Review posted for Maha Powerex 401FS fast/slow charger!
By
Dave Etchells
(Friday, October 25, 2002 - 01:41 EDT)
Maha's C-204F AA/AAA charger has long been my favorite battery charger, striking a good balance between speed, completeness of charge, and reasonable battery temperatures.
Maha has now developed the PowerEx C-401FS as an extension to the 204, and I've taken a brief break from my stack of backlogged camera-review work to take a quick look at it. The new 401FS sports four completely independent charging "channels" (basically four individual battery chargers in a single housing), so it can optimize the charge for each battery individually. This insures the best possible performance of your battery packs, and guards against cell damage due to mismatched cells.
The 401FS also has a fast/slow charge switch on it, so you can choose whether you want a fast (yet safe) ~100 minute charge, or a slow (and super-gentle) ~5-8 hour one. I've been promising battery charger reviews of a thoroughness to match my Great Battery Shootout, but so far haven't been able to get enough time free from the camera review workload to do much in that direction. I have begun to measure charge completeness and maximum battery temperature though, and have incorporated that data into this review of the 401FS.
Stay tuned, I'm hoping to post a few more charger reviews over the next couple of weeks. (Not to mention get back in and update the Battery Shootout to reflect my latest testing.)
If you're looking for a very capable little charger for your AA or AAA NiMH (or NiCd) cells, check out the C401FS!
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