It's hard work untangling Duracell's pruct range and the relative
performance.

I don't think Duracell are great value but they can be got anywhere
and I want to know the relative merits of their popular alkaline
batteries.

---------

What is the rated capacity in mAh of an alkaline Duracell AA cell in
the following product ranges which I recall from (perhaps faulty?)
memory:

Duracell (ordinary)
Duracell Plus
Duracell M3

---------

The Duracell web site has a technical page but it refers only to:
(1) Ultra Digital
(2) Coppertop
http://www.duracell.com/oem/productdata/default.asp

Is Ultra Digital the same as Ultra or the same as M3?
Is Coppertop the same as Plus or the same as "ordinary"?

---------

yours confused
Alex

On Sun, 07 May 2006 11:35:30 +0100, Alex Coleman wrote:

|It's hard work untangling Duracell's pruct range and the relative
|performance.
|
|I don't think Duracell are great value but they can be got anywhere
|and I want to know the relative merits of their popular alkaline
|batteries.
|
|---------
|
|What is the rated capacity in mAh of an alkaline Duracell AA cell in
|the following product ranges which I recall from (perhaps faulty?)
|memory:
|
| Duracell (ordinary)
| Duracell Plus
| Duracell M3
|
|---------
|
|The Duracell web site has a technical page but it refers only to:
| (1) Ultra Digital
| (2) Coppertop
|http://www.duracell.com/oem/productdata/default.asp
|
|Is Ultra Digital the same as Ultra or the same as M3?
|Is Coppertop the same as Plus or the same as "ordinary"?

|yours confused

Confusion is Duracell's marketing ploy which you have fallen for :-(

Until Alkaline battery manufacturers state the Ampere hour capacity on each
battery, I will believe that they are all the same and buy the cheapest
available.

NiMh batteries are sold by Ampere Hour Capacity, why not Alkalines.

--
Dave Fawthrop dave hyphenologist co uk Google Groups is IME the *worst*
method of accessing usenet. GG subscribers would be well advised get a
newsreader, say Agent, and a newsserver, say news.individual.net. These
will allow them: to see only *new* posts, a killfile, and other goodies.

"Dave Fawthrop" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 07 May 2006 11:35:30 +0100, Alex Coleman wrote:

|It's hard work untangling Duracell's pruct range and the relative
|performance.
|
|I don't think Duracell are great value but they can be got anywhere
|and I want to know the relative merits of their popular alkaline
|batteries.
|
|---------
|
|What is the rated capacity in mAh of an alkaline Duracell AA cell in
|the following product ranges which I recall from (perhaps faulty?)
|memory:
|
| Duracell (ordinary)
| Duracell Plus
| Duracell M3
|
|---------
|
|The Duracell web site has a technical page but it refers only to:
| (1) Ultra Digital
| (2) Coppertop
|http://www.duracell.com/oem/productdata/default.asp
|
|Is Ultra Digital the same as Ultra or the same as M3?
|Is Coppertop the same as Plus or the same as "ordinary"?

|yours confused

Confusion is Duracell's marketing ploy which you have fallen for :-(

Until Alkaline battery manufacturers state the Ampere hour capacity on
each
battery, I will believe that they are all the same and buy the cheapest
available.

They can't, there is no one figure.
Capacity of alkaline cells varies depending on the load exerted on them.
The relationship between current drawn and useful voltage delivered is not
linear. However, the specs are available:

http://www.duracell.com/Procell/pdf/1500_US_CT.pdf

--
Mike W

In article ,
Dave Fawthrop wrote:
Until Alkaline battery manufacturers state the Ampere hour capacity on
each battery, I will believe that they are all the same and buy the
cheapest available.

One place I work at spends many thousands a year on alkaline cells for
radio mics, etc.

Duracell *Procell* seems to be consistently the best value when bought in
bulk. Shops will often charge up to four times the price of a Procell for
a gold top but they certainly don't last appreciably longer.

Thing to be vary of is cells sold at car boot sales, etc. They may be
forgeries or well past their sell by date. And often poor value.

