The need for high performance rechargeable batteries that are durable and carry a large amount of energy has never been greater. Virtually every device in our lives now has a rechargeable battery and they can be extremely power hungry. Your flashlights, lanterns, cell phones, laptops, MP3 players, digital cameras and a multitude of other devices all need rechargeable batteries to function, and I can't think of a single device I didn't wish had longer battery life.
By far the best way to power all of your electrical devices is to use rechargeable batteries. They may initially cost more than disposable batteries but they prove to be significantly more cost efficient as time goes by. They simply pay for themselves because you can reuse them over and over again and they will remain just as good as the day you bought them for hundreds or thousands of charges.
Rechargeable batteries are not without their drawbacks however. Standard rechargeable batteries will lose their charge if you leave them laying around without use. By most estimates they will completely lose their charge within only two or three weeks.
This is not a problem if you always use the device right after the charge. A device like your laptop or cell phone will never have a problem with this. There are plenty of practical things that need batteries that last longer though. For example, I rarely use my digital camera and whenever I need it it seems to ALWAYS be dead. Naturally this is extremely frustrating. Some people even use these batteries in their remote controls or smoke detectors-things that can go long periods of time between each use. This is an obvious problem because they will fade between use.
For things like digital cameras, when you are using them you almost always need to keep a couple of extra batteries with you because the ones you are using will go dead inevitably. Especially if you are taking a lot of pictures. When I was younger I always took a gameboy with me on long trips, I needed several sets of batteries because it would always die. Unfortunately, conventional rechargeable batteries are terrible if you are going to use them this way. They simply wont last that long unless you charged them within a reasonably short amount of time.
Technology is finally catching up though. There have been many radical improvements to power cells used in rechargeable batteries. The greatest development is that some of the newer kinds can hold as much as 80% of their charge for an entire YEAR without being recharged. This makes them atleast as convenient as conventional batteries. This new type of rechargeable lantern battery leaves you no excuse to keep buying disposable conventional batteries.
