It’s a little known fact that Eveready is owned by Energizer. Look at the back of a pack of Eveready batteries and you will see that everything is copyrighted by Energizer. So does that mean that the Eveready batteries are on the same keel as Energizer even though they cost a fraction of the price? I did some testing over the course of a month using my MP3 player, wireless PS2 controller and digital camera. The results for all three were interesting to say the least.
My MP3 player uses AAA sized battery and can go through the cheaper ones in a few hours. I put the Eveready in on Monday and kept track of how many hours of play I got from it. At full sound level, display screen active for 45 seconds and scrolling on, the battery gave me 6.5 hours of play before it completely died. When I tested the Energizer battery using the same set up I got 7 hours of use before it completely died and would not power up. So I got an extra half hour of play for batteries that cost me three dollars more. I got the Eveready four pack of AAA sized batteries at my local dollar store for one dollar and the four pack of AAA sized Energizers at Wal-Mart for $3.99. When you do the math you are spending three extra dollars for an extra two hours of play time.
The digital camera was the test that I was most interested in. It can eat through batteries in a matter of two hours because it powers itself down if it isn’t used for sixty seconds; this means that it has to power back up and does a number on most non-commercial batteries. I cleared the memory card before I started the test; the Eveready’s went in first and managed to take a total of 73 pictures (no flash, no on screen display) before it started beeping and would power down. I uploaded the pictures to my computer and cleared the memory card. I did the same test with the Energizer batteries and managed to get 89 pictures before it powered down. That’s sixteen extra pictures but again, you are spending a lot more on the Energizer version than the Eveready ones.
The final test was the Mad Catz wireless PS2 controller. This uses two AA sized batteries and can eat through them in about five hours of steady use. The problem is that getting the batteries in and out of the controller is a complete pain. There are small screws that need to be removed and replaced when the batteries die. The Eveready batteries lasted about four hours of almost constant video game play and the Energizer batteries lasted about five hours. So again, you are getting a little bit more life from the Energizer brand but in my opinion it isn’t enough to warrant spending two to three times what I would on the Eveready brand.
The Eveready motto used to read, “Bounces back for extra life. Recovers power between uses”. This was accompanied by the ‘nine lives’ cat logo which has since been removed from packages. I may have to change batteries a little more frequently but I am sticking with the Eveready brand for now. I can’t justify paying more for something that is made by the same company and only gives a minimal amount of power supply improvement.
