Stop throwing money away on batteries and help save the environment.  Rechargeable battery technology has come a long way.  Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries offer 500 to 1000 charges and no memory effect.  While these batteries have lower current densities than alkaline batteries, they have better discharge characteristics.  In fact, they perform better than alkaline batteries in some applications.  For example, my digital camera could only get about 12 pictures on a set of alkaline batteries.  I get around 96 pictures with Nickel Metal Hydride batteries.  Energy efficient devices will tend to do worse with NiMH batteries than alkaline batteries.  For example, my GPS works for about 16 hours on alkaline batteries but only gets 11 hours on NiMH batteries.  NiMH batteries are 1.2 volts while alkaline batteries are 1.5 volts.  Most devices have voltage regulators that allow them to work equally well with both batteries but I found one laser pointer that didn't work with NiMH batteries and standard incandescent flashlights will tend to be dimmer with NiMH batteries. 

I have quite a few gadgets that use AA and AAA batteries and I no longer buy alkaline batteries.  These include TV remotes, caller-ID boxes, LED flashlights, GPS receivers, digital cameras, walkmans, clocks, Motorola Talkabout FRS radios, electronic toys, etc. 

I currently use GP (Gold Peak) brand AAA batteries.  They offer some of the best current densities and they are very reliable.  The 700 mAh battery is my choice for AAA size.  They can be found online for $2 per battery.  Significant price discounting occurs when you buy 40 batteries so I purchased enough for all of my devices, plus enough to fill all of my chargers.

I currently use GP (Gold Peak) brand AA batteries.  They offer some of the best current densities and they are very reliable.  The 1800 mAh battery is my choice for AA size.  They can be found online for $2.50 per battery.  Significant price discounting occurs when you buy 40 batteries so I purchased enough for all of my devices, plus enough to fill all of my chargers.

This is the mother of all chargers.  It's advertised as a 3-hour quick charger but I get charge times closer to 1 hour since my batteries are usually not completely drained.  It will charge four AA or AAA batteries in pairs.  The charger runs in trickle mode after the batteries have been charged so you can leave the batteries in the charger until you need them.  This ensures a maximum charge when you're ready to use them.  I purchased four of these chargers and enough batteries to swap out several devices when I need them.  For example, two Motorola family radios take 6 AA batteries.  It's very convenient to just take them out of the charger and place the old batteries in the charger.  The charger can be found online for $23 ($25 with a car adapter).