--
Small asylum seeker wanted as mud flap, must be flexible and willing to travel

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Sun, 7 May 2006 12:24:51 UTC, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

Duracell *Procell* seems to be consistently the best value when bought in
bulk. Shops will often charge up to four times the price of a Procell for
a gold top but they certainly don't last appreciably longer.

Thing to be vary of is cells sold at car boot sales, etc. They may be
forgeries or well past their sell by date. And often poor value.

Anyone any thoughts on Energisers? I bought a load to use when cooped up
in a hospital room, and I used them so heavily I lost track of how long
they lasted.

But CPC have a good offer on them right now...

--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
Avenue Supplies, http://avenuesupplies.co.uk

On Sun, 07 May 2006 12:03:49 GMT, "VisionSet" wrote:

|
|"Dave Fawthrop" wrote in message
.. .
| On Sun, 07 May 2006 11:35:30 +0100, Alex Coleman wrote:
|
| |It's hard work untangling Duracell's pruct range and the relative
| |performance.
| |
| |I don't think Duracell are great value but they can be got anywhere
| |and I want to know the relative merits of their popular alkaline
| |batteries.
| |
| |---------
| |
| |What is the rated capacity in mAh of an alkaline Duracell AA cell in
| |the following product ranges which I recall from (perhaps faulty?)
| |memory:
| |
| | Duracell (ordinary)
| | Duracell Plus
| | Duracell M3
| |
| |---------
| |
| |The Duracell web site has a technical page but it refers only to:
| | (1) Ultra Digital
| | (2) Coppertop
| |http://www.duracell.com/oem/productdata/default.asp
| |
| |Is Ultra Digital the same as Ultra or the same as M3?
| |Is Coppertop the same as Plus or the same as "ordinary"?
|
| |yours confused
|
| Confusion is Duracell's marketing ploy which you have fallen for :-(
|
| Until Alkaline battery manufacturers state the Ampere hour capacity on
|each
| battery, I will believe that they are all the same and buy the cheapest
| available.
|
|They can't, there is no one figure.
|Capacity of alkaline cells varies depending on the load exerted on them.
|The relationship between current drawn and useful voltage delivered is not
|linear. However, the specs are available:
|
|http://www.duracell.com/Procell/pdf/1500_US_CT.pdf

Just a marketing excuse. It would be a simple matter to give a single
figure based on a single load ?cycle? and a single voltage endpoint. That
would give enough information even for someone like me who understands the
real specs were I to put my mind to it.
--
Dave Fawthrop dave hyphenologist co uk Google Groups is IME the *worst*
method of accessing usenet. GG subscribers would be well advised get a
newsreader, say Agent, and a newsserver, say news.individual.net. These
will allow them: to see only *new* posts, a killfile, and other goodies.

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)"
writes
In article ,
Dave Fawthrop wrote:
Until Alkaline battery manufacturers state the Ampere hour capacity on
each battery, I will believe that they are all the same and buy the
cheapest available.

One place I work at spends many thousands a year on alkaline cells for
radio mics, etc.

Duracell *Procell* seems to be consistently the best value when bought in
bulk. Shops will often charge up to four times the price of a Procell for
a gold top but they certainly don't last appreciably longer.

Thing to be vary of is cells sold at car boot sales, etc. They may be
forgeries or well past their sell by date. And often poor value.

So how do GP super Alkaline compare ?

I buy them in boxes of 40 from CPC

more megawatt hours / buck IMHO


--
geoff

The message
from Dave Fawthrop contains these words:

Until Alkaline battery manufacturers state the Ampere hour capacity on each
battery, I will believe that they are all the same and buy the cheapest
available.

Their argument against doing this is that the effective Ah rate of each
cell differs at different discharge rates and that comparing like with
like wouldn't be possible.

I suspect having two figures, C1 and C10 rates, for example, might be a
way round it but there's pleny who'll say it's too confusing.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

The message
from Owain contains these words:

Until Alkaline battery manufacturers state the Ampere hour capacity
on each
battery, I will believe that they are all the same and buy the cheapest
available.
Their argument against doing this is that the effective Ah rate of each
cell differs at different discharge rates and that comparing like with
like wouldn't be possible.

