SB-800 owners

[plastii]

Hi.

Guys, what kind of batteries do you use with your sb-800? Should I go with more expensive one? (NiHM)

Thanks
Marek.

 

[Big Mike]

Definitely go with Rechargeables...NiMH are good. It will cost a bit of money upfront to buy two or three sets of them...but they work much better than alkaline batteries and alkaline batteries aren't good for the environment anyway.

Check out this site for batteries and chargers etc. http://www.thomas-distributing.com/index.htm

 

[plastii]

Cool - thanks

 

[Patrice]

I agree with Big Mike, rechargeables are less expensive than alkalines in the long run. In some situations I need really fast recycles and then I power the SB800's with external lead acid gel cells.

 

[Garbz]

Check in the manual. Every type of AA battery is listed in there along with the shot life and cycle times for both 4 and 5 battery configurations.

Mind you a set of NiMH with long shelf life would be good. I do believe a few exist.

 

[JerryPH]

Don't bother spending 9.95 for a pack of 4 rechargeables, they won't last you half as much as the batteries that are a little more expensive.

I bought some decent performance NiMH batteries that came with their own charger. The kit cost $39US and I bought an extra set of batteries that matched the ones that came in the set for another $23US. I get about 190 flashes on my SB-800 with these vs about 75 from the cheap rechargeable ones.

Here, like in most things, you get what you pay for.

 

[ilockert]

http://cgi.ebay.com/4x-Energizer-Re...ryZ40975QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Thats what i use.

 

[kundalini]

I recently upgraded my Ni-MH rechargables to 2900mAh here. B&H now says it's discontinued, guess I got lucky. The point is, if you buy NiMH and you should, get the highest mAh rating you can find. That 10 pack cost me $25USD and I got a slow charger for about $11USD. Don't get a quick charger, it will eat into the battery's life.

 

[plastii]

Thanks for the info guys. Now I can go shopping

 

[Big Mike]

I recently purchased one of these chargers for my batteries. It allows for several different changing rates...so I can charge them slowly to give them a long life...or I can charge them fast when I need. It also allows me to fully discharge them before recharging...which keeps them at a high capacity. I've heard from several people that it's not uncommon for these batteries to have a lower capacity than what they are rated at...even new ones. This charger can test batteries and then refresh them with repeated charge & drain cycles.

 

[plastii]

I recently purchased one of these chargers for my batteries. It allows for several different changing rates...so I can charge them slowly to give them a long life...or I can charge them fast when I need. It also allows me to fully discharge them before recharging...which keeps them at a high capacity. I've heard from several people that it's not uncommon for these batteries to have a lower capacity than what they are rated at...even new ones. This charger can test batteries and then refresh them with repeated charge & drain cycles.

That's pretty cool, but I also like this one:
http://www.thomas-distributing.com/maha-mh-c800s-battery-charger.htm

 

[XJBaylor]

I highly recommend the Eneloop (or similar) batteries. They hold a charge for a long time, and seem to behave identically to the 2900 mAh batteries I have.

Keith