When I first saw this little AA battery with a USB connection for recharging I thought it looked like a nifty gimmick, but what would I use it for? It's turned out to be quite handy as we've got a couple of battery operated kids toys and old torches lying around the house.

The usb battery is a rechargeable battery but instead of using a separate charging device to recharge it, the battery comes with a built-in male usb connection which can plug in to your laptop or pc's powered usb port. Like most other AA size rechargeable batteries it is a Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) cell, but it includes a cap which pops off to reveal the usb connection.

The usb connector is found on the negetive terminal side of the battery, covered by a cap which slides off easily but is attached with a little elastic band so can't get lost - clever idea.

As roughly a fifth of the battery's size is taken up by the usb connector this means it has a smaller cell part and so has slightly shorter milli-ampHour rating which means it doesn't deliver charge for as long as a regular rechargeable battery. The ones I tested packed 1450 mAh opposed to some other rechargeables I have that provide up to 2700 mAh.

It can make up for this with its convenience and not having to lug around a separate charger though. Its probably ideal for the traveller or mobile office worker as they can be easily charged through your laptop's usb port and used to power devices like a cordless mouse, wireless or folding keyboard, digital camera, mp3 player. I usually go on holiday with my laptop and invariably take a torch along too. Using the usb batteries in the torch means I don't have to take spare batteries or a charger along with me.

The battery has a tiny red led light built into it which shows that it's charging when lit. Charging time is around 5 hours to over 90% capacity. I found it took an initial seven hours to fully charge (for the light to go off) on my laptop. The usb battery can also be charged in a conventional NiMH charger, where it takes seven hours at 250mA. It shouldn't be charged in a super-fast charger (rated over 600mA) that charge batteries in less than 2 hours.

The usb battery can be recharged about 500 times before losing capacity and they can be dropped at rechargeable battery recycle points (provided by uniross at retailers). Being a Nickle Metal Hydride battery it has the same advantages as regular rechargeable NiMH cells (lesser memory effect and better for the environment than Nickel Cadmium batteries).

A set of two AA batteries retails for R99. A nice gift idea for someone who likes gadgets or handy for someone on the move or who doesn't want to use a regular NiMH charger.

Review battery provided by thegreenshop.co.za