La Crosse Technology BC-700 Alpha Power Battery Charger Review. 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). BC-700 Battery Charger " Features: • All modes automatically default to 200 mA charge on the BC-700 Battery charger • Charge both AA and AAA rechargeable batteries simultaneously and will charge all Low-Discharge batteries. Sanyo Eneloop, Uniross Hybrio, Nexcell EnergyOn, Accupower Acculoop and other future low discharge batteries. • Hhas Four independent channels - Charges 1, 2, 3 , or 4 rechargeable batteries at a time. • Overheat detection to protect over-charging and LCD shows capacity for each battery when charging is complete • Charge Mode - allows a range of user selectable milliamp settings from 200 t...
"Best charger I ever owned" 2008-04-29
By Nuknuk (Springfield, VA United States)
UPDATE: (10-10-2010) It has been more than 2 1/2 years since I wrote this review. This charger is still working great!
I have owned at least 8 chargers in the past, Maha's, Panasonic, etc. It is nice to see that this charger shows you the mAh on the LCD panel as the battery charges up. Most chargers you only see an LED indicator to signal when charging is done.
Compared to the specs of BC-900, the BC700 can only go up to 700mAH (the max) which means it is somewhat slower than the BC900. But the faster the battery charges, the hotter it gets. And one of the worst enemy of rechargeable batteries is heat. Less heat means longer life for the batteries.
Pros:
- 3 adjustable charging speeds
- Will show you the actual capacity in mAh. This is good so you know which battery needs to be refreshed. You always want to use batteries with the same capacities in pair or in a group.
- 4 independent charging stations with individual LED readouts. "AA's" and "AAA's" can be charged in different combinations. Don't you hate those gadgets that only use 3 batteries like portable radios? (walkie-talkies). You end up with 1 un-used battery if you bought a 4-pack. How will you charge it if your charger only charges in pairs?
- Reasonable price for an excellent charger
- Small and light. Better portability
- Multi-volt up to 240v. Very useful if you travel a lot to other countries.
Cons:
Now I have to stop myself doing impulse buying on NiMh's because I enjoy using this charger too much.
"New improved version of BC-900" 2008-06-02
By A. Jackson (Atlanta)
I don't know why a company would adopt such a confusing model number scheme, but in terms of capabilities, this is far superior to other models by LaCrosse and Maha.
The BC-700 can charge up to 2500 mAh capacity -- it does so in relatively faster steps of 200/500/700 mA currents (these are not capacities). Unless you are in a really big hurry, let the charger work at the default current of 200 mA, otherwise, you are stressing your batteries. This charger has saved several sets of 2000+ mAh batteries for me that previous had developed a low capacity problem in a Maha charger.
Compared to my old Maha, it's nice to be able to see the capacities and voltage of the batteries. Having a device like this and a couple dozen AA and AAA NiMH batteries saves me several hundred dollars per year.
Make sure you glance through the documentation so you don't misunderstand the various modes.
TIP: you must make selections on the charger within 8 seconds of inserting the batteries, AND hold the mode button for 5 seconds when changing modes.
"Excellent Charger; Nicely compact" 2008-06-16
By A. KEITH (Albuquerque, NM)
I was looking for a good charger with individual battery controls when charging multiple batteries. I needed it to be compact and lightweight for travel.
I read several different reviews of several chargers (this one and others) and concluded that this one looked promising. So I purchased it and hoped for the best.
I was not disappointed. I have now charged almost 40 NiMH hybrid batteries and it does great. I can tell that it keeps the temnperatures down significantly below that of the cheaper chargers that typically come with the batteries and that have more simplistic time-duration controls.
The displays for each battery are also surprisingly informative and I have grown to really appreciate and depend upon that level of insight and control over each battery.
The controls are simple. However, it took me a few cycles to get the button-pressing-sequence down. But it is now pretty much a wrote sequence and, once learned, makes the use totally trivial.
My only real complaint is that the power supply "brick" that it requires ("brick" is probably unfair, it's not that big) does not have any provision for stowing the plug prongs. THat is one of my pet pieves when manufacturers insist on using that type of "brick". It makes it most unrully and irratating to pack for travel (which I do a lot). Stowable power prongs should be the norm, not these unstowable typwes.
That said, this is in all other aspects a wonderful product and I would most heartily recommend it to anyone wanting a relatively small, compact, lightweight but flexible charger with lots of ability to control the charging of recharable batteries.
"At last, a complete charger." 2008-09-12
By Mike M. (Long Valley, NJ)
This charger does it all, and better than anything else on the market. It provides an exceptionally controlled and monitored charge utilizing microprocesser technology; measures actual individual battery capacity; rejuvenates ni-cad batteries and identifies those beyond restoration; and, automatically adjusts to a safe trickle charge as batteries reach full capacity.
I considered the BC900 which provides a maximum 1000ma charge rate versus the BC700's 700ma. However, the customer feedback on the BC900 indicated about 10% of customers experienced serious problems, especially fire hazard type failures. It seems to be associated with the 1000ma high-charge rate feature. There were no reports of fire hazard experiences with the BC700 nor were there any feedback scores as low as the BC900. Since I have no need nor desire to charge batteries at that rate, the BC700 seemed to fit the bill.
As a further safety precaution against fire hazards, I have deliberately operated this unit virtually continuously for over a month (yes, in a safe place) between 200ma and 500ma and observed only a slight increase in operating temperature being only mildly warm to the touch. In sum, the unit has operated flawlessly. I can truly recommend it without any reservations.
