AmazonBasics batteries are quite good in terms of capacity — pretty much tied for the top spot compared to the other 6 brands I’ve tested, but other brands have the edge in capacity per dollar. When I computed value by dividing capacity by the cost per battery of the cheapest package size, they took a respectable third place, and they have the advantage of being a trusted name compared to the value leader. In the images I have attached a graph and a table summarizing my test results for the 7 types I’ve tested, but if you’d like to know more about how I test … on to the in-dept test & review.

I’ve been on a bit of a quest to test all of the top-selling aaa batteries on Amazon in a repeatable, precise way. This means the same equipment, same environmental conditions, and same slots in the equipment will be used for each test. For each test, I fully discharge 3 batteries in my Opus BT-C2000 battery analyzer at rates of 100 ma, 200 ma, and 400 ma (discharge rate affects usable capacity). I have also performed this exact same test (same equipment, same conditions) on the ACDelco, Duracell Procell, Duracell Coppertop, Energizer MAX, Maxell, and Rayovac. I have linked the other brands I’ve reviewed at the end of this review if you’d like to take a look at the other results for comparison purposes. For the Amazon Basics batteries, the capacity at each discharge rate was:

Disch Rt | Capacity | Runtime | Sample use case
100 mA | 997 mAh | 10 hrs | Low-power LED flashlight
200 mA | 914 mAh | 4.5 hrs | Electronic toy / medium LED flashlight
400 mA | 623 mAh | 1.5 hrs | Motorized toy / bright LED flashlight

Note that these (and all other Alkalines) would achieve somewhat higher capacity (maybe 1200 mAh) in a low discharge application like a mouse, keyboard, remote control, etc because alkaline batteries have internal resistance that reduces usable capacity at high discharge rates.

The capacity of these batteries is among the best I’ve tested — take a look at the attached data table for comparative data. For the cost (~$0.31/ea in a 36 pack right now), these are a decent but beatable value — the power supplied per dollar spent is very good, but eclipsed by other currently available options.

Comparison:

These batteries do well capacity-wise, but value-wise are blown away by the currently cheapest energy/dollar battery that I’ve tested, the ACDelco aaa’s. Their capacity results were:

Disch Rt | Capacity | Runtime
100 mA | 1005 mAh | 10 hrs
200 mA | 864 mAh | 4.3 hrs
400 mA | 670 mAh | 1.7 hrs

As you can see, the Amazon batteries were very comperable … but, at the current time the AmazonBasics batteries are $0.31/ea (36 pack), while the ACDelco batteries are about $0.21/ea (48 pack) — so the ACDelco are significantly cheaper per mAh. I did not test shelf life, so it’s possible that these may hold up better sitting in a drawer. Although both the Amazon batteries and the ACDelco batteries are certainly made on contract by a third party, I do think that I trust Amazon a bit more to provide consistent batteries than ACDelco … although I haven’t had any trouble with my ACDelco batteries so far. It’s also worth noting that the Amazon batteries come in clearly superior packaging – while the ACDelco batteries come in a horrible gigantic plastic blister pack, the Amazon batteries come in a closable cardboard box. If you don’t go through a lot of batteries & organization of your battery drawer is important to you, that could push them into the all-around winner category despite the ~50% price premium.

Finally, because another review specifically mentions the Rayovac AA’s as being ‘good’ in some usage scenarios, I thought I’d share my findings for the Rayovac AAA’s. In short, they’re garbage – the Amazon batteries are better in EVERY case. It’s possible that the Rayovac AA’s are much better than the AAA’s, but I think it’s more likely that the version of the Rayovacs tested by the website that he got his results from is different than the most popular Rayovac on Amazon (I source all of my batteries from Amazon). I ran the Rayovac test several times because I couldn’t believe how poorly they did … here are some typical Rayovac results:

Disch Rt | Capacity | Runtime
100 mA | 908 mAh | 9 hrs
200 mA | 590 mAh | 2.9 hrs
400 mA | 443 mAh | 1.1 hrs

My other battery tests/reviews:

I have posted reviews for Duracell Coppertop, Duracell Procell and ACDelco aaa alkaline batteries with capacity data gathered using the exact same method and equipment. To find those reviews for comparison purposes, go to the product pages linked below and search for ‘mah’ under ‘all reviews’ (or just browse to them on my profile). If/when I do additional aaa tests/reviews in the future, I will update this list.

((ASIN:B00FF8KQJC ACDelco AAA Super Alkaline Batteries))
((ASIN:B00G3KQCN0 Duracell AAA Batteries Coppertop MN2400 – 20 Pack))
((ASIN:B0013DQY4O Duracell Procell AAA Batteries PC2400BKD09))
((ASIN:B004U3O87Y Energizer MAX AAA Batteries))
((ASIN:B00005T3EG Maxell Alkaline Battery AAA Cell))
((ASIN:B00XWP9H90 Rayovac Alkaline AAA Batteries))