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Upfront, if my typing or spelling is messed up or if anything I typed is not coherent, I'll fix it later as I can't proof-read this monster again right now -- my eyes are crossing! It was tough enough researching it, let alone trying to explain it coherently!

I've done what I consider to be a pretty thorough review of the thread-referenced items, so I am sharing everything I learned with my flameless-candle-loving buddies. I read analyses & reviews all over the web, paying special attention to the top photography websites as the professional photographers use batteries intensively, maintain a large on-hand supply & have tried various types & brands. If you are interested in doing your own research, I suggest dpreview.com as it's one of the top photo review websites & do a search on the forums for both rechargeable batteries & battery chargers. Many detailed product reviews with in-depth battery analysis are on amazon.com &, naturally, by googling. Just expect to be driven crazy & go crosseyed! I concluded with making 6 phone calls to thomasdistributing.com (a 35-year-old family run business in IL & a favorite seller for those in the know, & where I bought my current charger from) for further info. & clarification. Personally, I will only buy from amazon.com or thomasdistributing.com as they have the best prices & are reliable businesses. If the price & shipping are comparable, I will go with thomasdistributing because they are highly recommended by electronic users due to their top-rated customer support. They have free-ship over $75 & often run sales & include extra freebies. It's easy to spend $75 on rechargeables.

I'm by no means an expert, just looking for enough info. to make an educated buying decision. This is what I suggest to use as a starting point. *If anyone finds any errors in the info. provided within, please do post -- as I said, I'm no battery expert.

As far as battery chargers, the only ones that I considered are:

(*Be sure to check out the warranty on the chargers as the best chargers will have a 3-year warranty. Be sure to save your receipts. Also, note, that all battery charges are potentially subject to fires so read all the directions thoroughly & monitor the unit when in use.)

Large, Universal Chargers for AAA, AA, C & Ds:

(*Note, the following Ansmann chargers also charge 9-volt batteries, which the PowerEx does not.)

- Ansmann Energy 16 Battery Charger Hi-Tech Deluxe

- Ansmann Energy 8 PLUS Battery Charger

- Ansmann Energy 8 Battery Charger: (amazon.com only) *Didn't read up on this one, but I figured I'd include it for consideration as it has a good review rating.

- PowerEx's Maha MH-C808M *This is the one I'm gonna get.because of it's ability to charge either 1 - 8 different size batteries at a time (independent charging not having to be charged in pairs), PowerEx's reputation, Amazon's consumer reviews & it's less costly as it doesn't charge 9-volts, which is a feature I don't need.

The gal at thomasdistributing.com (henceforth to be called TD) said that both of these brands sell equally well.

For AAA & AAs only:

- PowerEx's Maha MH-C801D

Smaller capacity units for AAA & AAs only:

- PowerEx's Maha MH-C9000

- La Crosse Technology BC-9009 AlphaPower Battery Charger

- La Crosse Technology BC-700 Alpha Power Battery Charger

(*Both La Crosse units only carried currently at Amazon.)

PowerEx's Maha MH-C204W -- I have this charger. 2 months after I got this charger they came out with their deluxe MH-C9000 charger with all the bells & whistles. If I had to buy a smaller unit again, I'd either go with the PowerEx Maha MH-C9000 or La Crosse Technology BC-9009 AlphaPower Battery Charger.

*If you want a smaller unit & are not technically savvy or don't want to be bothered with all the bells & whistles & have no need to discharge high-capacity NIMH's as you are going to use only slow-discharge batteries, then, I recommend the one I have because it allows you to not only charge, but to recondition the batteries as well, which will extend their life. Personally, for a few dollars more, it can't hurt to go with the more sophisticated charger as you never know if you'll need/want more advanced features & it's only a one time investment.

Smaller capacity unit for AAA, AA, C, D & 9-Volt:

-AccuPower Accumanager 20 Multi-Battery Charger

Inaddition to these more sophisticated chargers, I do recommend having a basic, cheap charger as I've read that these sophisticated ones sometimes will not pick up extremely low battery voltage so they may think the batteries are dead so they won't charge them. This is where having a real cheapie one may comes in handy. Just pop the batteries into the cheapie until they get a little charge on them & then swing them over to the better unit.

