[seadzz]

I just purchased a new ifp that uses replaceable battries. What kind should I use?

Answered by Flame Grilled*:

1) Buy bulk packs of good alkaline cells, you can buy (in the UK) a pack of Duracells or Panasonic AA alkalinesx30 cells, for about £10.

or

2) Hunt down and order some good ni-mh cells (1800 mH or better) and a suitable charger

What you spend on the ni-mh cells, and charger, will repay itself greatly - trust me on this, i've hardly ever resorted to alkalines (only kept one or two on me for last-ditch emergency use).

3) If using Ogg for the compressed audio format, remember
Ogg decoding is literally a battery killer on the iFP, not as much as such on the iHP since the ifp has no HD.

If you are gonna work with Ogg, until either the excessive battery consumption problem is resolved, go with hi-capacity ni-mh cells and carry spares.

Observation
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If you were expecting walkman type battery life using an mp3 deck (40hours-80 hours per two AA's ala walkman, 20-40 hrs on a single cell source) - then i'd suggest you forget that little fantasy...

I'd go with Duracells for alkalines, Panasonic alkalines second out of preference in alkaline terms - as i've picked up Ever Ready's before to use on pocket instrumentation devices.. and i've yet to buy a pack of En's that weren't duff or in a bad state of charge.

At least, from experience (my walkman proved it) Duracells are a good example of getting what you pay for (the item packaged with the iFP was a Duracell OEM supply item) - I use Duracells in pocket instruments and Panasonics (when I need to) for when i used an iFP (long gone now).

FG

*edited for ifp target usage