A really neat well thought out product which I thoroughly recommend.

I've had one for a few months now and it works just great so I'm looking to get another one.

It charges quickly but not always in 1 hour - it will depend on the ambient temperature and the capacity of the AA battery ie 2000 mAh will be faster that 2500 mAh.

Using them with the Duracell "Stay Charged" brand rechargeable AA batteries I've had great results - pretty much as you'd hope.

This type of Duracell rechargeable (as distinct from Duracell rechargeables NOT branded as "Stay Charged") will retain their charge for longer than a standard rechargeable battery. If you weren't aware - standard Ni-MH type rechargeable batteries tend to "leak" their charge relatively quickly over a few months once charged - and so charging them now - with plans to use them in a few months don't tend to work very well.

The new generation of "hybrid" batteries do a reasonable job of getting around this so that several months after you first charged your batteries and threw them into the back of the drawer - they are pretty useable rather than totally flat or having very limited charge left.

There are a few really nice features on this charger CH1HR-2 which make it a lot nicer than most of the other rechargers which I've had over the years (Accu, Duracell, Uniross and previous iterations of Energizer)

Firstly - you can charge just one AA battery at a time - rather than charging them in pairs so if you have anything with an odd number of batteries eg torches with 1 or 3 batteries - then this'll make you happy.

I haven't tried for AAA but assume that works too.

Secondly there aren't any annoying things you need to "flick down" in order to charge smaller AAA batteries - on some brands you have to do this - and whilst it is just two seconds of my life - somehow it always really annoys me to have to do this because I'm always thinking why don't they just have two banks of connectors for each size AA / AAA.

The answer is cost of course - but I find it annoying - so this is a great solution !!!

Major downside - for some people at least - will be that it DOESN'T charge those squared off batteries with the button connectors on top - so just be sure you don't need this.

Minor downside - again important for some people - is the fact that it doesn't plug straight into the wasll and has a wire to plug into the mains. This is great for the setup in my house - but other people will want a plug straight into the wall without an adaptor or cables - so make sure this isn't you.

I'm surprised to still be writing about something so simple - but I guess that simple things done really well just make life a whole load more pleasurable.

Just ask Apple LOL - though I doubt that they'd give me an iPad for the same price !!!