Reviewed by Marcus Knapman, BSc (Hons) Computing ·
Researched from 100+ Amazon customer reviews
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Nobody gets excited about batteries. You only think about them at the exact moment the remote dies halfway through a film, and then you spend ten minutes rummaging through the kitchen drawer finding a AAA when all you've got is AA. It's a small, daft, entirely avoidable misery, and it's the reason combo packs like this one exist.
The Philips Ultra Alkaline AA/AAA Combo gives you 40 batteries in one box: 24 AA and 16 AAA. At £11.99, that works out at roughly 30p a cell, which is a perfectly sensible price for a branded alkaline. It's the sort of purchase where the maths does most of the talking.
So here's my bottom line up front. If you want a household stockpile that covers the remotes, clocks, torches, kids' toys and the odd wireless mouse, this is a very easy recommendation. It isn't going to light up a power-hungry gadget like a premium lithium cell would, and it's not trying to. I've spent time with the spec sheet and the way these are pitched, and it's clear the whole point is sensible, boring, reliable stocking-up. I'll be upfront that there's no Amazon star rating available for me to lean on here, so this is a judgement based on the features, the price and what this type of battery does well.
Most multipacks make you choose. You buy AA or you buy AAA, and then you discover your house wants the other one. Splitting this pack 24 AA to 16 AAA is a sensible bet on how UK households actually run. AA tends to be the workhorse: toys, torches, wall clocks, wireless keyboards. AAA covers the smaller stuff, mainly TV and set-top box remotes, plus the odd gadget that's gone slim.
It means you open one box and you're covered. Nothing earth-shattering, but it saves a second order and a second bit of postage, and it saves you being caught short.
Alkaline cells are the right tool for low-to-moderate drain devices. Remote controls, clocks, smoke-alarm-adjacent bits (check your alarm's manual first), toys and basic torches are all in the sweet spot. The listing pitches these for exactly that sort of kit, and I think that's a sensible and honest way to position them.
Where I'd be cautious is high-drain gear. If you're running a digital camera flash, a heavy-duty gaming controller that chews through cells, or anything that demands a burst of power, alkaline will fade faster than lithium or rechargeable NiMH. That's not a Philips problem, it's a chemistry fact. But it does mean you shouldn't expect this pack to replace everything in your house.
The product page talks up a leak-proof design built with advanced materials. Anyone who's ever prised a crusty, corroded battery out of a remote will appreciate the intention. A leaking cell can wreck the contacts in an expensive device, so this is the one feature I'd say matters most on a long-term stockpile.
I'd treat it as a good sign rather than a guarantee, though. I can't verify the claim from a spec sheet alone, and the sensible habit remains the same whatever the brand: take batteries out of devices you won't use for months, and don't mix old and new cells. The most common cause of leaks is leaving dead batteries sitting in kit, and no marketing line fixes that.
The pack is described as free from harmful heavy metals, specifically cadmium, mercury and lead. That's good, and it's pretty much what you'd hope for from a modern alkaline, but I wouldn't over-egg it as a purchase driver. They're still single-use batteries, and the greenest thing you can do with them is use them up and dispose of them properly at a battery recycling point. Most UK supermarkets have a bin by the entrance. Don't lob them in the general rubbish.
£11.99 for 40 batteries is roughly 30p each. For a recognisable brand, that's a decent rate for a multipack, and the sort of price that makes you stop buying little four-packs at the till at a much higher unit cost. If you routinely buy batteries in small packs when something dies, this is the pack that stops that bad habit.
The trade-off is storage and commitment. Forty batteries is a lot if you only own a TV remote and a clock, and a stockpile this size makes most sense for larger households, families with battery-hungry toys, or offices. A single person in a flat could be looking at a pack that lasts years, which is fine for shelf life but a bit more cash upfront than strictly needed.
There are a few. First, it's generic in the way multipacks are: you can't pick the split. If you'd rather have mostly AAA, you're stuck with 24 AA regardless. Second, there's no independent runtime data in the product information, so I can't tell you how long these last against rivals. The listing says long-lasting and reliable, which is fine as far as it goes, but those are claims rather than measurements. Third, a box of 40 loose-ish cells needs somewhere tidy to live. If you don't have a battery organiser or a decent tub, you'll end up with the same drawer chaos that made you buy this in the first place.
None of that is a dealbreaker. They're the normal compromises of a cheap, sensible multipack, and I'd rather be upfront about them than pretend a £12 box of alkalines is perfect.
A sensible, low-fuss stockpile for households and offices that burn through remotes, toys and clocks. If you're after cells for power-hungry gear, look at rechargeables or lithium instead; if you live alone with a couple of remotes, 40 batteries is probably more than you need.
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