But doesn't the Ah rate of nicads vary in the same way?

Yes, but the NiMh market has gone the way of revealing it (though not
always with great accuracy). If a couple of primary cell makers would
start printing the figures on their cells it wouldn't be long before the
others followed.

IIRC there is a "gentlemen's agreement[1]" between Ever Ready and
Duracell over marketing the very highest capacity cells in Europe.

[1] qv Consumer ripping-off system.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

"Guy King" wrote in message
...

Their argument against doing this is that the effective Ah rate of
each
cell differs at different discharge rates and that comparing like with
like wouldn't be possible.

But doesn't the Ah rate of nicads vary in the same way?

Yes, but...

No, it is virtually constant.

--
Mike W

Guy King wrote:
The message
from Owain contains these words:

Until Alkaline battery manufacturers state the Ampere hour capacity
on each
battery, I will believe that they are all the same and buy the cheapest
available.
Their argument against doing this is that the effective Ah rate of each
cell differs at different discharge rates and that comparing like with
like wouldn't be possible.

But doesn't the Ah rate of nicads vary in the same way?

Yes, but the NiMh market has gone the way of revealing it (though not
always with great accuracy). If a couple of primary cell makers would
start printing the figures on their cells it wouldn't be long before the
others followed.

Primary cell makers do disclose capacities. Just not for alkaline or
zinc carbon it seems. Lithium primary cells, which aren't that exotic
these days, often have capacity information available.


Tim
--
Did I really still have that sig?

The message
from Tim Auton contains these words:

Primary cell makers do disclose capacities. Just not for alkaline or
zinc carbon it seems. Lithium primary cells, which aren't that exotic
these days, often have capacity information available.

Perhaps it's something Which? could look into - it's about time they did
something useful.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

Guy King wrote:

The message
from Tim Auton contains these words:

Primary cell makers do disclose capacities. Just not for alkaline or
zinc carbon it seems. Lithium primary cells, which aren't that exotic
these days, often have capacity information available.

Perhaps it's something Which? could look into - it's about time they did
something useful.


Which? ??

I signed up to their service a couple of years ago. Compared to the free
reviews on things like digital cameras and PC motherboards, which run for
pages, and often quote decent benchmarks and give detailed feedback on
every aspect of use, I found the reviews in Which to be substantially poor.

I'd be more impressed if they had a well structured consumer feedback
database with quantitative and qualitative data.

Not worth the money IMO - it was OK in the 70's when it was the only
main source of such reviews.

Cheers

Tim

The message
from Tim S contains these words:

Perhaps it's something Which? could look into - it's about time they did
something useful.


Which? ??

Yeah, useless bunch that test the obvious but ignore the interesting
aspects of things.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

Tim Auton wrote:

Primary cell makers do disclose capacities. Just not for alkaline or
zinc carbon it seems. Lithium primary cells, which aren't that exotic
these days, often have capacity information available.

I've found good data on most common alkaline cells at the manufacturers'
web sites. They typically show discharge capacity or voltage vs time for
a variety of common discharge regimens.

Roy Lewallen

raden wrote:

So how do GP super Alkaline compare ?

I buy them in boxes of 40 from CPC

Yup I used to do that as well...

However I found they are very poor in comparison. They will run my Psion
5 for as little as five or six hours cumulative use, whereas a good
alkaline will do possibly as much as sixteen.

Having said that they are plenty good enough for low drain long shelf
life applications like remote controls, clocks etc.



--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On Sun, 07 May 2006 19:39:13 +0100, Owain
wrote:

|Guy King wrote:
|Until Alkaline battery manufacturers state the Ampere hour capacity on each
|battery, I will believe that they are all the same and buy the cheapest
|available.
| Their argument against doing this is that the effective Ah rate of each
| cell differs at different discharge rates and that comparing like with
| like wouldn't be possible.
|
|But doesn't the Ah rate of nicads vary in the same way?

