I have this ultracheap made-in-China big kitchen clock, with a single AA that I've replaced twice in eight years. I don't buy expensive batteries, more like in line with the clock.
It has second hand (the kind that doesn't tick but appears to move uniformly) so there is some extra mechanical work.
I think the quality is hit and miss, even with premium batteries. I had enough devices damaged or entirely ruined by a leaked battery so now I remove them from anything not actively used.
If anyone knows a reliable model for AA/AAA cells that will absolutely not leak when left unused in a device for year+ I would love to hear it.
I’ve had much better experience with energizer not leaking while Duracell is terrible. Searching the net for other experiences, I found some prepper forums discussing this and apparently Duracell tries to extract so much capacity from the cell they sacrifice wall and end thickness causing them to leak.
I don’t think anyone can say they absolutely won’t leak, but search these types of forums/subreddits and you find other recommendations as well.
We switched to buying USB-rechargeable AA/AAA lithium ion batteries. The brand we buy is Pale Blue, but there are many other brands.
These batteries have a regular form factor, with an added micro USB (and USB C on some larger battery sizes) port for recharging. They work really well for us and charge quickly (and conveniently — everything has a USB socket nowadays).
The price may seem expensive, but after 10 or so charge cycles they should have paid for themselves. I expect these batteries will be good for many hundreds of charge cycles.
I wouldn't recommend this personally, having had bad experiences with poor charge circuitry in integrated chargers like these (in my case it was in a 18650 battery). Get a good charger (e.g. eneloop), and then you can get generic rechargeable batteries incredibly inexpensively for it, without risking poor charge management causing overheating or battery failure.
The same little charger circuit built into the batteries also converts the lithium battery chemistry voltage to 1.5v making them a drop in replacement for AA and AA batteries.
Or are you saying you can get 1.5V lithium rechargables that work with an external charger?
Get IKEA's LADDA rechargeable NiMH, they are a rebrand of Eneloops, the some of the highest quality NiMH batteries available, and are made in Japan; all tests on YouTube and elsewhere consistently put them at the top of the line.
They have very low self-dishcharge rate (and even come precharged in packaging) and with recharge cycles ranging from 500 (for the highest capacity 2450 mAh AA ones) to up to 1000 (for 750 mAh AA/1900 mAh AAA ones). Also, they do not leak.
Big Clive suggests using nimh batteries for expensive electronics since they won’t leak. Also they are much better than they used to be, and there are many slow self-discharge brands that you can actually buy pre charged.
My solution for this sort of thing is the rarely-used devices get lithium cells. More expensive but they're not prone to leaking once they're discharged.
It has second hand (the kind that doesn't tick but appears to move uniformly) so there is some extra mechanical work.