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Reviews For: La Crosse BC-700 Alpha Power Battery Charger

Category: Batteries & Chargers for Amateur Radio

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Review Summary For : La Crosse BC-700 Alpha Power Battery Charger
Reviews: 2MSRP: 49.95
Description:
The La Crosse Technology BC700 Alpha Power Battery Charger has four modes and charges all NiCd and NiMH AA and AAA rechargeable batteries. The four modes include charge, discharge (discharges the batteries and then recharges them), recharge (discharges and recharges up to 20 times to bring old batteries back to life) and test (displays the battery capacity).
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.lacrossetechnology.com/bc700/index.php
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0025
AI4WC Rating: 2015-05-20
It's great! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've owned many battery chargers. Now I own the latest generation of Eneloop batteries and this charger is the perfect companion. It offers low, medium and fast charging rates and the ability to evaluate their charge state and best of all, you can charge 1 to 4 batteries (even mixed AA and AAA) at one time and customize the charging individually. It also offers discharge/charge and battery rejuvenation, which takes time because it is a multiple charge/discharge method. It's a great charger with full features. Once you wade through the extremely verbose manual, you will love this charger.
K1ESL Rating: 2011-12-30
Best bang for the buck Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I'm surprised to be the first to review the BC-700 charger. I'm a firm believer in the slow charge method for recharging NiMH cells and this charger is perfect, with a maximum rate of 700 ma. I chose this at a time when the BC-900, with its higher maximum charge rate, was suffering from some issues with the supplied power supply. I decided to go with the 700 since I did not anticipate needing the higher charge rate. Since then, La Cross has revised the BC-900 to the BC-9009 and now into their newest - the BC-1000 charger. I still feel the 700 ma charger is a better deal, at nearly 1/2 the price of either of those. I'd rather have the battery life than the higher rate and the stuff that comes with the higher capacity models.

As with the other units, the 700 offers different modes - Charge,Discharge/charge,Refresh/charge and Test/charge. You can select 3 rates: 200mAh,500mAh, or 700mAh with 200ma being the default.

It will not charge defective cells and has overheat protection to prevent overcharging.

All in all, it's a perfectly competent charger at about $35 to 40. It will do everything the higher capacity versions will (their higher price includes AA, AAA cells and C and D size adapters, plus a carry bag). Since all I want to do is charge AA cells, I don't need the extras and I've found the included batteries (I use a BC-9009 at work) were not that great. I use Sanyo Eneloops exclusively and they are the perfect combination for the BC-700.