The same thing happens with *all* batteries whatever the Chemistry.

NiMhs give a single figure, why not Alkalines?
--
Dave Fawthrop dave hyphenologist co uk Google Groups is IME the *worst*
method of accessing usenet. GG subscribers would be well advised get a
newsreader, say Agent, and a newsserver, say news.individual.net. These
will allow them: to see only *new* posts, a killfile, and other goodies.

Dave Fawthrop wrote:
On Sun, 07 May 2006 19:39:13 +0100, Owain
wrote:

|Guy King wrote:
|Until Alkaline battery manufacturers state the Ampere hour capacity on each
|battery, I will believe that they are all the same and buy the cheapest
|available.
| Their argument against doing this is that the effective Ah rate of each
| cell differs at different discharge rates and that comparing like with
| like wouldn't be possible.
|
|But doesn't the Ah rate of nicads vary in the same way?

The same thing happens with *all* batteries whatever the Chemistry.

NiMhs give a single figure, why not Alkalines?

NiMh capacity varies only a relatively small amount over a very wide
range of load conditions. By comparison, alkalines vary a whole lot. The
amount you can get out of one depends heavily not only on the discharge
rate, but how long the cell is allowed to rest in between partial
discharges. Also, cells can be optimized for light or heavy discharge
rates, so one which does better at low rates might do worse at high rates.

You can be sure that if manufacturers were pressed to come up with a
single number for alkaline cell capacity, each would set up the test at
the most favorable condition for their particular cell (and then inflate
the result, like they all do for NiMh cells). The resulting numbers
would be totally useless.

Take a look at the data sheets which are readily available at the
manufacturers' web sites, and it won't take long to see what I mean.

Roy Lewallen

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

One place I work at spends many thousands a year on alkaline cells for
radio mics, etc.


Hmmm! I'd of thought a company that uses batteries on a daily basis would
go in for rechargables?

--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

Guy King wrote:
The message
from Owain contains these words:


Until Alkaline battery manufacturers state the Ampere hour capacity
on each
battery, I will believe that they are all the same and buy the cheapest
available.

Their argument against doing this is that the effective Ah rate of each
cell differs at different discharge rates and that comparing like with
like wouldn't be possible.


But doesn't the Ah rate of nicads vary in the same way?


Yes, but the NiMh market has gone the way of revealing it (though not
always with great accuracy).

Recharchable cells for public retail have always shown the AH, same as
car batteries.

Otherwise we wouldn't know how long to charge them in the fixed curent
chargers which was all that used to be available until recently.


john2

On Mon, 08 May 2006 00:08:21 -0700, Roy Lewallen wrote:

|Dave Fawthrop wrote:
| On Sun, 07 May 2006 19:39:13 +0100, Owain
| wrote:
|
| |Guy King wrote:
| |Until Alkaline battery manufacturers state the Ampere hour capacity on each
| |battery, I will believe that they are all the same and buy the cheapest
| |available.
| | Their argument against doing this is that the effective Ah rate of each
| | cell differs at different discharge rates and that comparing like with
| | like wouldn't be possible.
| |
| |But doesn't the Ah rate of nicads vary in the same way?
|
| The same thing happens with *all* batteries whatever the Chemistry.
|
| NiMhs give a single figure, why not Alkalines?
|
|NiMh capacity varies only a relatively small amount over a very wide
|range of load conditions. By comparison, alkalines vary a whole lot. The
|amount you can get out of one depends heavily not only on the discharge
|rate, but how long the cell is allowed to rest in between partial
|discharges. Also, cells can be optimized for light or heavy discharge
|rates, so one which does better at low rates might do worse at high rates.
|
|You can be sure that if manufacturers were pressed to come up with a
|single number for alkaline cell capacity, each would set up the test at
|the most favorable condition for their particular cell (and then inflate
|the result, like they all do for NiMh cells). The resulting numbers
|would be totally useless.

