How can I judge whether I should buy NiCads or Alkaline batteries for my metal detector?
Carbon Zinc and Alkaline batteries are the two types most readily available, and their cost should be a lot closer today than several years ago. To judge for yourself how much they cost, use a set of each type, keeping track of the number of hours of use you get from each type. Divide the cost of the set of batteries by the number of hours of use they provided. This will tell you which offers the best performance in your detector. NiCads are available in almost all battery styles today, and offer a much better price/ performance ratio if you use at least one or two sets of batteries per month. Using less than one or two sets means that you will not recover your initial investment as rapidly. NiCads can be very noisy in some detectors, and also have a “memory” characteristic if they are not fully discharged each time they are used. I prefer Alkalines, since they don’t exhibit any of these characteristics.
