How to Buy a Good Battery

Batteries are some of those household items that we rarely think about, but absolutely need. All households, apartments and dorm rooms should have a pack of AA and AAA batteries at hand in case of an emergency. It’s still not too smart to depend entirely on wireless charging. What if the power goes out? Also, many devices still depend on batteries to provide energy.

The Puzzling Battery Brands

There are all kinds of batteries you can buy from retail outlets. The problem is it’s difficult to know how to buy a good battery. Are those Duracell batteries really better than a generic store brand? Do some batteries last as long as advertised?

It’s very difficult to know all this if you are not an engineer who knows the field. However, there are people who do these types of tests. The results are not always conclusive, but can be used as good reference points.

A Test for the Best Battery

Consumer Reports, a website that reviews various products without corporate bias, tested lithium and alkaline batteries to see which worked the best. There are no inherent differences between the batteries than the chemicals being used. Consumer Reports used two tests for the evaluation. In one, the batteries were used to power a toy for an hour of continuous use. In the second test, the batteries were used to turn a flashlight on and off every 8 hours, and then left on standby for 16 hours. The tests were conducted until the batteries were completely drained.

What would you expect from a test like this? You would most likely expect the expensive batteries to perform better than the cheaper generic brand batteries. However, the main differences the testers found related to what the battery was made out of. The lithium batteries outperformed alkaline batteries, which tend to be cheaper. However, not by much. The performance of alkaline batteries varied. Some did come close to the performance of the lithium batteries. Duracell Quantum, an alkaline battery, for example scored as many points as the high-performing lithium ones.

The price was not correlated to better performance. An expensive battery like Panasonic Digital Power did not perform better than a cheaper counterpart.

Align the Battery Choice with Your Needs

What the test shows is that just because a battery brand is expensive, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it performs better. Also, not all batteries are created equal. The best battery for you will depend on what you need batteries for.

If you are looking for batteries for high-drain devices, like flashlights, the most cost-effective option would be to buy a lithium battery. Lithium batteries are more stable than alkaline batteries. They don’t contain the corrosive liquid found in alkaline batteries. Also, they lose power over time considerably less than alkaline batteries.

For certain devices, it’s best to buy the battery recommended by the manufacturer of the device. If there is no such recommendation provided, you can ask the company directly. Or, make a self-assessment. Is the device on standby most of the time? Then a lithium battery would do. If the device is used on a daily basis, an alkaline battery would cost you less to power it up.