Those use a lithium ion cell, so they have a buck converter to step the voltage down to 1.5V, which will always use some power. They are not suitable low draw devices because of the high self discharge rate. They can't be used in high draw devices because the buck converter can only supply a limited amount of current. They also produce noisy power which can cause issues with radios and audio equipment. The USB port and charge circuitry take up a lot of space, so you get less capacity too. A low self discharge NiMH cell will be better for almost any use.
this post was submitted on 06 Jun 2025
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This appears to be a 14500 lithium ion cell (same physical size as AA), putting out 3.7v for a device like this flashlight that supports it. No voltage step down, just charging circuitry on-board.
Yeah, I think I'm going to stick to my energizers ... pretty much everything I use AA batteries for these days is a low draw device (door lock, smoke detector) or something like an emergency flash light, rechargeable batteries don't make sense for either use case.
I have some old school nice rechargeable batteries as well with an external charger. Those were nice back in 2016 when my bose headphones I was using at the time used AAA batteries, but it's been a long time since I've used those with any frequency.