[Backlash]

From my experience with batteries, it is often a case of you get what you pay for.. Unfortunately, good quality NiCd/NiMh cells are becoming hard to get these days, especially with LiPo batteries growing in popularity..

Sanyo has always been the brand of choice in NiCd cells.. I have some Tamiya 1400mAh packs (Tamiya packs are Sanyo cells), and some random Sanyo 1700mAh packs, and they still discharge to over 80% of their capacity, and they are well in excess of 10 years old..

I also have some GP3300mAh NiMh packs that were used and abused for racing for the first few years of their 8+ years of life.. These packs still discharge greater than 2800mAh, which is pretty good considering that they are often left fully discharged for months at a time..

Venom NiMh batteries I don't even rate.. All of the ones that I owned, failed in less than 6 months..

The biggest issue with the larger capacity NiMh batteries, is that the cells self discharge, often at different rates.. When this happens, you may end up with one cell at 20% capacity, 4 cells at 40% capacity, and the last one at 60% capacity.. What happens then is when you charge the pack, the one cell that is at 60% charge reaches full charge before the other five cells.. As the charge cycle continues, that 60% cell, then starts to go into overcharge, giving off the energy that the charger is trying to put into it as heat.. By the time the charger completes the charge cycle, that one cell that started at 60% is now way over charged, and the excess heat often damages the cell beyond repair, or sometimes the cell can even explode.. Lets not forget the cell that was at 20% capacity.. Because its charge level was much lower than the other cells in the battery pack, when the charger turns off, it is not fully charged, so when you run the pack, that one cell goes flat long before the other five, until it fully discharges, causing more damage to that cell, damage that can cause your charger to turn off (false peak) before the battery is fully charged the next time you try to charge the battery... Pretty soon, you have a battery with two dead cells, one from over charge, and one from over discharge..

To combat this problem, most racers would completely discharge their NiMh batteries before they charged them, and after discharging the whole battery, many would then put the battery on a discharge tray such as a Novak Smart-tray to discharge each cell individually and equalise the pack before putting it on the charger..

Since buying LiPo batteries, I rarely use my old NiCd/NiMh battery packs.. Sadly, many hobbyists have gotten themselves caught up in all of the negative hype that surrounds LiPo batteries, and do not use them..

In my opinion, LiPo batteries (together with brushless motors, and 2.4Ghz radios) are one of the greatest innovations in our hobby in the last 10 years.. Again, treat your LiPo batteries with the respect they require, and they will serve you well for many years..