Tongfamily (Richtong.com Sync)

Well I destroyed my La Crosse BC-700 today. Turns out if you accidentally plug in a 12V input into it, then you fry it. Sad!
So back to the drawing board. The main lesson here is that if you use rechargeables (we do a lot), then having the right charger is really important. You want something with independent channels. We have a Maha big boy and it works fine, although I left a battery in it and destroy the mechanicals on one channel.
But we are finding that most of our needs are for a small AA (for Mighty Mouse and Apple keyboards mainly) and AAA (for headlamps) so we just need a small charger, but quite a few. So here is what to consider:
BC-700. If you go through a lot of batteries and want a better model. The La Crosse Technology BC-700 Alpha Power Battery Charger is that model. It costs around $35 and does pretty much everything other models do except charge batteries at a rate higher than 700mA. Batteries charged at these lower rates will tend to last for a longer number of recharges than those charged at faster rates. $30 at Amazon. For you shopping geeks, a quick search shows Walmart has this item for $30 as well but you can get an addition point/$ from them (worth 2-10% depending on your card) at 2.4% cash back at Bigcrumbs.com, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Bank of America Signature Rewards, United Mileage Mall or Alaska Airlines Mall. See Evrewards for others.
BC-1000. If it’s important to you to charge your batteries quickly and/or acquire the carrying bag and accessories, then get the La Crosse Technology BC1000 Alpha Power Battery Charger. It typically costs $60, but allows for faster charging while avoiding the overheating and melting batteries issues of the BC-900 and BC-9009 models (which I don’t recommend). $60 at Amazon.
A similar alternative is the MH-C9000 as review by NLee on Amazon. The main advantage is that it can handle completely dead (e.g. voltage less than 0.5V). I’ve had a bunch of batteries I’ve thrown away as dead, but in fact they are just very, very low. You have to have a “dumb” charger around that james 125mV into them for a few days and then see if you can recover it. The big problem is that it only has a single display per battery so it is hard to use and requires lots of key presses.
via Filterjoe.com.