 14 found the following review helpful:

Good in the beginning, but....  Aug 30, 2006
By Kara
I got the batteries for my canon powershot and they lasted quite a long time but after recharging them a few times, the battery life got shorter and shorter until now, when even though they've been sitting in the charger until the light indicates it's done, when I put them into my camera it still says "Change the batteries".

3 of 3 found the following review helpful:

Decent charger, 4 hrs charge time  Jan 16, 2011
By Octav
Somehow, all the reviews listed for this charger actually talk about the Energizer AA Ni-MH batteries. Something must be messed-up in Amazon's review system (at the time of this writing).

So let's talk about the charger itself:
+: Decent price, really compact, can handle AA and AAA batteries.
+: Runs cool, doesn't cook the batteries, but still gives them a good charge in a manageable amount of time. By the way, it takes 3-4 hours to charge batteries, not 8.
-: Although it has four status lights, one for each battery, this is (intentionally, if you want my opinion) misleading : the charger only has two charging channels, so it charges the batteries in pairs, at a current of 700 mA.
-: Battery charge detection logic seems to be acting-up sometimes, I've seen it declare an almost fully charged set of batteries as defective, and on a couple of occasions I've had it terminate the charge early (I could tell as it declared a known dead set of batteries charged in under an hour, when I was expecting at least a three hour charging cycle), unplugging it and plugging it back in continued the charging process and terminated it three hours later.

I have a 15 minute charger for emergencies, so having a 4-hour charger for normal situations is a good thing. I usually keep an eye on it so I can see if it terminates the charge early (seems to be happening within the first hour) so I can restart it. Other than that, it's a good price for a semi-fast charger and 4 AAs.

2 of 2 found the following review helpful:

One Year Later and 50% Failure  Oct 29, 2009
By A. C. Smith
These were the first rechargeable batteries I bought. They worked fine for a while, but recently I had a second battery fail so I am now down to two working batteries. I'm using a higher end La Crosse charger, so I can't even blame the failures on the cheap recharger provided w/ the set. I've since gone w/ the Sanyo Eneloops and am having much better luck w/ those.

When buying rechargeable batteries the idea is that you can reuse them over an extended period and these just don't seem to perform. I'd recommend you spend a bit more and get a better quality product.

See all 24 customer reviews on Amazon.com