Laser ChargeCore Batteries Review: Are cheaper rechargeables better value?

The Laser ChargeCore batteries offer a more affordable way to power up your gadgets that need AA or AAA batteries – for as long as the power lasts.

Score: 3/5

In this review

Laser ChargeCore Batteries Design
Laser ChargeCore Batteries Performance
Laser ChargeCore Batteries Conclusion

A little while back, I reviewed some sets of USB-C rechargeable batteries from Paleblue, noting at the time that while conceptually rechargeable batteries are quite a good deal if you use a lot of batteries and especially so if you’re concerned about the environmental impact of those batteries, you still needed to do your sums and work out if they were the right match for your needs.

The Laser ChargeCore Batteries are essentially the same concept – a battery in either AA or AAA format with a USB-C charging socket on the side – only offered at a much lower price point than the Paleblue batteries, costing just $29.95 for a pack of four.

So an easy win for the budget-conscious battery user then, right?

Well… maybe. Once again, you’ve got to do your sums, though they’re slightly different sums this time around.

Ethical disclaimer: Laser sent me the Laser ChargeCore Batteries used in this review. As always, that gets them a review but no editorial input – but I believe in being upfront about this to be clear.

Design

Laser sells their ChargeCore Rechargeable batteries in either AA or AAA sizes, and there’s not too much I can say about the design there, because it’s been a standard for a very long time indeed. Unlike the previously reviewed Paleblue versions, Laser doesn’t appear to offer other battery size formats, just AA and AAA.

Laser’s particular take is for batteries with a mostly black casing, which could be a little challenging if you’re using them in a device in a dimly lit room, I suppose.

Where your classic very old school rechargeable batteries needed specific chargers to top up the power, each of the ChargeCore batteries instead has an inbuilt USB-C socket that you plug into in order to top their power. For the AA models that’s located on the top of the battery, while the AAA variants have them on the side. That’s a consequence of the size of a AAA battery, as it’s not as wide as a USB socket.

The one design note – and this is a minor nitpick – that I have here is that on the AAA batteries, the actual cutout for the USB socket is a little rough to the touch. It’s not an issue that affects how the batteries work or how they fit into a device, because again, AAA is a standard, but it doesn’t feel good when you pick them up, and it does make me wonder about the general quality of their construction in the longer term.

Laser provides a recharging cable in the small travel box that the Laser ChargeCore Batteries sell in. One of the ways that they’ve achieved their lower price point is by only offering a charging cable that can top up two batteries at once. That’s a… choice, I guess, and it’s not one that I particularly like given they’re sold in packs of four, and charging isn’t a massively fast process.

Performance

Putting a USB socket on the side of a battery does affect quite how much space you’ve got internally for the actual power that you want to draw out of each battery. This is where you start having to do your sums to work out if the Laser ChargeCore Batteries are right for your needs.

Laser makes the same claim that Paleblue makes when it comes to usage cycles, claiming up to 1,000 recharge cycles for the Laser ChargeCore Batteries. That’s not quite the same thing as replacing 1,000 batteries that you might use, however, because you’ve also got to consider how much onboard power each of these batteries is packing.

The other way that the Laser ChargeCore Batteries sell for less is, frankly, by offering slightly less.

Each AAA Laser ChargeCore Battery is rated at 390mAh, while the larger AA Laser ChargeCore Batteries pack in 1332mAh as per Laser’s specifications.

Comparatively, the more expensive Paleblue AA and AAA batteries have stated capacities of 600mAh and 1700mAh respectively. How does that compare with the set of cheap disposable batteries you bought down the supermarket last Friday?

I’ve no idea, because I wasn’t with you at the time, but the point here is more that non-rechargeable battery capacity can vary quite a lot; you can get AA and AAA batteries with more single use capacity than either type, but equally if you’re buying super-cheap, you’re getting what you pay for, which is to say not much.

This does play out in real world use, too. While battery rundown will be a function of the devices you throw them into, using the same test as I used for the Paleblue batteries by throwing the Laser ChargeCore Batteries into an IPS modded GameBoy Advance (because retro gaming is my life) saw the battery life sit more in the roughly 3 hour battery life bracket where the Paleblues managed more in the 4 hour zone.

While they are rechargeable, it’s in the nature of lithium ion batteries to degrade, so over time you can expect to get less and less battery life out of the Laser ChargeCore Batteries in the same way that your smartphone’s battery doesn’t last as long as it used to. Blame entropy, it gets to us all in the end.

Laser ChargeCore Batteries: Alex’s Verdict

Laser’s whole approach is selling to the price-conscious market, whether that’s rechargeable battery packs or… well… microwave toastie makers. I still can’t quite believe I reviewed that one…

But I digress.

The Laser ChargeCore Batteries are more budget-centric rechargeable batteries than their Paleblue equivelents, and it does show. You’re getting slightly smaller batteries and a slightly less convenient charging setup to boot, but you’re also paying less money for the batteries upfront.

There’s definitely some potential value to be had here for those simply looking at the financial bottom line, and while the maths around whether you’re really replacing 1,000 batteries with a set of these is a little suspect, the overall environmental impact should be considerably less too – and that’s no bad thing at all.

Laser ChargeCore Batteries: Pricing and availability

The Laser ChargeCore Batteries retail in Australia for $29.95 for a 4-pack of either AA or AAA batteries.

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