If you're a digital photographer, you've probably got lots of batteries. And hopefully, you're using rechargeables. The problem then becomes one of keeping track of them, and figuring out which ones are good and which aren't. No sense in charging all the batteries after every shoot simply because one or two might be done.

I've got several years' worth, and needed to figure out which to keep and which to send to recycling. After doing a little research, I found that both La Crosse and Maha made chargers with the features I needed. That meant not only would they charge batteries, but they would also test them, do a deep discharge, and offered variable charging powers. I needed the testing to see which were worth keeping. The deep discharge is an important step in maintenance of a rechargeable battery. Most important, though is the variable charging.

The best way to shorten the life of a rechargeable battery is to use it on a fast charger. In other words one that juices it up fast. A slow charge, such as 200 mA, means a longer life for the battery. A charger that offers variable charging power means that for normal charging the lower-power setting can be used, meaning a longer life for the battery. When time is short, the charger can be set to a higher-power, for a quicker charge.

With those things in mind, I settled on a four-battery La Crosse BC-900 from ThomasDisrtibuting.com. With four 2400mAh AA batteries and four 800 mAh AAA's (and a handy carrying case!) it set me back a little over $40.

Next step? I'm going to replace the bad batteries with Eneloop NiMH rechargeables from Sanyo. I've heard plenty of photographers give them glowing reviews. Although they're "only" 2000 mAh, they're designed to have a much slower rate of self-discharge. That means even if I don't use a set for a few weeks, they'll retain most of their power, which means fewer trips to the charger. And fewer trips to the charger means fewer trips to the store to buy more batteries. Which to me is a win-win situation.