****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I was getting ready to go on vacation earlier this year and I needed to do something about my camcorder batteries. I had three batteries, two large, and one small capacity. The smaller capacity battery was still in decent shape, but the two larger batteries would not hold a charge very long.I suspected the cheap little plastic 120-volt charger that I received with my camcorder was part of the problem. It was not large enough to have much "brains" and I thought it might not be treating my batteries with the proper care.So, I had a choice, buy new batteries, or buy a new charger. Neither choice was going to be real cheap, but I figured that if the cheap little charger was not treating the batteries right then there was no sense in buying new batteries just to have them mistreated by the cheap little charger.So, I decided to buy this very expensive charger, which looked like it was pretty sophisticated and would do a lot better job of charging the batteries. I was hoping that it might actually be able to bring my two larger batteries back to life.Before I got this charger, my two larger batteries would incorrectly display the amount of time left on them. While using the camcorder the camcorder would show anywhere from 30-60 minutes of recording time left on the batteries and then all of a sudden the camcorder would just shut down. The InfoLithium communication between the batteries and the camcorder was not working properly at all.I left for vacation one day after receiving this charger, so I didn't have any time to do anything other than top off my three batteries. The first thing I noticed when using the batteries was that the InfoLithium communication between the batteries and the camcorder seemed to be a lot more believable. After depleting each of the batteries I charged them up fully in the charger that night in the hotel.A couple of nice things about this charger. The first is that you can put two batteries in at once. That was one of the features that helped me to decide to purchase this charger. I was disappointed when reading the instructions to find out that it won't actually charge both batteries at once. It will charge the first battery and then when the first battery is charged it will automatically switch to the second battery and charge that one. This didn't turn out to be that disappointing in actual use, because I usually put the two batteries in before going to sleep and they were both done by morning, but I don't want anyone else to be misled into thinking that it will charge two batteries in amount of time it would normally take to charge one.The second nicest feature about this charger is that it will charge your batteries "fully" if you let them stay in the charger longer. The charger will charge the batteries as normal, but if you let it keep charging for an additional hour it will really make them "full". The charger displays how much recording time each battery has during all stages of the charging process. When you first put the depleted battery in, it will show you how much time is left on the battery, and then as it is charging you will see that time increase. The difference it shows between how much recording time the battery has between the normal charge and the "full" charge is little or no different on my batteries, but I always let them "fully" charge if I can.Back to the vacation. Each time I used the batteries and then recharged them, they seem to get improved performance. By the end of vacation the batteries were acting like they did four years ago. This charger, and it "brains" have actually brought my batteries back to life. I don't know if I will get another five years out of them or not, but I can tell by the way they are acting that they are not going to die anytime real soon.So, I am confident that I made the right decision in buying this "smart" charger instead of buying new batteries. It has given additional life to my current batteries, and when these batteries do get to the point that they need to be replaced, I know this charger will treat my new batteries the way they should be treated to give them the longest life possible.
