Tong Family

If you are thinking about stocking stuffers, the Zebralight is a great one, but you will want a good charger to go with it. I’ve tried quite a few and it definitely pays to get one that will last a lifetime you can get versions that support NiMH or LiPo in AAA, AA, and 18650 form factors.

Nitecore makes some great flashlights, but their UM-4 gets good reviews and is just $40.

For quite a bit more money, the hardcore like the Opus C3400 and I have two of these now. They are big but work very well for $60 at Amazon.

Finally, for the ultimate power geek, there’s one that you can actually monitor every aspect of what is going on which is the SkyRC MC3000. Believe it or not, it has a PC application you can use to monitor your charge at $114 at Amazon.

Now, this doesn’t handle all battery form factors or voltages. The problem is what to do about 9V, C and D batteries.

Well for 9V, there is a good Lithium option with the Maxlithium. Those are expensive but they do last a long time. These have built-in charger systems inside them.

Finally, there are cases where the lower voltage of a NiMH battery at 1.2V is too low, then you will want a Lithium battery AAA that typically has an internal charging system like the Pownergy, Hitrends. I use this for things like our Brother label maker that needs the extra voltage. There are also AA Li-PO for this purpose (like Hitrends) but stay with NiMH for most other applications they are much cheaper.

When not to use Li-PO rechargeables? Car Starters

The only place where it doesn’t make sense to use Li-PO is for the batteries that you sue to jump a car. I got these WeeGo LiPo jumper packs, but the problem is that they do discharge quickly and then you can’t ever get them back. Both the WeeGo’s I bought died in less than a year because I just left them in the car. So, the old lead acid is still better for this.