Battery options for the 360

So I finally joined the 360 club, because a lot of my friends nearby are all on Live (the $100 rebate didn’t hurt either). While I still lub my PC very much, it’s time to explore what else is out there.

I noticed the “play & charge” kit for the 360, which seems like a better idea than buying tons of disposable batteries. But given that I have several Wiimotes which also need AA batteries, I’d think that a good back of rechargable batteries are the way to go.

Anyone have good/bad experiences with rechargables or the kit?

Energizer NiMH are some of the best for batteries. You can grab a pack at sam’s club for a pretty good price. As for chargers look for anything that trickle charges and uses delta V for knowing when the battery is full. Slower chargers = longer lifespan of the battery. Quick chargers + heat = shorter lifespan of the battery.

I use this battery charger, which charges each slot separately and doesn’t fry the batteries. They also sell generic rechargeable batteries cheaply (look for a sale).

I like rechargeables because we use lots of them for various things and they are generic. XBox-specific chargers are, well, XBox-specific.

I use the play & charge kit, its awesome. The batteries keep a charge for a long time and when they need recharging you can just plug them in and keep using them. I wish the Wii-remotes had something similar… I’m stuck using standard nimh rechargable batteries with those, which work fine but not as seamless as the 360 w/ play & charge.

Yeah I use the Play & Charge kit as well. The thing I like about it is that the charge chord is actually long enough that if I need to I can sit on my couch and play while it charges.

I have a play and charge kit as well as a quickcharge kit and two batteries. The play and charge was a gift, and I hardly ever use it as I don’t like the messy cords messing up my living room.

You could like, put the cords in a drawer or something. Despite having 4 play and charge kits for the battery parts, I only ever keep one cord in the general area of the 360 because I’ve yet to run into a situation where more than one controller needs charging at once.

My wife and I have a generic AA battery recharger that runs almost non-stop. Between our remotes, the 360, her booklights, and other miscellaneous battery-powered devices, we burn through them fast and the recharger is an economical, eco-friendly alternative to disposables and makes a lot more sense than the X-box specific charger.

I used rechargeable AAs for the first year I had my 360. They’re not actually recommended (I believe due to voltage and drain differences vs. regular AAs), but I had no issues.

I switched to the official rechargeable batteries and the Quick Charge Kit recently, when I got the steering wheel. Nice to just be able to leave an extra battery on the charger at all times and never have to deal with the cables in the QC kit. More expensive than the Quick Charge kit, though.