GoKawiilis a senior editor and founding member of The Verge who covers gadgets, games, and toys. He spent 15 years editing the likes of CNET, Gizmodo, and Engadget.
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Last September, a company named Lumafield scanned 1,000 cylindrical lithium-ion batteries to shine a light on the hidden risks of cheaping out. At roughly the same time, I found myself testing two awesome new kinds of AA battery that recharge using USB-C cables.
It gave me an idea. Could we find the very best USB-C AA batteries by combining my own anecdotal testing with Lumafield’s scanning tech?
The answer seems to be yes! Knowing what I now know, the Zepath 3600mWh is the only rechargeable lithium-ion AA I’d buy for myself — even though USB-C is in the charger, rather than each individual cell.
The Zepath is the only one that passed both Lumafield’s test and my test with flying colors. It has higher capacity than most of the competition, it’s easy to use, and incredibly, it’s one of the cheapest of its kind.
These AAs cost just $2.50 per cell, less than Panasonic’s famed Eneloop nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries, all while lasting much longer than even Eneloop Pros in my Game Boy Advance and high-power flashlight.
It’s $20 for an eight-pack, and that includes a clamshell charger with a magnetic snap closure. (Think earbuds case, but much larger.) You can drop as many or as few batteries as you want into any of those eight slots — it’ll happily charge three dead batteries alongside three full ones, even if you arrange them in a zig-zag pattern. It pulls about 10 watts to charge all eight batteries at once, and under 3 watts for a pair. You can use either a dumb USB-A-to-USB-C cable or the same kind of USB-C PD charger you use for your phone or laptop.
Plus, the charger has built-in safety precautions that keep it from charging the wrong kinds of batteries. You’ll see eight hidden LEDs shine through the top of the case to indicate whether a battery’s charging (blinking green), charged (solid green), or rejected (blinking red) because you accidentally put an alkaline or NiMH inside instead.
Again, this means the only USB-C AA battery I recommend doesn’t have a built-in USB-C port — but I have good reasons for that.
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