I have used the Energizer 2500mah and Duracell 2650mah AAs, they worked well for a short time. After a few months they would self discharge to unusable levels almost overnight, I have since read that many people have had the same experience with them. I have been using the Turnigy LSD AAs now for several months. At first they were amazing, I would charge them up, run two practice days and a race day every week for a month before re-charge. After about 3 months of that they lost a little performance, but still hold their voltage very well when I am not using them. I have not used the ultra high-end AAs like Eneloop or anything, but I would bet they cant be too much better than these Turnigy for the price. For charging, I use a Futaba wall-wart charger that came with an old transmitter I bought many years ago. It charges at 0.05A for a super slow charge. I would never charge these AAs over 1A.