Best rechargable AA batteries for the Wii

I've had great luck w/ the Sanyo Eneloop NiMH batteries.

Costco carries a large set w/ the charger, a large number of AA/AAAs and C/D "adaptors" that take the AA batteries and allow their use in C/D stuff.

The Eneloops are advertised as holding charge longer when idle as well as longer use times when "on". All came OOB with full charges. Between the Eneloops in the Costco set + the 8 NiMH AAs I already had been rotating for my dig camera---every battery operated thing in the house (save for the kids toys) utilizes rechargables.

For me, Eneloop life in a Wiimote is comparable to an actual alkaline AA such as Duracell. How long that is depends on level of use & whether or not you use the speaker & rumble functions of your Wiimote.

I've always gone with the Maha Powerex rechargeables myself, but I have Wii specific batteries for that. The store I've seen with the best selection of any batteries is www.thomasdistributing.com

I've bought from them 2 or 3 times and haven't had any issues..

I was already well in trenched with the 2500mah Energizer's before I saw the Eneloops at Costco. The Energizer's work wonders, use them for everything in the house and while the up front was a large investment....we are WAY ahead now from a $ perspective and we are putting fewer batteries into our land fill. Win win in my book.

The reviews I have found online vary, but the one thing I noticed was that the Energizers (2500mah) do stack up well in nearly every review.

The Eneloops are better than the Energizer. The Energizer's will self discharge if not used whereas the Eneloops hold their charge. Plus the white Eneloops look like they were meant for the Wii.

Another vote here for the Eneloops.

I've also used Rayovac Hybrids and just got some new Duracells that claim to self discharge at a slow rate. I've used the Rayovacs for tail lights on my bike and they last a long time. I currently have the Duracells in some wireless PS2 controllers and they've lasted a long time too.

"we are WAY ahead now from a $ perspective and we are putting fewer batteries into our land fill."

I always love this argument. People always forget that the power that comes out of the wall isn't pollution free. Beyond that, people forget that today airborne pollution is a much larger problem for humans than landfill pollution will ever be. Environmental friendliness is not a valid argument in favor of rechargeable batteries.

I know you said rechargeable batteries but I can't help but recommend the cheap Monoprice charge station for $13.30:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

It charges fast, lasts for as long as I've ever needed and the new doors for the rechargeable batteries is the exact same shape and size as the orginal, so no problems with the Wheel attachement or power shot, etc.

Throw this USB to wall plug adapter for $2.06 and it's a perfect, under $20 solution:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

Be careful with these base chargers, as many do not shutdown charging when the batteries are fully charged, I think this is why they use USB to the Wii, as if the Wii is off it won't charge any longer, I had a base charger that caused a meltdown in one of my Wimotes, I'd rather use the externally charged batteries from now on.

Yes, I too would recommend going with batteries which resist discharging over time, since otherwise one will pick up a Wii Remote and find that it's dead after sitting there for a few weeks. This is particularly true since the Wii Remotes are somewhat sensitive to voltage levels, so rechargeables will wind up going to "3 out of 4 bars" of battery strength quite quickly but should last at this level for some time.

As noted above, Sanyo's batteries in this category are the "ENELOOP", while Maha identifies their similar batteries as "IMEDION".

I'll put in yet another vote for any flavor of the low-discharge NiMH's (Sanyo Eneloops, Maha Imedions, etc.) Their rated capacity is 3/4ths - 4/5ths that of current top-end 'conventional' NiMH's but in actuality they last much longer in practice for most devices. Standard NiMH's would most likely still win out for something where you're consistently capable of draining them quickly, perhaps for example if you did a lot of digital photography with a camera that still took standard AA's and were used to having to change batteries on the order of every week. Personally I get good long life out of my Eneloops in my Wiimotes and Xbox360 wireless controllers and the slow discharge is greatly appreciated since I don't use either one of them so much that I wouldn't run into losing a bunch of the charge just over time with conventionals.

Another vote for Eneloop.

Circuity City 4AA pack $7.73 or Amazon Eneloop Travel/Power Pack. The Eneloop charger in the pack is a good value because it turns off as each individual battery is fully charged unlike other cheap chargers.

they're near impossible to find now though. they're discontinued at CC, and no one by me has them, and all of the stores within a reasonable distance either don't carry them or are out and have them on backorder. and who's to say that the stores that have them on backorder will actually get them back in. i don't want to order them online, because i personally hate to have to pay shipping for something that i should just be able to walk into a store and get...

I've had good luck with the energizers. They last a long time which is good especially since my family uses the Wii daily.

Usually having to pay shipping and handling is balanced out by not having to pay sales tax on an item. Additionally, it's often possible to get free shipping on sufficiently large orders. Just order the batteries along with whatever else you might be wanting from Amazon at the same time and you can get "Free Super Saver Shipping" on everything.

So about how long do they last with daily use? I just got a Wii yesterday -- so I'm trying to get a feel for it (to know what direction I want to go). Others can chime in too; just let me know how often they remotes are used so I know the whole story. Thanks...

I used to use 2500mah energizers for my wiimotes. With semidaily usage, maybe an average of about an hour a day, I'd say they lasted at least a good 3 or 4 weeks, maybe more, if I recall. I definitely didn't feel that I had to charge them too often or anything.

Our Wii gets a lot of use. The family may use it around 3 hours a day. I never tracked it but I would guess that the energizers are lasting at least a couple of weeks.