Batteries:

The higher the mAh (milliamps), the more energy stored in the battery & the longer it run/last between charges. However, it's really a personal choice as you may feel it's more cost-efficient to buy a lower mAh-rated battery & just charge it more often. Some batteries actually come charged with a higher mAh capacity than rated on the pkg. Note, that with use, the mAh for all batteries will lessen/degrade over time, i.e., they will not charge to their originally mfr'd. mAh level &, therefore, will not last as long between charges.

If you are using high-drain devices regularly, like a camera, flash, CD player, toys, etc., then do go with regular, high-capacity NIMH batteries, however, if you only use high-drain devices periodically, then go with the low-discharge ones. If you are using items that are slow-draining, like clocks, remote controls, flashlights, etc., then go with the low-discharge batteries. The low-discharge are nice because 1) they don't have any memory effect when charging so you can charge them at any time to full capacity without having to fully discharging them 1st in order to get past the memory effect & 2) months later you go back to use the device & the battery won't be dead. With a high-drain NIMH battery, it's probable that when you go back to use the device after an extended latency period, the batteries will either be dead & have to be recharged or have lost sufficient energy that they won't have much juice left in them.

If, however, you are going to a family event & want to take a ton of pics, the high-capacity NIMH is going to give you longer battery life. Photographers generally use high-capacity NIMH batteries for their cameras & flashes because they will last longer when used intensively, but they use them regularly & are regularly recharging them. Many photographers keep their high-discharge batteries in the refrigerator so as to reduce the loss of energy. TD told me that they thought this was unnecessary, but I'm guessing to a photographer, the preservation of even a small amount of battery life is important.

The deal with the high-capacity NIMH batteries is that it is recommended that in order to get the most longevity out of these:

1) when you get them, before you even use them, you should put them through 3 discharge/charge cycles on your charger. You will need a more sophisticated charger that has a discharge cycle.

2) they should be charged every month even if you haven't used them..

3) periodically let them completely drain out before recharging or put them through another discharge/charge cycle on your charger. Sorry, forgot to ask how often to do this & after 6 calls to TD, I'm sure not calling back right now!

One CSR at TD told me that a girlfriend has had her high-drain batteries for 7 years. On the photography websites many have been using the same batteries intensively for 3 or 4 years now. The Eneloop low discharge batteries say that they hold their charge for 3 years, however, since they've only been out since 2008, their overall longevity has yet to be fully tested. Another TD CSR told me that a customer said that they've been using the same Eneloops without any problems since 2008.

Low discharge batteries don't need to be completely discharged periodically, however, both they & high-capacity batteries should be put through a reconditioning cycle periodically. TD recommends reconditioning the batteries every 10 charge cycles. Be sure whatever charger you buy it reconditions or has a reconditioning cycle.

Just want to mention, I've read in some Amazon reviews that Tenergy, a discount brand, have cheaper wrapping on them so, unlike, the more expensive batteries, the shell is subject to warping & peeling.

*Be sure to check on the warranty. Don't know yet if each company has a standard warranty period or warranties differ between rechargeable types & mAh, e.g., the PowerEx Imedion 2400mAh AA has a 1 year warranty, while the Ansmann 2500mAh AA has a 2-year warranty. Naturally, the warranty is going to effect my buying decision. Be sure to save your receipts.

AAA & AA Batteries

For the low-discharge batteries in AAA & AA, Sanyo's Eneloop & PowerEx's new Maha Imedion batteries are rated the best. Note that Sanyo just came out with improved Eneloops & they are blue in color, the older ones are white. They are the same 2000 mAh, however the difference is that the older, white ones can be charged 1000x while the newer, blue ones 1500x.

For AAs, you can also try Ansmann & AccuPower which are also top-rated brand names in the industry. TD does have the Accupower 2600 AA batteries, but it's not coming up when you select the AA slow-discharge rechargeables so you'll have to do a search for it.

The PowerEx Imedion has 400 more mAh than the Eneloops. Don't know what difference this makes in slow-discharge batteries (forgot to clarify/not calling back), but was told that for high-capacity NIMH batteries, a difference of 400 mAh does make a noticeable difference in battery life when used in high-drain devices.

I just bought this Eneloop pkg. from Amazon. For those that have a Costco membership, you can pick up this package which contains the new blue batteries for $25.

http://www.amazon.com/Sanyo-Eneloop-Charger-Rechargeable-Batteries/dp/B003VLAEPQ/ref=sr_1_5?s=electr...

