Every year, Rayovac batteries go on sale around Black Friday. Sometimes they have AA and AAA mixed packs, other times separate AA and AAA bulk packs. This year, Lowes was offering 36-count AA and AAA packs for about $7 each.
Home Depot has a different deal – 60-count packs of 30 AA and 30 AAA batteries for $10.
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I was out and near Lowes, and forgot about the Home Depot deal, so stopped by the Lowes to pick up a pack or two of batteries. Lowes’ special pricing actually ended yesterday, but they gave me the discount since they didn’t take down the promo signs.
I think Home Depot’s deal is definitely better, but I won’t return these. If anything, I’ll buy another pack at Home Depot. The ones I picked up at Lowes have a 10-year shelf life (2024 expiration), but the ones on Home Depot’s site are said to have a 7-year shelf life.
I picked up the AA pack and saw Made in the USA. I thought Rayovacs were made in the USA. Nice.
I then checked the AAA 36-count pack:
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It doesn’t say anything on the front.
On the back: Made in China/Packaged in U.S.A. Err…
So then I check the 4-count, 8-count, I think a 12-count, and 16-count battery packs nearby.
Made in the USA.
Yup, USA-made.
So… the special 36-count AAs are made in the USA. The special 36-count AAAs are made in China. And the regularly packaged AAAs are made in the USA.
Strange.
So then I checked the 24AA/24AAA packaging from 2 years ago. The AAAs are made in the USA, and the packaging says the AAs are made in the USA, Belgium, or Germany. I used up all the AAs so I can’t check what they say.
I also looked at two Rayovac AAs that I swapped out in favor of Lithiums in a brand new flashlight. Made in China.
I’m a little annoyed that Rayovac’s manufacturing country of origin is so inconsistent and all over the place. Especially since their website shows seemingly identical batteries as being USA-made. For important things, I tend to use Duracell, Energizer, or Eneloop batteries anyway. I keep buying the Rayovacs because they’re good for things like remote controls, kitchen timers, and other not very demanding tasks.
I’ll continue to buy Rayovac batteries, but probably not without checking the label to see where they’re made.
If I can stop by the local Home Depot this week, I’ll likely still buy that 60-pack of AA and AAA batteries for $10 (link). I’ve had good experiences with Rayovac batteries over the years, and that’s still a great deal. Baby toys eat up batteries like you wouldn’t believe.
jason. w
*Gasp*
I’m not sure if I will recover from that surprise.
Allen
I suppose it’s a case of “whichever ever way the wind blows”.
Good job checking however. If there is more than one COO for products in a pipeline I wonder how much good it does to buy the USA ones.
Cost rules.
Michael Quinlan
I think it’s weird that the Rayovac packaging has a single picture of a battery on it, and that it’s of a Duracell battery. I don’t think they’re trying to trick anyone, but it’s weird.
Jeffrey
Awesome observation, Michael.
I will probably hit up HD today. That is a really good deal. My 3 year old’s toys eat batteries like crazy.
Stuart
Some have “lasts as long as Energizer” imaging.
I guess I’m not the only one who sees Rayovac as a cheaper and lesser 2nd tier brand.
Farid
I used to think that way as well. At work, Rayovac do better than Energizers (alkalines). Duracell do a little better, but for some applications where we change batteries often and storage longevity is not an issue, it’s not worth the extra money.
John
Good to know that Rayovac is making some products here in the States.
Stuart – with a new baby, battery shelf life isn’t going to be a problem for you. If your son is anything like mine, every toy takes 2-4 AA or AAA batteries and after the second round of birthdays and Christmases it will seem like you’re changing batteries every couple of days.
On a side note, my local Lowe’s ad that came in the mail the other day has an offer for $5 mail in rebates (in form of Lowe’s giftcard) on each $10+ purchase of Energizer batteries with a limit of 3 rebates per household.
Farid
True. You’ll use ’em up quickly. In my case, I remember that every toy, monitor, or noise maker had 3-batteries. I tired using rechargeable, but most low cost chargers charged 2 or 4 at a time 🙁
Allen
Santa managed to break most of the noise makers toys had when our kids were little.
Joe
That Jolly bastard!
itguy08
Skip the wasteful Alkalines for the kid’s toys.
Head over to Costco and pick up the Eneloop NiMh’s and maybe some more on line and be done with it. They will last a long time, recharge tons of times and be better for the environment.
If you’re not a Costco member, there are plenty of places on line that sell Eneloop packages. Or some of the other LSD (Low Self Discharge) NiMhs.
joe
Just rig up a cordless battery to power a baby toy and then you have power for your tools and toddler entertainment. Though there will be hacking and noodle of cables to deal with, it would save money over the long run.
Rechargeable is the future. I remember buying non-rechargable batteries $5 for 8 cell packs.
I don’t really care about “made in the USA” since nothing worth buying actually comes from the USA, the only reason I would is to get jobs for the USA but even the army uses tacoma trucks in the field, phones use samsung gorilla glass screens in their phones, even milwuakee tools are not USA made if i’m not mistaken. Actually is kind of weird if an overseas company establishes a company in the USA to me since that would imply foreign technology made in a local company.
Getting back on point, nice deal but rechargeable are way more efficient if you ask me.