# Duracell Pre-Charged Rechargeables - Buyer Advisory



## Bones (Feb 25, 2008)

Some time ago, Wildchild and others established to my satisfaction that the original Duracell Pre-Charged Rechargeable was a re-badged Eneloop.

I was therefore somewhat surprised to see some pre-charged rechargeables bundled with Duracell chargers yesterday that appeared quite different from the re-badged Eneloop.

These were distinquished by a black material around the positive post, a label that didn't wrap around the shoulder of the negative end of the cell, and they were made in China rather than Japan.

By what could be termed an unusual coincidence, I later noted that images of the Eneloop and re-badged Duracell originally posted by Wildchild included another cell which closely resembled the new Duracell offering; it's the RayOvac Hybrid:









You will notice that it too has the black material around the positive post, a label that doesn't wrap around the shoulder of the negative end of the cell, and that it's made in China rather than Japan.

With the exception of the country of origin, the label markings were identical for both cells bundled with their chargers, so it doesn't appear that Duracell intends to differentiate the re-badged Hybrid from the re-badged Eneloop.

For me, this development has three negative implications:

Firstly, since the Hybrid is made in China, they are probably much less costly to produce than the Eneloop, so there is a strong likelihood that Duracell will now source the Hybrid exclusively.

Secondly, all those who purchase the Durcell Pre-Charged because we advised them they were re-badged Eneloops could now end up with re-badged RayOvac Hybrids instead.

Thirdly, according to this and other threads, the performance of the RayOvac Hybrid is somewhat inferior to that of the the Eneloop, especially in higher drain applications.

So, it now appears that at some point in the future the only way to ensure that we are getting Eneloops will be to either buy the real thing or the Sony CycleEnergy Blue.

Unless, of course, there are other re-badged Eneloops on the market that haven't yet been identified on this forum?

This image originally posted on Amazon by NLee the Engineer also depicts the difference between the two cells in question quite clearly:





Notice the somewhat squared-off positive post; thus far a signature trait of the Eneloop which isn't evidenced on the Hybrid, and the subtle but distinctly different protrusions on the negative ends.


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## Marduke (Feb 25, 2008)

It's been warned for several months that only the "Made in Japan" Duracell Pre-Charged were rebranded Eneloops, and the "Made in China" ones were from the same company that makes most of the other LSD cells, including ROV Hybrids.


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## Bones (Feb 25, 2008)

Marduke said:


> It's been warned for several months that only the "Made in Japan" Duracell Pre-Charged were rebranded Eneloops, and the "Made in China" ones were from the same company that makes most of the other LSD cells, including ROV Hybrids.



I can't seem to find the warning(s) you are referring to Marduke, but it was not my intention to steal anyone's thunder.

Please provide links so that whomever posted this information originally can be recognized.


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## Marduke (Feb 25, 2008)

Bones said:


> I can't seem to find the warning(s) you are referring to Marduke, but it was not my intention to steal anyone's thunder.
> 
> Please provide links so that whomever posted this information originally can be recognized.



Here ya go:
http://www.google.com/search?q=duracell+precharged+china&sitesearch=candlepowerforums.com

http://www.google.com/search?q=duracell+precharged+china&sitesearch=cpfmarketplace.com

There are more, that is just a quick pass.


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## Bones (Feb 25, 2008)

...


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## Mr Happy (Feb 25, 2008)

I was not aware of the Made in China variety of Duracell Pre-Charged, so this was news to me.

As it happens, I just recently bought 4 of the Made in Japan variety to test, and after toying about with them on the C9000 for a while their electrical characteristics do seem indistinguishable from Eneloops.

If anyone is interested, there are a lot of the Duracell Pre-Charged sitting on the racks at the moment with an instant $2 off sticker, so if you find them at a low price initially that would make them a good buy. (Especially considering the current scarcity of actual white Eneloops.)


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## Burgess (Feb 25, 2008)

Sanyo seems to keep their Eneloops

"outta' the public eye" as much as possible. :sigh:



Wish they'd make another production run, 


and MARKET it more aggressively, as they should.


