Right, let's be honest about batteries. Most of us grab whatever's cheapest at the supermarket checkout and hope for the best. But when your wireless mouse dies mid-presentation or the kids' toys start making that pathetic dying-robot noise, you start wondering if paying a bit more might actually be worth it. We've been putting Duracell Plus AA batteries through their paces for the past few months, testing them in everything from TV remotes to our photographer's flash unit. The big promise here is 'up to 100% extra life' compared to basic alkaline batteries, plus that famous Duracell reliability. At £10.06 for a 12-pack, they're definitely not the budget option — but are they worth the premium?
Duracell's made a big song and dance about their Power Boost Actives technology — apparently a patented blend of lithium and nickel that's supposed to keep your devices running longer. We can't peer inside the batteries with a microscope, but we can tell you how they perform in real life.
We loaded these into a particularly power-hungry wireless gaming mouse that usually chews through cheap batteries in about three weeks. The Duracell Plus versions lasted just over six weeks of daily use. That's not quite the headline-grabbing 100% improvement, but it's a solid upgrade that actually saves you money in the long run.
Here's something you probably don't think about until it goes wrong: battery leakage. We've all opened up an old remote control to find that familiar white crusty mess where cheap batteries have given up the ghost. Duracell's nylon top closure is designed to prevent this, and in our testing (including deliberately leaving some in a drawer for months), we haven't had a single leak.
This might sound boring, but when you consider the cost of replacing a £40 remote or having to clean battery acid out of your favourite torch, it's actually quite reassuring.
The packaging deserves a mention — it's completely plastic-free and recyclable. In a world where everything seems wrapped in seventeen layers of unnecessary plastic, this feels refreshingly sensible. The cardboard packaging is sturdy enough to protect the batteries but tears open easily when you need them.
We distributed these batteries across the office and asked everyone to report back. The results were consistently good: our digital camera flash recycled noticeably faster, the wireless keyboard lasted months longer than usual, and even in high-drain devices like portable radios, they kept going when cheaper alternatives would have flagged.
The 10-year storage claim is harder to test in real time, obviously, but we did try some that had been sitting in a drawer for over a year — they fired up immediately with no noticeable power drop.
These make most sense if you're powering devices you actually care about — professional equipment, expensive gadgets, or things you rely on daily. If you're just keeping the TV remote alive, cheaper batteries will probably do fine. But for anyone who's ever been let down by dying batteries at a crucial moment, the extra reliability is worth paying for.
For £10.06, you're getting genuinely premium batteries that deliver on their reliability promise. They're not cheap, but they last long enough to justify the cost — especially if you're powering anything important. We'd definitely buy them again.
As an Amazon Associate, Smart Trends earns from qualifying purchases.
Was this review helpful?
