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>>Hi I'm Elsa Wenzel, Senior Associate Editor with CNET. What's so special about some double A batteries? Well with USBCell double A batteries this little green cap hides a secret. Just pop it open and there's a little USB connector. You can plug these into a laptop or other USB enabled device to charge the batteries without having to pack a clunky recharger. A pair of these cost around $20 dollars which is twice as much as other rechargeable nickel medal high dried batteries or even 10 times as much as some alkaline disposables. Unfortunately USBCell double A's don't store as much energy as other rechargeables but we took about 600 pictures of a digital camera and more than 5 hours with a small video camera before needing to recharge. Another down side is that these take around 5 to 7 hours to recharge but that's fine if you plan on plugging them in before going to bed. You can also plug these into a regular double A charger just not into a fast 15 minute recharger. Another quirk is that we couldn't plug in 2 USBCell double A's next to each other on some USB port arrangements. Still USBCell's NiMH batteries come with some green benefits. USBCell double A's could last several years or around 500 cycles and you can recycle along with traditional batteries at stores such as Office Depot, IKEA or Radio Shack. Check out the call to recycle website for drop off centers near you. The packaging of these batteries even includes recycled cardboard printed with vegetable inks. Overall we really like the sturdy design and convenience of USBCell double A batteries. They're really great if you're short on luggage space. Moixa energy of London started selling USBCell double A's in 2006 but they're getting easier to find at more online stores. Watch out for different types and sizes of these batteries coming soon from the company including triple A's and batteries for mobile phones. [Background music] I'm Elsa Wenzel and these are USBCell double A batteries.
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