:candle:
_


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## Bones (Feb 26, 2008)

Marduke said:


> It's been warned for several months that only the "Made in Japan" Duracell Pre-Charged were rebranded Eneloops, and the "Made in China" ones were from the same company that makes most of the other LSD cells, including ROV Hybrids.
> 
> 
> Bones said:
> ...



Okay,

Insofar as I have been able to determine, kudos are owed to the following in this regard:

Marduke, for first warning us of this issue via this excerpt from his post dated January 19, 2008:



Marduke said:


> Duracell is known for rebranding Sanyo cells, such as Duracell 1700mAh's, which are also made by Sanyo.
> 
> However, Made in China Duracell Precharged have been spotted, and it's unsure where they stand.



lumenal, for first determining that the cells made in China which Duracell was marketing as their Pre-charged were probably re-badged RayOvac Hybrids via this excerpt from his post in the Marketplace dated January 5, 2008:



> Originally Posted by *lumenal*
> 
> 
> Just checked Walgreens - the original LSD Duracells stock that showed up in stores a month or so ago are made in Japan.
> ...



Handlobraesing, for first alerting us that Duracell was bundling Pre-charged cells that were made in China with some of their chargers via this excerpt from his post dated December 11, 2007:



Handlobraesing said:


> Duracell now offers pre-charged rechargeable batteries that looks a lot like their regular copper top alkaline batteries.
> 
> The charger bundle pack has made in China batteries, but the separately sold AA and AAA batteries have the same mAh capacities, white top insulator like eneloop and they're Made in Japan.



Apologies to all.

I should also note there are still bundles out there containing the re-badged Eneloop, so anyone who prefers a Duracell charger still has some chance of finding one.

I know because I just purchased one yesterday on behalf a friend in the emerald isles.

If I may now wonder of topic for a moment, I was curious to see when the re-badged Eneloops included with the Duracell charger were made, but their coding doesn't follow the Eneloop convention.

Therefore, it would be appreciated if someone could interpret the code 7K-07-Ht.


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## Marduke (Feb 26, 2008)

Bones said:


> Okay,
> 
> 
> lumenal, for first determining that the cells made in China which Duracell was marketing as their Pre-charged were probably re-badged RayOvac Hybrids via this excerpt from his post in the Marketplace dated January 5, 2008:



The "Made in China" ones are not rebadged ROV Hybrids, as Rayovac doesn't make their own cells. There is currently only 3 manufacturers of LSD cells: Sanyo, Panisonic, and Yuasa-Delta. 

The "Made in China" ones are Yuasa-Delta, the "Made in Japan" ones are Sanyo. Panisonic's Infinium are also made in Japan (I think), but I don't believe they currently rebrand under any different names.


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## shadowjk (Feb 26, 2008)

Getting OT, but has anyone compared the various Made in China LSD batteries to see if they have (more or less) identical properties?


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## Marduke (Feb 26, 2008)

shadowjk said:


> Getting OT, but has anyone compared the various Made in China LSD batteries to see if they have (more or less) identical properties?



Coming from the same factory, they are essentially the identical cell.


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## WildChild (Feb 26, 2008)

Another thing to be noted, Duracell often bundle their cheap chargers with cheaper batteries than what they sell in packs. Their basic charger was, up to recently, bundled with 1800 mAh cells. Is it possible that they sell them with MiC cells and the packaged batteries will stay MiJ? I'm waiting for a coupon from Duracell to replace a Duracell Pre-Charged cell that leaked with the Energizer 15 minutes charger (I decided to sell it, it's too hard on batteries). I'll go to Wal-Mart as soon as I receive the coupon and I'll tell the current state here.


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## Burgess (Feb 26, 2008)

Getting tougher and tougher for us to find

Sanyo Eneloops (however they're labeled), isn't it !

:sigh:



Hey Sanyo, you've got a *good thing going* !


Don't let it slip outta' yer' hands ! 




Oh, and Happy Birthday to Marduke. 


