Energizer’s 15 Minute Battery Charger:

These days, it seems like one can never have something fast enough. Fast food: need it faster, fast lane: not fast enough, instant coffee: just not instant enough. And with today’s technology pushing cordless everywhere, more and more devices like mice, keyboards, game controllers, digital cameras, headphones, and mp3 players are needing their own independent power source.

Replacing all those batteries can get expensive which is why rechargeable ones have started to become more and more popular. The problem though with most rechargers is that they can take as much as 24 hours sometimes to recharge a set of batteries. Energizer decided that this had to change and came out with their 15 Minute Charger.

The beauty of this device is that it will charge up to 4 NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) AA or AAA rechargeable batteries of ANY BRAND in 15 minutes or less at once. Doing some last minute packing for a trip and realize that your stuff isn’t working? Not a problem. In addition to being a home charger, there is also a cigarette adapter for use in the car as you’re on the go.

Now, because of the nature of how chargers work by pushing the charge back into the battery, the batteries heat up. This isn’t much of a problem in the normal slower chargers because the batteries don’t heat up very much. But in this little powerhouse, them suckers are getting pumped with lots of power in a very short amount of time. To combat this, Energizer cleverly designed a very quiet fan in the bottom of the unit which cools the batteries as they are charging. It’s so quiet you would barely know it’s there if you didn’t look for it, or feel the air coming up through the charger. The fan then shuts off automatically once all the batteries are removed from their stations.

With spring mounted stations, a cooling fan, a red/green indicator light to tell you when the batteries are charged, rapid recharging, 4 included AAs, and the ability to charge any brand rechargeable battery, the Energizer 15 Minute Charger is definitely worth its dollar value. If you’re an impatient person, or if you have some battery hungry devices, don’t look anywhere else for your recharging needs.

- Rob Miller