Not IMI totally useless, just limited. Better than the nothing which the
average buyer, who would not understand the data sheets, has at the moment.
Then an international standards body should set up the test method.
--
Dave Fawthrop dave hyphenologist co uk Google Groups is IME the *worst*
method of accessing usenet. GG subscribers would be well advised get a
newsreader, say Agent, and a newsserver, say news.individual.net. These
will allow them: to see only *new* posts, a killfile, and other goodies.

Dave Fawthrop wrote:
Roy Lewallen wrote:
|You can be sure that if manufacturers were pressed to come up with a
|single number for alkaline cell capacity

|The resulting numbers
|would be totally useless.

Not IMI totally useless, just limited.

But limited to uselessness for most consumers. A single number won't
tell you if a particular battery is better suited for years of life in
a digital clock or more pictures in a digital camera. Batteries
optimized for one scenario would be awful in the other.

Dave Fawthrop wrote:
On Sun, 07 May 2006 11:35:30 +0100, Alex Coleman wrote:

|It's hard work untangling Duracell's pruct range and the relative
|performance.
|
|I don't think Duracell are great value but they can be got anywhere
|and I want to know the relative merits of their popular alkaline
|batteries.
|
|---------
|
|What is the rated capacity in mAh of an alkaline Duracell AA cell in
|the following product ranges which I recall from (perhaps faulty?)
|memory:
|
| Duracell (ordinary)
| Duracell Plus
| Duracell M3
|
|---------
|
|The Duracell web site has a technical page but it refers only to:
| (1) Ultra Digital
| (2) Coppertop
|http://www.duracell.com/oem/productdata/default.asp
|
|Is Ultra Digital the same as Ultra or the same as M3?
|Is Coppertop the same as Plus or the same as "ordinary"?

|yours confused

Confusion is Duracell's marketing ploy which you have fallen for :-(

Until Alkaline battery manufacturers state the Ampere hour capacity on each
battery, I will believe that they are all the same and buy the cheapest
available.

They are different. ISTR the Maplin catalogue used to give the
capacities some years ago (before they switched to selling boys toys,
etc).

MBQ

William P.N. Smith wrote in
:

Dave Fawthrop wrote:
Roy Lewallen wrote:
|You can be sure that if manufacturers were pressed to come up with a
|single number for alkaline cell capacity

|The resulting numbers
|would be totally useless.

Not IMI totally useless, just limited.

But limited to uselessness for most consumers. A single number won't
tell you if a particular battery is better suited for years of life in
a digital clock or more pictures in a digital camera. Batteries
optimized for one scenario would be awful in the other.


Since the early seventies, probably earlier, there were two kinds of
battery that a consumer would see for either a dry cell or an alkaline:
Long Life, and High Power. So if you use a single value for capacity per
battery type, and it is printed honstly on the appropriately named battery,
people will know that this figure applies if they use the battery
appropriately.

There are two points that could be confusing:

1. Mixing up the battery types.
2. Demands that are some way between both types.

There's not much you can do about the first, when people fail to understand
the difference, telling them more data won't help, but telling them less is
disrespectful.

The second case is the tougher one, and there the single value won't be
enough, but you can refer people to a makers graph of lifetime for average
current drawn per life, one graph per battery type (Both graphs printed on
cardboard packaging for both types). They can put both plots together and
make their own choice. The point where the plotted lines cross is the set
of conditions for which both batteries are equal to the task. This idea is
simple enough to grasp by intuition, and also highly informative if you
look at the values for capacity and drawn current.

wrote in
ups.com:


Dave Fawthrop wrote:
On Sun, 07 May 2006 11:35:30 +0100, Alex Coleman
wrote:

|It's hard work untangling Duracell's pruct range and the relative
|performance.
|
|I don't think Duracell are great value but they can be got anywhere
|and I want to know the relative merits of their popular alkaline
|batteries.
|
|---------
|
|What is the rated capacity in mAh of an alkaline Duracell AA cell in
|the following product ranges which I recall from (perhaps faulty?)
|memory:
|
| Duracell (ordinary)
| Duracell Plus
| Duracell M3
|
|---------
|
|The Duracell web site has a technical page but it refers only to:
| (1) Ultra Digital
| (2) Coppertop
|http://www.duracell.com/oem/productdata/default.asp
|
|Is Ultra Digital the same as Ultra or the same as M3?
|Is Coppertop the same as Plus or the same as "ordinary"?

|yours confused

Confusion is Duracell's marketing ploy which you have fallen for :-(

Until Alkaline battery manufacturers state the Ampere hour capacity
on each battery, I will believe that they are all the same and buy
the cheapest available.