_


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## Glasstream15 (Feb 26, 2008)

Costco in Jacksonville had a large stock of Eneloops last Saturday.

They had a kit with 8AA, 4AAA, charger and 2D, 2C adaptors (I wonder about the usefullness of those) and a charger for $26. They also had a pack with 6AA and 2AAA for $16.

I already had 1 of each kit so I got one more of the big one with charger. That gives me 20 AA and 10 AAA and 2 chargers along with 6AA Hybrids and 6 AAA Hybrids.

The AAA Hybrids seem to have a shorter runtime than the Eneloops in my Cobra Micro-Talk radios, but I really have not had time to be sure. 

I was really surprised to find cases of Eneloops at Costco, but they were in cases on the upper shelves as well as displayed. So, check your local Costco if you are looking for the pretty white batteries.


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## lumenal (Feb 26, 2008)

Marduke said:


> Coming from the same factory, they are essentially the identical cell.


 
Based on this quote, can we assume that the slurry used in each cell of a particular brand is also identical?


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## Marduke (Feb 26, 2008)

lumenal said:


> Based on this quote, can we assume that the slurry used in each cell of a particular brand is also identical?



There are only 3 "brands". The others just have different plastic wrappers on one of those 3 different cells.


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## lumenal (Feb 27, 2008)

Marduke said:


> There are only 3 "brands". The others just have different plastic wrappers on one of those 3 different cells.


 
I apologize for not being clear.

I would think there would be far more than 3 "brands" of LSD NiMH cells (i.e. Rayovac Hybrid, Sanyo Eneloop, Uniross Hybrio, Duracell Pre-charged, and Kodak Pre-charged to name five).

Just because several "brands" of LSD NiMH cells are manufactured at the same manufacturing plant, and look the same on the outside in physical appearance - are the internal components ( the ratios and values of the chemical composition inside the cell) the same, or rather, identical?

Or does the internal chemical recipe differ from "brand" to "brand"?


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## Bones (Feb 27, 2008)

Bones said:


> ...
> 
> If I may now wonder of topic for a moment, I was curious to see when the re-badged Eneloops included with the Duracell charger were made, but their coding doesn't follow the Eneloop convention.
> 
> Therefore, it would be appreciated if someone could interpret the code 7K-07-HT.



It appears that these cells were manufactured on 2007 November 07 (7=Year, K=Month, 07=Day, HT=?).

Quite recent compared to what we're seeing on the self-badged Eneloop cells.

Support for this interpretation of the date code is posted here.

On a less positive note, I couldn't locate a date code on the wrapper of the Pre-charged Duracells made in China.


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## WildChild (Feb 27, 2008)

Wal-Mart in Québec City, all Duracell Pre-Charged (AAA/AA) are still Made in Japan. Also all their chargers are bundled with Made in Japan cells except for the Power Gauge one that still comes with 1700 mAh cells.

Date code on the Pre-Charged I bought: 7I15- E 2 (written like this)


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## Gen1-4 (Feb 29, 2008)

Walmart in Sandy, Utah has made in Japan Duracell pre-charged in 4-packs. I didn't look at the charger combos. The problem is that they want $12.97 for 4 batteries, too high.


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## JamisonM (Feb 29, 2008)

Went around town looking for a 2D maglite and while out looked around at the battery selection. While I was at walmart I took a couple of pictures with my cellphone. I also went by walgreens and the selection was the same; both kinds. Never did find the maglite though.
http://www.geocities.com/jamisonlm3/Pictures/duracell.4pk.eneloops.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/jamisonlm3/Pictures/duracell.charger.hybrids.jpg


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## Mr Happy (Feb 29, 2008)

Gen1-4 said:


> Walmart in Sandy, Utah has made in Japan Duracell pre-charged in 4-packs. I didn't look at the charger combos. The problem is that they want $12.97 for 4 batteries, too high.


If you buy a $20 charger and then use and recharge those 500 times, it will cost you 6.6 cents per set of 4 each use. In what way is that too high? (Considering that Duracell alkalines cost about $2.00 per set of 4 at the normal retail price?)


