rechargable batteries and charger

If you are like me, you may have shoots on a remote location. You need to travel light, so you take just small speedlight flashes, some extra batteries, portable umbrella and maybe a clamp, or a small stand.
So, you depend on this small setup and hope it will be sufficient.
I use Nikon Speedlight SB600 and SB900, as well as a Chinese flash as backup or third one.
Specially the Nikon SB900 eats up batteries like crazy. Therefore battery capacity is the most important factor for me. Rechargables are most convenient option because they are much cheaper, more eco-friendly - and also improve recycle time of your flash.

I went through many brands and types, and found that the best working are CFL batteries with huge capacity of 3800mAh (more than 4x regular AA battery!). They work great, last long,  and you can find them cheaply on ebay, just search for CFL AA battery and get the orange ones. There are many other fine brands including new amazing Sanyo Eneloop which keeps charge for up to 3 years - but when it comes for huge capacity and long life - these proved to me over and over that they are worth having.

I have to admit that a while ago I killed a few sets of decent batteries using a cheap charger. (I did not know cheap chargers kill batteries very quickly, sometimes after just a few cycles, usually highly overcharging batteries.) Only then I upgraded to something more decent. Unfortunately the better charger died 6 months ago. I decided to look for an even better charger, checking reviews and comments on various forums. I learned what you may already know - that super-fast chargers result in a shorter battery life. While sometimes a quick charge is important, it should be used only when necessary, and for every day use a more gently, slower charge should be applied. Or, simply settle (like me) for a good charger with average speed. After reading many reviews i decided for "intelligent charger" which can check level of remaining energy, discharge battery if needed, and has multiple overcharge protections. It can also charge batteries of different capacities simultaneously, charge any number of batteries between 1 and 4, and more. It also has LCD indicator of battery level which comes quite handy.

It is Korean brand Maha.  I found it on ebay for about $30, and i think it is worth every penny. Various reviews also pointed to it as one of the best chargers in the world. (I remember it was in top-three, just after the best, very fancy and very expensive French charger). I can't confirm that it really is in top-3 not testing personally other top choices, but this one works for me perfectly. Just search on ebay for
Maha LCD battery charger 4 Channel
Hope you will find it useful, until next time,
cheers!
Derek