It's a starter kit which includes a plug-in wall charger that would be good to use as a backup in case your deluxe charger won't recognize an almost completely drained battery as I mentioned earlier.

Next, I'm going to order these AA batteries from TD along with my battery charger selection:

- PowerEx's Maha Imedion 2400 mAh, Accupower 2600 mAh & Ansmann 2500 mAh & maybe a couple of others after I check out the warranties & other details as I want to do a comparison on the battery life of these along with the Eneloops I just purchased. I have 6 CI jar candles so I figured I'd use different brands in each jar. As these are slow discharge batteries, I will use them right out of the pkg., however, when they need to be recharged, I'm gonna charge them all up on the same day & re-insert them into the jars. This way, I'll be able to compare which ones give me longer battery life initially & overtime as they lose their holding/retaining capacity.

C & D Batteries:

The Eneloop's don't come in C or D, although you can buy an Eneloop pkg. on Amazon that will include C & D adapters in which you can insert your AAs. There are 3 configurations of these on Amazon; 2 with the 1st generation white batteries & 1 with the 2nd generation, blue ones. Just do a search.

I'm gonna buy a couple of pkgs of PowerEx's Maha Imedion & AccuPower's Revolution Low Discharge Batteries in both these sizes for comparison.

Eventually, I will try a pair of Accupower & PowerEx high-capacity batteries in AA, C & D just to compare them 1st-hand to the low-discharged one. They won't go to waste as I can use them for high-drain devices, but will just have to mark my calendar to charge monthly. *For high-drain batteries, PowerEx is top rated.

9-Volt Batteries:

I only use 9-volts for a clock backup if the electric goes out, 2 smoke detectors & 2 scales. An alkaline battery lasts 2 years in my clock so $1 @ the dollar store is probably one of the best bangs I'll ever get for a buck! TD doesn't recommend using rechargeables in smoke detectors. I change the batteries 2x yearly as recommended & I'm using great dollar store batteries, I'm gonna continue to use these for $6 a year. After I take them out of the smoke detectors, I finish using them up in my scales. So, $6.50 a year doesn't break the bank. I do see, however, that there are 9-volt lithium batteries that last 5x longer than standard alkalines & that there are lithium rechargeables, too. Will have to read up on this at a later time.

TD advises me that the actual capacity of 9-volts varies between 8.4 - 9.6 volts, &, in actuality, some of the 8.4 can run as high as 9.2 volts & the 9.6 volts (which are larger in size than the standard 9-volt) can really be as high as 11 volts -- don't know if the larger-sized 9-volt would even fit in devices using the smaller-sized ones (not calling back!). Be aware, that if you have precision equipment that requires that you do not exceed a certain voltage for risk of damaging the equipment, be sure to check your owner's manual before using any rechargeable 9-volt. TD advises that a 9.2 volt rechargeable in any 9-volt device should not present a problem, but a higher voltage might, so do be sure to check.

If you don't buy a charger with 9-volt charging capabilities, you can always buy a separate 9-volt charger after the fact -- TD sells them. I've noticed that many items that once took 9-volts are now using AAs -- even some smoke detectors.

_____________________

I'm going to purchase the rechargeables slowly over time, not only to evaluate the several brands & types, but just as importantly as to not make a huge outlay of money all at one time. I currently have 88 candles (nuts, I know!) & with the charger I'm guessing the total outlay will be about about $800 (Cs & Ds rechargeables are really expensive!). If I get a minimum of 4 years of longevity out of these rechargeables, I'll be ahead of the game money-wise. Right now, I'm guessing that the alkalines at the dollar store are costing me a little over $200 a year. It'll be great not having to pointedly go out & buy alkalines, lug them home (they are heavy), store them &, then, have to travel out of my way to drop them off for recycling. Naturally, it's better for the environment. A super + is that I will be able to recharge them as soon as my candles start to dim & not feel that I have to keep using dim batteries so I don't have to spend more money.

I'll end by saying that if anyone wants to call TD CS & find out 1) how much of an actual difference 400 mAh makes in low-discharge batteries, 2) how often to put NIMH through a regular discharge/charge cycle to keep them healthy & 3) do the larger 9-volts fit in standard 9-volt devices, please feel free to do so & post the answers. Naturally, after 6 calls to the same 3 CSRs, I've not only made a name for myself (& I'm sure it's not good!), but I am sure I've out-worn my welcome. Don't want to call again until I actually place my order next week.