30 minute or 16 hour charger

[Huan]

Which type of charger is recommended for longer charges and more over all recharging? The quick 30 minute ones or the long trickling 16 hour ? I'm using Ni-MH battery's and have seen these two different types of chargers available, but noticed the 16 hour one claims you can recharge 1000 times where the 30 minute one didn't say.

Any difference in performance/useability that any know of?



Btw.. I use mine in a digital camera (( AA ))

[larrymoencurly]

The R/C car and plane people probably know best, but I've read that if cells are charged at a slow rate they'll develop a lot less capacity because smaller crystals will grow. OTOH it's important for a fast charger to turn off before the cells become overcharged, and I had a Columbia AA charger that probably overcharged the cells a lot because it was either defective or didn't sense the end of charge but just relied on a timer. It was so bad that I took it back, even though it would have been free after rebate and included four free batteries.