James Sweet wrote:

Years ago Consumer Reports did a test of many different brands of batteries
and Energizer consistently came out lower, Duracell was one of the better
ones as I recall, but many store brands did as well or nearly so for much
lower cost. There is, or was at the time, a measurable difference and it
matched my personal experience, now that everything is made in China that
may not be true anymore.

That said, I use NiMH rechareables almost exclusively now.

Have you tried the new "low discharge" NiMH batteries yet? All the pluses
of NiMH cells, without the problem of rapid self discharge. I've been
running a pair in my cordless mouse for over a month now, and the software
reports they still have a 98% charge. Never got more than a week or two
from the old style NiMH cells. Only downside is that the maximum capacity
is 2100 mAh for now.