They are different. ISTR the Maplin catalogue used to give the
capacities some years ago (before they switched to selling boys toys,
etc).

MBQ



Nice summing up of what's happened to Maplin there. It's a sad crime
what's been done to that firm.

On Mon, 08 May 2006 09:00:02 -0400, William P.N. Smith
wrote:

|Dave Fawthrop wrote:
|Roy Lewallen wrote:
||You can be sure that if manufacturers were pressed to come up with a
||single number for alkaline cell capacity
|
||The resulting numbers
||would be totally useless.
|
|Not IMI totally useless, just limited.
|
|But limited to uselessness for most consumers.

Who would not understand the Data sheets anyway.

|A single number won't
|tell you if a particular battery is better suited for years of life in
|a digital clock or more pictures in a digital camera. Batteries
|optimized for one scenario would be awful in the other.

Already sussed that one.
Alkalines for long life NiMh for power applications
--
Dave Fawthrop dave hyphenologist co uk Google Groups is IME the *worst*
method of accessing usenet. GG subscribers would be well advised get a
newsreader, say Agent, and a newsserver, say news.individual.net. These
will allow them: to see only *new* posts, a killfile, and other goodies.

I believe that some two years ago Practical Sailor magazine did an AA
alkaline comparison test using hand held VHF transreceiver and Duracell
Copper top came out best with Panasonic better than Eveready.

On Mon, 08 May 2006 09:00:02 -0400, William P.N. Smith
wrote:

A single number won't
tell you if a particular battery is better suited for years of life in
a digital clock or more pictures in a digital camera. Batteries
optimized for one scenario would be awful in the other.

Absolutely. The zinc-air PP3's despite costing an arm and leg and
theoretically offering a higher mAh than alkalines are useless for low
current applications such as smoke alarms.


--

The message
from Matt contains these words:

Absolutely. The zinc-air PP3's despite costing an arm and leg and
theoretically offering a higher mAh than alkalines are useless for low
current applications such as smoke alarms.

The local fire brigade in association with the local council gave away
loads of smoke alarms with "10 year" lithium PP3s fitted. About three
years later the batteries are dying.
This wouldn't matter except that there's a pop-rivetted retainer over
the battery so you "can't" replace it.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

In article ,
The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
One place I work at spends many thousands a year on alkaline cells for
radio mics, etc.

Hmmm! I'd of thought a company that uses batteries on a daily basis would
go in for rechargables?

They don't yet have a long enough life. The Micron UHF types I use just
about get through half a day (5 hours) on one PP3 alkaline. Anything less
would be unacceptable.

Then there's the problem of recharging perhaps some 50 PP3s per day across
the units.

--
*Before they invented drawing boards, what did they go back to?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In message 0,
Lostgallifreyan writes
wrote in
oups.com:


Dave Fawthrop wrote:
On Sun, 07 May 2006 11:35:30 +0100, Alex Coleman
wrote:

|It's hard work untangling Duracell's pruct range and the relative
|performance.
|
|I don't think Duracell are great value but they can be got anywhere
|and I want to know the relative merits of their popular alkaline
|batteries.
|
|---------
|
|What is the rated capacity in mAh of an alkaline Duracell AA cell in
|the following product ranges which I recall from (perhaps faulty?)
|memory:
|
| Duracell (ordinary)
| Duracell Plus
| Duracell M3
|
|---------
|
|The Duracell web site has a technical page but it refers only to:
| (1) Ultra Digital
| (2) Coppertop
|http://www.duracell.com/oem/productdata/default.asp
|
|Is Ultra Digital the same as Ultra or the same as M3?
|Is Coppertop the same as Plus or the same as "ordinary"?

|yours confused

Confusion is Duracell's marketing ploy which you have fallen for :-(

Until Alkaline battery manufacturers state the Ampere hour capacity
on each battery, I will believe that they are all the same and buy
the cheapest available.

