Click Click BAMF Goes "Green"

It was a step toward "going green" yesterday. We finally purchased a battery charger so as to quit disposing of so many batteries ranging from AAA to D over and over again. Admittedly this move was as much for the savings as it was for helping the environment. What do you expect from a growing company? Really, it's not a bad way to hit two birds with one stone.

It's a simple step to take in order to both spend and pollute less, but you do need a little cash. The MSRP on this Energizer charger is $29.99. Don't ask me why I chose Energizer -maybe it was visions of a green bunny following me around, pounding a drum. I also had to drop $9.50 a piece for the 4-packs of AA batteries I grabbed. So with the money spent so far we could nearly buy a NERF Stampede. 

The initial investment may seem like a good chunk of money, but then the payoff happens. The packaging of the AA Energizer Rechargeable packs say that they can be recharged up to 250 times and that they last four times as long as regular AA batteries (when tested in digital cameras). We usually buy Rayovac batteries, which are the least expensive brand we've found locally. We are able to buy 30 AA batteries for about the same a four rechargeable Energizer AAs. Ignoring the suggestion that these rechargeables last 4-times as long, we'll still be using these batteries when we'd be buying our 34th pack of Rayovacs! It would be our 134th pack if you do count the extra duration.

There are a couple of other things to take into account though. If you've seen our arsenal, you know there are a LOT of blasters for us to power. Only having four AA batteries wouldn't go very far to power our full arsenal. Luckily the charger we purchased (and seen above) can hold 8 AA or AAA, 4 C or D, or 2 9V batteries at a time. Another point is that it takes three to seven hours to recharge anhy batteries. Yet if they really last four times as long, it may not really be an issue since you can probably just pop them in at the end of the day. I grabbed two of the AA 4-packs to start. We'll try those and some D batteries for the Stampede and Vulcan for a bit and report back on their performance.