Not worth the extra $ for an LCD display
You can typically find this deal all over Amazon if you look, just type in "sony battery charger" and you'll find 4 or 5 different versions of what is essentially the same product in slightly different (if at all) casing. My advice? If you're looking for a Battery charger, get one that isn't Sony.
The batteries recharge just fine, and work much better and much longer than rechargeable batteries of the past, but after about a year (if not less) they start to lose their charge. I would trust bigger battery brand names more than I would sony, to be honest, but I bought this because I had a lot of sony rechargeable batteries.
I got this Battery Charger as a replacement for the one that was lost/thrown away by accident (by my neices/nephews) figuring the LCD display would be a nice feature to have so that I could tell when my batteries were gonna be charged.
Well, the first charge took about 8 hours. Before you go saying "that's ridiculous!", consider that it was the first charge, and the first charge for any charger/batteries is going to take a while. Afterwards I got batteries to charge in 1-3 hours. However, the LCD display was POINTLESS.
Why do I say that? Well...simple....IT DOESN'T WORK! It displays the battery animation for recharging, but the refresh rate for the animations is so poor that you could take a battery out when the display showed it as being about half charged, put it back in, and it would show it as being nearly fully charged if not more. In other words, the LCD lags something terrible and does not offer any REAL information about how well charged the batteries are. It's easier to just wait for the little light to turn off on the simpler, CHEAPER models.
There are a few nice things about this model that I should mention before closing this otherwise scathing review, or else why did I give it 3 stars instead of 1?
First off, the charger is considerably larger than the other models and thusly harder to lose.
Second, instead of just 2 slots for AAA batteries like on the cheaper models, there are 4 slots on this model.
Third, the model is very sleek and nice looking, and even though the LCD doesn't work as well as I'd hoped, it is kind of nice, I guess.
and last but not least, unlike other models this one does not plug directly into the wall, it has a detachable power cord that is long enough to hide if necessary and makes for a greater capability of movement/placement of the charger.
All things being told, it's not the worst charger in the world. I looks nice, it works, it has more AAA slots than the others..."That'll do, sony. That'll do."
My advice? If you're going sony, get the cheaper model -- it's easier, it works better, and best of all it's cheaper. Just be careful not to let it disappear on you.
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