I am a modern Mother.  A mom of today.  A wife of a software engineer with a love for all things electronic.  With two boys, there is a multitude of toys and electronics throughout my home.

I have a pretty small family.  Lots of extended family, but as far as kids go, my 2 boys are it on both sides of immediate family.  The youngest of 4, the only sibling I have with a child is my older sister and her son (my nephew) is about to turn 20.

My husband is the older of 2 and his sister doesn’t have children.  Needless to say, my kids are SPOILED ROTTEN.  Not by us, which you could tell if you took a look at any of my posts from the Mom Dot Christmas of Dreams Party.  I don’t need to buy gifts for my kids, I can barely keep up with paying for the batteries required to operate them!

Too often, the batteries cost more than (or equal to) the toy itself.  With Swings, cars, trains, musical instruments..the list goes on.  If we want to run one toy, we’ll sometimes have to pull the batteries out of another just to get it running!

I was recently given the opportunity to put some batteries to the test.  Rayovac is confident in their products, and want consumers to be able to focus more on enjoying the product they purchased than worrying about battery cost and life.

I tested three equal types of AA and AAA Alkaline batteries-Rayovac, Duracell and Energizer.  With each brand, I put them to the test with three kids toys-EyeClops Night Vision goggles, a Home Depot Drill and a Geo Trax Train Set.

I’d like to start by saying my son hit the jackpot.  He was beside himself with excitement at Mommies new battery testing challenge.  We had him in the center of the room with the goggles on, Drill in one hand and Train remote in the other.

I’d think it’d be funny to say we just had him stand there for 5 hours a day but I couldn’t get that lucky.  Over a weeks time, we played constantly.  When we were unable to keep our fingers on the operating buttons, I rigged them with rubber bands to ensure they stayed operating.

With each toy, I assessed an average use and battery time.  I tried to keep it as controlled as possible, using the timer on my microwave.  Being a mom of 2 with the holidays near, I am going to be sure to state that I’m not a engineer and can not say 100% that I was completely accurate, but I got a great idea of the value of each battery and the life it would supply.

EyeClops Night Vision goggles

Takes 5 AA Batteries-Expected Hours of Service Life 7 Hours

1. Rayovac- lasted about 6h 38m Price to Operate $2.80
2. Energizer- lasted about 6h 34m Price to Operate $4.45
3. Duracell- lasted about 6h 30m Price to Operate $4.70

Home Depot Drill

Takes 4 AA batteries -Expected Hours of Service Life 6 Hours

1. Rayovac-lasted about 5h29m Price to Operate $2.24
2. Energizer-lasted about 5h 34m Price to Operate $3.56
3. Duracell- lasted about 5h 48m Price to Operate $3.78

Geotrax Grand Central Station Train Set

Takes 6 AAA Batteries to Operate -Expected Hours 10 hours

1. Rayovac- lasted about 9h 27m  Price to Operate $3.60
2. Energizer- lasted about 9h 32m Price to Operate $5.46
3. Duracell- lasted about 9h 47m Price to Operate $5.58

In Summary, my little challenge showed me that I can get roughly the same battery life from Rayovac in almost half the price.  In this high tech world where we’re now registering for batteries on our baby gift registries (well, I did), it’s great to be able to have the knowledge that I’m getting more than my money’s worth with Rayovac.  Thanks for saving me so cash when the economy is so very, very bad!  Happy Holidays!