They are different. ISTR the Maplin catalogue used to give the
capacities some years ago (before they switched to selling boys toys,
etc).

MBQ



Nice summing up of what's happened to Maplin there. It's a sad crime
what's been done to that firm.

Same with Watford Electronics

As for RS - Has anybody actually managed to order something and found it
in stock ?

e.g. 47uF /63v caps - 3 week back order, they don't know what they've
sent out and what they haven't

They do have a mission statement, though

--
geoff

raden wrote:
As for RS

They do have a mission statement, though

Yeah, but it's "You've got questions, we've got blank stares". 8*)

On Sun, 7 May 2006 11:32:18 UTC, Dave Fawthrop
wrote:

On Sun, 07 May 2006 11:35:30 +0100, Alex Coleman wrote:

|It's hard work untangling Duracell's pruct range and the relative
|performance.
|
|I don't think Duracell are great value but they can be got anywhere
|and I want to know the relative merits of their popular alkaline
|batteries.
|
|---------
|
|What is the rated capacity in mAh of an alkaline Duracell AA cell in
|the following product ranges which I recall from (perhaps faulty?)
|memory:
|
| Duracell (ordinary)
| Duracell Plus
| Duracell M3
|
|---------
|
|The Duracell web site has a technical page but it refers only to:
| (1) Ultra Digital
| (2) Coppertop
|http://www.duracell.com/oem/productdata/default.asp
|
|Is Ultra Digital the same as Ultra or the same as M3?
|Is Coppertop the same as Plus or the same as "ordinary"?

|yours confused

Confusion is Duracell's marketing ploy which you have fallen for :-(

Until Alkaline battery manufacturers state the Ampere hour capacity on each
battery, I will believe that they are all the same and buy the cheapest
available.


I've noted time between replacing batteries in a couple of appliances.
Duracell were best but not by enough to justify the prices in British
shops. Maplin were very poor. GP cells were close to Duracell at a
fraction of the price. Appliances were Palm 3, and a sony CD/Radio
alarm.

BTW, have other Brits noticed how the supermarkets tend to sell the
most expensive Duracells? When Duracell Plus were the top of the range
those were stocked, now they only stock the Ultra M3 range. What
happened to consumer choice?

--
Jim Backus OS/2 user since 1994
bona fide replies to j dot backus the circle thingy jita dot
demon dot co dot uk

On Mon, 8 May 2006 20:39:49 +0000 (UTC), "Jim Backus"
wrote:

|BTW, have other Brits noticed how the supermarkets tend to sell the
|most expensive Duracells? When Duracell Plus were the top of the range
|those were stocked, now they only stock the Ultra M3 range. What
|happened to consumer choice?

We go to Lidl, Where they have cheap own brand Alkalines
--
Dave Fawthrop dave hyphenologist co uk Google Groups is IME the *worst*
method of accessing usenet. GG subscribers would be well advised get a
newsreader, say Agent, and a newsserver, say news.individual.net. These
will allow them: to see only *new* posts, a killfile, and other goodies.

urers state the Ampere hour capacity on each
battery, I will believe that they are all the same and buy the cheapest
available.



I've noted time between replacing batteries in a couple of appliances.
Duracell were best but not by enough to justify the prices in British
shops. Maplin were very poor. GP cells were close to Duracell at a
fraction of the price. Appliances were Palm 3, and a sony CD/Radio
alarm.

BTW, have other Brits noticed how the supermarkets tend to sell the
most expensive Duracells? When Duracell Plus were the top of the range
those were stocked, now they only stock the Ultra M3 range. What
happened to consumer choice?


