What are the best rechargeable batteries for the Canon 580EX II Speedlite Flash

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Snakedance

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I'm considering buying the Canon 580EX II Speedlite Flash and am wondering what are the best rechargeable batteries to use with it. Ideally those that last a good long time between recharges.

One Amazon user review said that Uniross 2700 mAh Ni-MH batteries don't work as "they just don't work as the flash seems to think they have low power and turn off!" Hence my question here.
 
Hi,

not sure about best but I bought some from 7dayshop I did buy one of their chargers at the same time so got the charger ( came with 4 free 2500mAh AA's ), plus 4 x 2800 mAh AA's and 4 x 1000mAh AAA's for just under £24 all in.

Work great.

Mike.
 
PowerEx 2700mAh - get them here.
 
I bought some Sanyo Eneloop's recently, they really are great and hold there charge. I would highly recommend them
 
Most people in the know would say Eneloops or Hybrios, both of which have very slow discharge rates.

I bought 16 of 7dayshop's 2800mAh AA batteries and none of them got anywhere near the rated capacity. The best of them made it to about 2200 but some couldn't even scrape 2000. I wrote a truthful review for their website and it never appeared. A positive review I wrote for something else did. My findings are here - http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showpost.php?p=4963651&postcount=12. Be warned.
 
Snakedance said:
I'm considering buying the Canon 580EX II Speedlite Flash and am wondering what are the best rechargeable batteries to use with it. .
Click to expand...

Quantum 2x2 Turbo...
 
Batttech ones on ebay - RUBBISH !

2800mAh from 7dayshop have been brilliant for me - maybe i got some good ones ?
 
The Eneloops are great, if you only use the flash occasionally. I did run my standard Uniross batteries on the Powerex Maha 9000 analyser and a couple (out of 4) had 20% less capacity than the others..The Eneloops were within 4% of each other and had the described minimum capacity, so would definately recommend these if you can get them
 
Kerioak, sorry if this is teaching you to suck eggs, but are you aware that most rechargeable batteries are pretty much flat when you buy them? You will need to give them a good solid charge before first use and they won't reach best performance until they've been charged/recharged a few times. If they only lasted a couple of flashes it sounds like they were as flat as pancakes. Did you charge them before first use?

The other thing is, most rechargeables do lose their charge while just sitting there doing nothing. I don't know exact figures but 10% a week is not far off in my experience. That is partly why "new" batteries are flat when you get them - even if they had some charge when they left the factory, by the time they've got warehoused, transported, sat on a retailer's shelf for a while and finally got to you they will have drained quite a bit. The exception to this is the new Eneloop and Hybrio batteries, which is why they are highly favoured for flash guns that might lay around, unused, for weeks on end.
 
I have some energizer 2500 mAh that lasted me a whole evening of wedding shots without dying. It did cost me £20 but i have 8 rechargables with it too and charger.
 
I got the 2800 7day shop batteries. I found what really counts is how you charge any rechargeable batteries. Fast chargers can damage rechargables and you need a slow, steady recharge. I got a La Crosse technology charger from the US after reading about them on strobist.com. It is excellent and you can charge a different rates. If you have all day, charge slowly and pump as much juice into the batteries as possible. It also allows a sischarge/charge cycle although on slow charge this can take 24 hours for 4 x AAs. I'll be buying another La Crosse charger for sure so I can cook 8 x AAs at a time.
 
That is the charger I have and slow charging with repeated refresh cycles is exactly the approach I took. It still didn't get my 7dayshop "2800" batteries above 2200, even after a week of refreshing. The charger quit refreshing, as it is supposed to, because the batteries would simply not yield any more power but they were only delivering around 1900-2200 mAh. You can see it in action, with the final charge values here - http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showpost.php?p=4963651&postcount=12

Are you saying that your 7dayshop 2800 mAh batteries do all make it to 2800 with your charger?


I can definitely recommend the charger though. Available in the UK here....

http://www.batterylogic.co.uk/technoline/technoline-i-charger.asp

or the one without the pouch and C/D cell converters, for less money....

http://www.batterylogic.co.uk/technoline/technoline-bl700.asp
 
Thanks for all the replies, much appreciated! I'm going to spend sometime reading up on the various batteries mentioned here. I've never heard of Eneloops or Hybrios before but they seem worthy of following up on as well.

As for the battery chargers, is it worth using the brands own make or getting a third party one? I was reading on one website that some third party chargers provide many more features then the 'own brand' ones.
 
markta said:
The Eneloops are great, if you only use the flash occasionally.
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What if you intend to use the flash often? How good are the Eneloops when flash is used often?


I did run my standard Uniross batteries on the Powerex Maha 9000 analyser and a couple (out of 4) had 20% less capacity than the others..The Eneloops were within 4% of each other and had the described minimum capacity, so would definately recommend these if you can get them
Click to expand...
 
The rated capacity (the mAh) of Eneloops/Hybrios/Vapextech Instants isn't as high as the best of the conventional NiMH offerings, so they'll last about 2/3rds as long, per charge. For me, that is far outweighed by their ability to retain most of the charge for more than a few weeks.

I've only come across Hybrios "in the flesh" on a market stall, although they and Eneloops and Vapextech are available online, including fleabay. The case with the Vapextechs could be better, but the batteries are fine, and good value.
 
In my experience the best batteries have always been Uinross. Forget the rated capacities of batteries as that is not always what you are looking for. A good set of batteries will be very evenly matched out of the packet and maintain this equality over their working life. Forget the likes of 7dayshop, they are too cheap. you really do get what you pay for in life and 7dayshop batteries are not an exception to the rule.

In my experience Uniross batteries are second to none. You may hear dodgy stories about certain batteries but very often it's the charger and not the battery that causes the problem. Get a very decent charger like the Technoline iCharger plus some excellent batteries such as Uniross Hybrio batteries and you will be nothing but satisfied. Guaranteed!!!
 
I almost got some of the Energizer 2500mAh batteries the other day, but didn't in the end, after reading this thread I think I'm going to go with a set of Eneloops/Hybrios and see how I get on.

At the moment I'm using the photo lithium AA batteries in my flash (and wireless mouse) and they seem to last forever, but at £2 per battery I can see it getting expensive in the long run. (He says just having spent £20 on rechargables)
 
I use Duracell's rechargeables (the green ones!), you can get 4 with a charger unit very cheaply now. I keep a set of 4 (so 16 in total), and I've had the same set for about 2years now, and they are just as good as when I first bought them!
 
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