"SWEEEET!!" 2008-06-13
By Timothy Danielson
So many times I would grab a set of batteries to put in my camera, flash... and because 1 of the 4 batteries was not up to snuff, I was dead in the water. With this charger you know which battery may cause you problems and you can recondition it. I will never buy a charger that doesn't give feed back again. This charger is also very compact so good things do come in small packages.
By Nuknuk (Springfield, VA United States)
UPDATE: (10-10-2010) It has been more than 2 1/2 years since I wrote this review. This charger is still working great!
I have owned at least 8 chargers in the past, Maha's, Panasonic, etc. It is nice to see that this charger shows you the mAh on the LCD panel as the battery charges up. Most chargers you only see an LED indicator to signal when charging is done.
Compared to the specs of BC-900, the BC700 can only go up to 700mAH (the max) which means it is somewhat slower than the BC900. But the faster the battery charges, the hotter it gets. And one of the worst enemy of rechargeable batteries is heat. Less heat means longer life for the batteries.
Pros:
- 3 adjustable charging speeds
- Will show you the actual capacity in mAh. This is good so you know which battery needs to be refreshed. You always want to use batteries with the same capacities in pair or in a group.
- 4 independent charging stations with individual LED readouts. "AA's" and "AAA's" can be charged in different combinations. Don't you hate those gadgets that only use 3 batteries like portable radios? (walkie-talkies). You end up with 1 un-used battery if you bought a 4-pack. How will you charge it if your charger only charges in pairs?
- Reasonable price for an excellent charger
- Small and light. Better portability
- Multi-volt up to 240v. Very useful if you travel a lot to other countries.
Cons:
Now I have to stop myself doing impulse buying on NiMh's because I enjoy using this charger too much.
By A. Jackson (Atlanta)
I don't know why a company would adopt such a confusing model number scheme, but in terms of capabilities, this is far superior to other models by LaCrosse and Maha.
The BC-700 can charge up to 2500 mAh capacity -- it does so in relatively faster steps of 200/500/700 mA currents (these are not capacities). Unless you are in a really big hurry, let the charger work at the default current of 200 mA, otherwise, you are stressing your batteries. This charger has saved several sets of 2000+ mAh batteries for me that previous had developed a low capacity problem in a Maha charger.
Compared to my old Maha, it's nice to be able to see the capacities and voltage of the batteries. Having a device like this and a couple dozen AA and AAA NiMH batteries saves me several hundred dollars per year.
Make sure you glance through the documentation so you don't misunderstand the various modes.
TIP: you must make selections on the charger within 8 seconds of inserting the batteries, AND hold the mode button for 5 seconds when changing modes.
By A. KEITH (Albuquerque, NM)
I was looking for a good charger with individual battery controls when charging multiple batteries. I needed it to be compact and lightweight for travel.
I read several different reviews of several chargers (this one and others) and concluded that this one looked promising. So I purchased it and hoped for the best.
I was not disappointed. I have now charged almost 40 NiMH hybrid batteries and it does great. I can tell that it keeps the temnperatures down significantly below that of the cheaper chargers that typically come with the batteries and that have more simplistic time-duration controls.
The displays for each battery are also surprisingly informative and I have grown to really appreciate and depend upon that level of insight and control over each battery.
The controls are simple. However, it took me a few cycles to get the button-pressing-sequence down. But it is now pretty much a wrote sequence and, once learned, makes the use totally trivial.
My only real complaint is that the power supply "brick" that it requires ("brick" is probably unfair, it's not that big) does not have any provision for stowing the plug prongs. THat is one of my pet pieves when manufacturers insist on using that type of "brick". It makes it most unrully and irratating to pack for travel (which I do a lot). Stowable power prongs should be the norm, not these unstowable typwes.
That said, this is in all other aspects a wonderful product and I would most heartily recommend it to anyone wanting a relatively small, compact, lightweight but flexible charger with lots of ability to control the charging of recharable batteries.
By Mike M. (Long Valley, NJ)
This charger does it all, and better than anything else on the market. It provides an exceptionally controlled and monitored charge utilizing microprocesser technology; measures actual individual battery capacity; rejuvenates ni-cad batteries and identifies those beyond restoration; and, automatically adjusts to a safe trickle charge as batteries reach full capacity.
I considered the BC900 which provides a maximum 1000ma charge rate versus the BC700's 700ma. However, the customer feedback on the BC900 indicated about 10% of customers experienced serious problems, especially fire hazard type failures. It seems to be associated with the 1000ma high-charge rate feature. There were no reports of fire hazard experiences with the BC700 nor were there any feedback scores as low as the BC900. Since I have no need nor desire to charge batteries at that rate, the BC700 seemed to fit the bill.
As a further safety precaution against fire hazards, I have deliberately operated this unit virtually continuously for over a month (yes, in a safe place) between 200ma and 500ma and observed only a slight increase in operating temperature being only mildly warm to the touch. In sum, the unit has operated flawlessly. I can truly recommend it without any reservations.
By Timothy Danielson
So many times I would grab a set of batteries to put in my camera, flash... and because 1 of the 4 batteries was not up to snuff, I was dead in the water. With this charger you know which battery may cause you problems and you can recondition it. I will never buy a charger that doesn't give feed back again. This charger is also very compact so good things do come in small packages.
