Excellent life in high drain devices, much handier than changing batteries regularly
Disadvantages:
Low drain devices won't use them much
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
===Intro=== Ahhh, batteries, wonderful little things! We take them so much for granted really, so in order to somewhat rectify this sad state of affairs, I'm writing this review in an attempt to give them they attention they deserve, and also because it is becoming clear that I will write a review on anything! :) So what better batteries to look at than the Energizer e2 Lithium Batteries? (Energizer e2 Photo L91 ).
The battery industry is more than quite competitive; you only have to look at the number of Energizer Bunny adverts to see that. So it comes as no surprise that battery companies continue to improve and make advances in technology and therefore constantly release new types of "better than ever before" batteries. The latest of these technologies are lithium batteries, which have been designed to really perform in high drain appliances, such as digital cameras.
Batteries Expertly Tested
So sure of their new technology, Energizer commissioned a test in 2006 which proved that lithium batteries would last up to seven times longer than alkaline batteries when used in digital cameras. These Energizer e2 lithium batteries were the ones that were put to the test against rival alkaline batteries from Duracell (named Coppertop) and Panasonic (named Oxyride). Just for the purpose of showing how good these batteries are, I will include their findings in this review:
No. of Photos Taken per battery life:
Energizer e2 Battery: up to 630 Duracell Coppertop: 80 Panasonic Oxyride: 200
The results speak for themselves really, but you are probably now thinking, "well I hope so, those lithium batteries are expensive", and you are right, but the study worked out that it cost $0.032 per picture for the Energizer e2 battery, compared to $0.087 per photo for the Duracell and $0.060 per photo for the Panasonic ones. I don't need to tell you that those $0.01s add up! :) Energizer said that the test was done in such a way that it would reflect the actions of an average user, not professionals, so it means that this is perhaps quite applicable to us! Although in reality, in normal room temperature, the e2 batteries would be closer to lasting 3-4 times longer. This test was done at around zero degrees C, hardly a normal condition for many users, but it does however highlight another advantage of these batteries: they work much better in extreme temperatures (-40°F to 140°F) than standard batteries.
My Test
But enough about what others found out with these batteries, how do I rate them? Well I haven't been able to test them quite as well as the official test above, being a normal person and all, but I can tell you that they lasted much, much longer with my Fujifilm Finepix A610. Prior to buying these batteries I would usually pick up a store's own brand batteries for like $1 (4 pack) since I thought it was cheap enough. These batteries never lasted long at all, and when I was going on holidays when I would obviously use the camera a lot I had to bring a small truckload of these batteries with me, and it was always a pain having to try to squeeze the last few photos out of the batteries before having to change them, each press of the shutter button was accompanied by cries of "please, please, please, please, damn!".
It was quite possible that I would use 2 batteries every 2 days when taking an average amount of holiday snaps per day. Which for me is probably around 40 or 50 photos. The week I got the Energizer e2 batteries admittedly I wasn't on holiday so was just taking photographs on nights out and stuff. But they had lasted for over a month or more, which is probably around 500 photos or so. This would include viewing maybe a slideshow or 2 with the camera on the television, which as you can imagine eats up battery life fairly quickly!
To be honest though those own brand batteries I were using weren't really a fair test as they were quite bad even for normal batteries, but still it illustrates a point that at 8x times the cost, I get batteries that last well over 10x longer.
Its worth saying that these batteries only show their strengths in high drain devices, so if you want batteries for something simple like a smoke alarm, alkaline batteries will perform at pretty much the same level as regular alkaline batteries will hold their charge for a long time, but will get used up quickly with heavy use, so it makes sense only to choose these e2 lithium batteries for something that is really going to use them. This is why the lithium batteries excel with digital cameras, as zooming, taking photos and using the flash really gives them a workout. Another good use would definitely be in a torch, as they will last much longer than alkaline batteries here.
Another advantage for these batteries over standard batteries is that they are physically lighter and will make the device that you are using them in to be lighter as a result. Hardly life changing but it is surprisingly noticeable, so if you have a heavyish camera, they will help to make it more lightweight. People genuinely thought that my camera was a lot lighter than it was when I handed it to them, and I would frequently hear stuff like "wow these cameras are lighter than they look!".
An alternative to these of course are to buy rechargeable batteries and recharge them when they are low in power, but for endurance, these batteries can not be beaten. I know that when I have even only 4 of these batteries when I'm going on holiday that I won't need to change them for the entire journey. This is good if you are going for long day trips or camping, when you don't have access to any power to recharge your rechargeable batteries, or if there are no shops around selling extortionately priced regular batteries. They last longer and as a result are so much more convenient and they save me a bit of money as well.
High Praise
Large manufacturers have also good things to say about these batteries, and as they might be helpful for you to read to get some idea of the different types of devices that work well with these batteries, I have included some of these comments below:
Nikon: You'll get approximately 1,000 shots per pair of Energizer e2 Lithium AA batteries (batteries included) with Nikon COOLPIX L14 Motorola: Want more than 30 hours of talk time from your Motorola Wireless Headset H300? Get up to 10 extra hours with an Energizer e2 Lithium battery. Bushnell: Only Energizer e2 Lithium batteries let you explore up to 7 hours longer with your Bushnell ONIX200 GPS unit. Lego: Create up to 3.5 hours longer with your LEGO Mindstorms NXT with the power of Energizer e2 Lithium batteries.
Conclusion
So, I would definitely recommend these batteries for digital camera owners who are tired of changing batteries all the time, or who really want some reliable batteries for their journey. They are a bit more expensive obviously, but the cost will work itself out to be to your advantage, unless you don't plan to be using them in a high drain device, in which case, standard cheaper alkaline batteries will more than suffice. I've seen these batteries in places for $8 for a 4 pack, which in my opinion is money very well spent.
Thanks for reading this review; I assume it was your first battery review too? :) MisterB
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