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## WildChild (Feb 29, 2008)

[REMOVED]


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## Ziemas (Mar 1, 2008)

Gen1-4 said:


> Walmart in Sandy, Utah has made in Japan Duracell pre-charged in 4-packs. I didn't look at the charger combos. The problem is that they want $12.97 for 4 batteries, too high.



That sounds like a very good price to me! What do you think a fair price on those should be?


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## bill_n_opus (Mar 1, 2008)

A little late ... but for Canadians dell.ca had the 8xAA eneloop pack for 20 bucks and free shipping today, today only (well, friday). 

The free ship is very good. 

You can get 8xAA eneloops from ncix, price matched from directcanada.com (ncix's sister site) for under 19 bucks CAD. Great if you can do local pickup for those GVR CPF'ers.


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## axstv (Mar 1, 2008)

Watch for CVS battery sales. Few weeks ago I was able to buy four 4-pack AA Duracell Precharged for total cost of something like $4. That's 16 Made in Japan cells for 4 dollars. Yes it's possible. You need to read up on how to do the "CVS deals" tho. Check Slickdeals. I heard some people actually make money off of CVS deals but I was happy with what I got. I think there's some Duracell sale this week too.


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## Gen1-4 (Mar 2, 2008)

Mr Happy said:


> If you buy a $20 charger and then use and recharge those 500 times, it will cost you 6.6 cents per set of 4 each use. In what way is that too high? (Considering that Duracell alkalines cost about $2.00 per set of 4 at the normal retail price?)


 
ROV Hybrids at Walmart are $9.17 for 4, Eneloops at Costco or CircuitCity (and others) are ~$2/cell. Right now, I think the newness is driving the price up, even at Wally's.


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## Hondo (Mar 4, 2008)

I posted the details for this weeks CVS sale on Duracell pre-charged in the Good Deals forum, here:

http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=176095

In short, four 4-packs for $25 with not too much hassle.

EDIT: The one coupon link had to be removed from that post due to not being direct to CVS. If you need more details PM me.


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## Mr Happy (Mar 4, 2008)

I'll have to look into my local CVS this week. What I normally find is their prices for most items are vastly higher than competitive retailers, so that even when you get a deal it is still expensive. (I find the prices marked on some of their items like batteries and flashlights are over 2x the best local price in other stores.)


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## chewy78 (Mar 14, 2008)

Mr Happy said:


> I was not aware of the Made in China variety of Duracell Pre-Charged, so this was news to me.
> 
> As it happens, I just recently bought 4 of the Made in Japan variety to test, and after toying about with them on the C9000 for a while their electrical characteristics do seem indistinguishable from Eneloops.
> 
> If anyone is interested, there are a lot of the Duracell Pre-Charged sitting on the racks at the moment with an instant $2 off sticker, so if you find them at a low price initially that would make them a good buy. (Especially considering the current scarcity of actual white Eneloops.)



You mean they are identical


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## CdBoy (May 11, 2009)

chewy78 said:


> You mean they are identical



i believe Duraloop/duracell(made in japan)=eneloop=president's choice(also made in japan)=Sony Cycle Energy Blue(also Made In Japan)

now we know where to buy the cheapest batteries which have original eneloop technology based on Sony Cycle Energy Blue label.


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## jasonsmaglites (Sep 14, 2009)

just picked up one aa pack (all they had) and 3 aaa packs (all i needed) from the waldorf md target. 6.45 apiece. thanks for the heads up and the confirmation of their authenticity (especially marduke)

need a few more aa packs, anyone pick up extra. i could use 3aa packs


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## unrequited (Jan 22, 2010)

Just picked up two CEF23DX4N Duracell Mobile Charger's with the pack-in 2AA & 2AAA. They're all black tops. : (


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## paulr (Jan 23, 2010)

I see a mix of white and black top at the local walgreens. Didn't buy any. Real eneloops are cheaper and I already have lots.


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## kosPap (Sep 6, 2010)

deleted....sorry


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