As a flashlight enthusiast, you might be interested in this new professional battery charger and analyzer for checking and maintaining your batteries.
The full review is available here
English review at BudgetLightForum
German review on my website
Summary
For many years, the SkyRC MC3000 has been considered one of the best chargers for round batteries. The user has full control over the charging process and can set not only the charging current but also many other parameters. It can also connect to a PC or smartphone for settings and data logging.
And here comes the new SkyRC MC5000!
I was really looking forward to the SkyRC MC5000: a modern design with a large color display, innovative scroll-wheel input, charging currents of up to 5 A per slot, Bluetooth connectivity and advanced analysis features.
All in all, everything has worked so far, but the range of functions still seems somewhat limited. Many enhancements could potentially be introduced through firmware updates, such as expanded parameter ranges, more effective use of the status LEDs and possibly even support for 1.5V Li-ion batteries. The absence of program memory slots is particularly disappointing. At this price point, a PC interface for control and data logging should also be included.
In its current form, the SkyRC MC5000 is still a long way from being a real successor for the MC3000. It is not a bad device by any means, but it does not yet fully meet the expectations I have for a professional charger in this class.
Several chargers in the $20-40 price range measure the battery's internal resistance and pick a reasonable charge current based on that. Many of those have an override for charge current but it would be convenient to have the option of just fast or slow based on that measurement.
The rule still holds. Charging fast is harder on batteries. It's true for phone batteries too, so all these new phones with three-digit charging wattage are likely to wear out quickly.