Don’t you hate it when you grab your digital camera, CD player or remote control and the batteries are almost dead? Sure there are worse things to have to deal with in life but what if there was a way to avoid having batteries that only last a few weeks? Duracell has a professional alkaline battery called ProCell, it’s not new but it is one of the best damn batteries that I have ever used. I played my CD player for eight hours, almost non stop, and it didn’t even knock it down a whole bar [there are a total of six bars] on that battery meter level. So far I have only seen the ProCell in AA, AAA and 9V sizes but I am sure that they do make them in the C and D sizes. These aren’t cheap but if you do the math on what you are spending on the cheap batteries, in the long run sinking some money into these is well worth it. I’ll admit it, I am ultra conservative with these; if someone asks me if I have a couple extra batteries I’ll give them Energizer or Panasonic ... you have to be in the extremely small percentage of people in my good graces for me to break open a packet of these and willingly hand them over to you.

Duracell ProCell AA Professional Alkaline Batteries

As strange as it sounds, when I see the AA sized Duracell ProCell batteries I have to smile. The snappy design on them [black, gold and silver] visually sets them apart from other Duracell products but for me it means that I can pop these into my CD player and not have to worry about the power draining even if I have it on for hours at a time. Likewise, my trusty web cam goes through batteries like crazy ... unless I toss in a few of the ProCell’s and then I’m set for at least a month no matter how much I use it. For remote controls these might be overkill unless you are someone that is constantly surfing or you have Direct or Dish TV and use the remote for more than just changing the channel. Suffice it to say, if you want an AA sized battery that is going to last a hell of a lot longer than anything that’s currently on the market, then Duracell’s ProCell is the way to go. These are not rechargeable so please do not try to put them into a recharger. A few online sites that were advertising “Duracell ProCell” had them listed as a rechargeable product, they are not.

Best Before ....

Duracell goes beyond just stamping the ‘best before’ date on the package, every single battery has the date on it so you never have to worry about when it is going to ‘expire’ or lose their kick. The ones that I recently picked up are good until March of 2010. No doubt these will be used well before then but if one or two of them happen to get shoved in a drawer I can see exactly when they are good through. I’ve never had any type of problem with them being dead out of the package and I have used them in everything from remote controls to portable CD players, toys and digital cameras with absolutely no problem.

Where To Get Them

These are extremely hard to find in retail stores, even places that sell camera equipment or industrial supplies don’t generally have these. So where do I get them? In San Diego I had got them from someone who sold them to hospitals and urgent care clinics but he was a regional representative so he’d only be in town once a month. On the East Coast I get them from a person that works for a company that sells medical supplies. They aren’t cheap but if you want batteries that you can count on, this is the way to go. There are some online sites that do sell these but I would be extremely hesitant about buying them online unless the company has a good track record, doesn’t misrepresent their goods and clearly states that they are selling Duracell ProCell not ‘Duracell’ or some other company that is pimping some variation of the ‘ProCell’ name. You can contact Duracell if you want to buy them directly however you may have to buy a large quantity of them for them to even consider taking the order.

Price

Since I am dealing with someone who is getting them in huge quantities, I can’t say for sure that the price I am paying is reflective of what other people pay for them. I buy a sleeve of five packets with four AA sized batteries in each. That comes out to twenty batteries for fifteen dollars. If you have been shopping for batteries lately you know that the good ones aren’t cheap but when it comes to batteries you want something that isn’t going to die in a couple of hours. These last about three to four times longer than the regular Duracell batteries, five times longer than Energizer and about ten to fifteen times longer than Panasonic.

The Bottom Line

If you think that a battery is just a battery or that they are all the same you are wrong. Here is the hierarchy of a ProCell battery. First it gets used in my CD player and when it wears out or I get the “lo batt” sign flashing [it won’t play when the battery power drops below a certain level] I swap them out and they get used for the GameBoy or GBA. When I put them in the GameBoy the light is bright red meaning full power, the GBA is reversed, when you see the red light that means the batteries are almost dead. After that, there is still life in them and they get turfed off to the remotes. You can squeeze out at least two months from them even after they’ve been in the CD player and GameBoy units. So now maybe you see that this isn’t your average, run of the mill battery. They might not be environmentally friendly but considering how much life I get out of them, I am tossing a lot less batteries in the trash than I did in the past.


As always, thanks for the read!

~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~

© 2006 Freak369


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