On Wed, 29 Aug 2007 17:46:52 -0400,
wrote:
>> " Earth's Independent Source for Unbiased Digital Camera Battery
>> Information "
> Or so you claim. (if you blow your own horn,
> it's usually as a distraction)
>
>
> What does ASAAR have to say about that?
I guess you already know.

SMS's website has some good
information, some bad, and being SMS's vanity project, is about the
most biased source of information that's possible to find, short of
political advocacy websites.
As far as the Eneloop battery/charger kit goes, Costco has it for
a decent price, essentially charging regular prices for the
batteries and including the charger, C and D cell adapters at no
extra cost. But it's less of a bargain if you don't need or can't
find a use for all 12 Eneloop batteries.
The main reason for the post was probably that it gave him another
excuse to shill his website. Little information was given beyond
what was already included in his message. FWIW, this Eneloop
package is an exclusive Costco deal and isn't available over the
internet. You can only buy it from a Costco warehouse. As some
have it in stock and others don't, it would be wise to check
availability in advance. Costco's item number for this Eneloop kit
is 183245.
A couple of months ago (approx.), SMS was comparing the costs of
getting a charger with a couple of batteries, and as usual distorted
the prices completely in favor of Li-Ion over NiMH, claiming that
you'd pay about $50 for a NiMH solution, about double what he was
quoting for Li-Ion prices. This despite the fact that many stores
sell chargers with NiMH batteries for $20 to $35, and one person
even posted that he found a Duracell charger with batteries for
(IIRC) on sale for $15 at Walgreens. So now SMS, to drum up website
traffic, posts info. about this Eneloop kit that includes 12 Eneloop
batteries for $26.49. Let's see if he remembers this the next time
he quotes battery/charger prices.
Also a bit odd was that in trying to scare people away from
reasonably priced chargers, he usually advises that very expensive
NiMH "conditioning" smart chargers having individual circuits and
displays for all cells should be used. No hint of this warning was
given about the Eneloop charger, which has only one indicator LED
for all four charge bays and no conditioning (discharge) circuit.
No matter. The charger will do its job well, if somewhat slowly.
BTW, his website still touts Li-Ion batteries as having much lower
self discharge than standard NiMH batteries (true), but fails to
note any distinction between Li-Ion and Eneloop type batteries, even
though Li-Ion batteries need to be returned to their chargers *much*
sooner than Eneloops, when both types aren't used for long periods.