Best USB Gadgets

I'm betting the trickle charge you get would make the recharge time of a usb AA impractical. You would be better off buying rechargeable batteries and an actual wall charger.

Nibs, I normally get my rechargeable batteries from Radio Shack. The AA batteries that I use costs $11.99/pair (Ni-MH for digital devices), but if I buy a set with a charger, I get an extra pair as a bonus. That's 4 batteries & a charger for $17.99.

I've had them for nearly 3 years, and although they don't hold a charge as long as they once did, I'm still able to take 40-50 pictures, view & delete the bad ones before swapping batteries.

I'll probably stick with them, as their store is less than a mile from me.

EDIT: Here's what I use, I placed 2 batteries in the charger for viewing:

http://s1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa371/catilley1092/

I'm not used to this PhotoBucket app yet. I tried to directly upload it through the forum options, but it must have been too large.



Cat

You may want to consider getting a special charger for reconditioning batteries. I have one and it will run the batteries through some special cycles and makes them as good as new.

When I bought it about 3 years ago it was about $25.00. The chargers that do a "fast" charge can cause the NiMh batteries to not last as long as they should, this one does a slow charge and I have recharged several sets of batteries over 300 or so times.

That charger does do it fast, it's never took the 2 hours it states on the charger to do the job. But sometimes, the batteries gets quite hot while charging, in fact, too hot to hold afterwards.

I'll probably buy some more soon, because my keyboard batteries will go at some point. I doubt that they'll last the 3 years that's claimed. Mabye with light use, but I use mine a lot, and don't even turn it off afterwards. These type of batteries will probably do well with keyboards, too.

I like Radio Shack's selection of batteries, they have one for most anything, even older home/cell phones where the batteries are unavailable elsewhere. Usually after 2-3 years, the OEM's of phones don't carry them any longer. Today, most users are ready to upgrade to a new one by that time.

But me, if what I have works for my purposes, I keep it as long as possible. This is the cell phone that I still use.

http://www.mobiledia.com/phones/motorola/v276.html

None of that fancy bluetooth and very limited internet features, but I'm not paying for a high priced cell plan for that tiny computer that I can hardly see. As long as I can find batteries for it, I'll use it.

BTW, I did buy a 'overstock' OEM battery for it a couple of years ago, but the Radio Shack ones are better. They're fresher, and holds a charge longer. That OEM battery didn't last a year.

I'll ask about one of those slower chargers.

Cat