Sainsbury's regularly do a 50% extra free on standarad Duracells. 12
for about £4. That's cheaper than the market stalls.

john2

raden wrote:
In message 0,
Lostgallifreyan writes
wrote in
oups.com:


Dave Fawthrop wrote:
On Sun, 07 May 2006 11:35:30 +0100, Alex Coleman
wrote:

|It's hard work untangling Duracell's pruct range and the relative
|performance.
|
|I don't think Duracell are great value but they can be got anywhere
|and I want to know the relative merits of their popular alkaline
|batteries.
|
|---------
|
|What is the rated capacity in mAh of an alkaline Duracell AA cell in
|the following product ranges which I recall from (perhaps faulty?)
|memory:
|
| Duracell (ordinary)
| Duracell Plus
| Duracell M3
|
|---------
|
|The Duracell web site has a technical page but it refers only to:
| (1) Ultra Digital
| (2) Coppertop
|http://www.duracell.com/oem/productdata/default.asp
|
|Is Ultra Digital the same as Ultra or the same as M3?
|Is Coppertop the same as Plus or the same as "ordinary"?

|yours confused

Confusion is Duracell's marketing ploy which you have fallen for :-(

Until Alkaline battery manufacturers state the Ampere hour capacity
on each battery, I will believe that they are all the same and buy
the cheapest available.

They are different. ISTR the Maplin catalogue used to give the
capacities some years ago (before they switched to selling boys toys,
etc).

MBQ



Nice summing up of what's happened to Maplin there. It's a sad crime
what's been done to that firm.

Same with Watford Electronics

As for RS - Has anybody actually managed to order something and found it
in stock ?

e.g. 47uF /63v caps - 3 week back order, they don't know what they've
sent out and what they haven't

They do have a mission statement, though


The impending RoHS deadline is causing componnet shortages (at least
that's the excuse) as companies suddenly realise they don't have the
correct stuff in stock and place panic orders.

MBQ

Large snip...

They are different. ISTR the Maplin catalogue used to give the
capacities some years ago (before they switched to selling boys
toys, etc).

MBQ



Nice summing up of what's happened to Maplin there. It's a sad
crime what's been done to that firm.

Same with Watford Electronics

As for RS - Has anybody actually managed to order something and found
it in stock ?

e.g. 47uF /63v caps - 3 week back order, they don't know what they've
sent out and what they haven't

They do have a mission statement, though


The impending RoHS deadline is causing componnet shortages (at least
that's the excuse) as companies suddenly realise they don't have the
correct stuff in stock and place panic orders.

MBQ



I'd call that a reason.
I've found RS to be good generally. Certainly good enough to make the slow
demise of Maplin bearable. I don't think Maplin ever did free delivery to
my door, guaranteed next day, either. Or had such a good stock of data I
get at will. But Maplin used to have really good small reference items in
their catalogs, I still keep old ones for that reason.

Some parts at RS cost more, but the difference is usually less than the
cost of trying to find cheaper. I still look though. RS don't mind either,
they've often helped me with company info that lets me bypass them to buy
direct, there aren't many companies that will gladly do this, and still be
able to profit themselves on what they do sell.

In article 0,
Lostgallifreyan wrote:
Some parts at RS cost more, but the difference is usually less than the
cost of trying to find cheaper. I still look though. RS don't mind
either, they've often helped me with company info that lets me bypass
them to buy direct, there aren't many companies that will gladly do
this, and still be able to profit themselves on what they do sell.

Most such companies sell direct to anyone with a credit card.

CPS and Rapid are usually cheaper than RS for identical stuff.

--
*I yell because I care

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Jim Backus wrote:

BTW, have other Brits noticed how the supermarkets tend to sell the
most expensive Duracells?

In trade magazines Duracell advertises to retailers: selling expensive
batteries is more turnover and more profit for you.

Thus, Duracell's key selling point is _high_ price. Not for the
consumer, but for the retailer.


Thomas

The message
from raden contains these words:

They do have a mission statement, though

How's this for a mission statement....

Mission Statement:

'To make as much money as possible off a small, but really good idea
that other humans can relate to and have a laugh with us at.'

http://www.grateness.com/mission.htm

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.