Is it better to completely drain my rechargeable batteries every time?

My Camelion Always Ready AA Batteries doest hold charge at just 30 recharge cycle? Why?

• An year ago i bought an Canon Sx130Is camera. Along with the camera there came 2 camelion Alwaysready 2100Mah AA batteries and its BC1001B mini travel charger. In The beginning the charge was better with the battery. I could take atleast 200HD snaps + 4 videos of 640x480 with this fully charged batteries. I Charge the batteries for 12 to 13 hrs before use. I usually charge the batteries only after completely draining them (thou I read somewhere that, NiMH batteries are not required to fully drain before recharging them again as they have a memory and will pick and fill the rest charge). This is was the case until its 23 or 25th recharging cycle. Bur ffter this 25th Recharging cycle (after 4months of buying), I experienced a strange problem. I recharged the battery (probably for the 26th time) that night (for 12 hrs) and next day morning I put them on my cam for a outdoor tour and started taking stills. After hardly 70HD snaps + 2 videos (640x480) the camera started showing Low battery sign. At my 100th snap (Approx.) the cam switched off with showing the sign as “Change the batteries”. I was confused! I have heard that Camelion Alwaysready has 1000 recharge cycle or atleast 500 times of recharge cycle to the best! After 7 months, after fully charging, at 15th HD snap itself the battery showed low battery sign and switched off at 40th or 50th snap ! I thought that Camera might be the suspect and so i bought a pair of fully recharged Sony batteries (pretty new) from my friend and used it. I was able to take at least 210 shots + some videos. Which cleared me that Battery was the real suspect. Then I bought a pair of Sanyo Eneloop 1900Mah and now I could take atleast 250 HD snaps (each ranging from 3mb to 5mb) or 600 normal SCN/shutter snaps (each ranging from 250kb to 1mb) + 7 video (640x480) or 3 HD video (1280x720). I am 200% satisfied with eneloops. I am using eneloop for 3 months and have recharged them for atleast 20 cycles and the performance if perfect with no change. Now, What could be wrong with Camelion? Ok, about any Damage to the batteries like cracks, tears and burns or even leaking? No. There are small dents to one the batteries at +ve end (even my eneloop has similar dents, so nothing new). But the battery’s outer name lable/name cover are peeled out a little. I used my battery within these condition only- - Charge in correct respective charger. - no power fluctuations. - my plug points are 100% in good condition. - I usually charge the batteries for 12-13 hrs. - Use the Batteries in cam immediately after the recharging (within a hour or two). - Never dropped my battery strongly on floor. - Used under temperatures of 25deg to 37deg and stored under 20 to 30deg celcius. - only use for cameras and never used these camelion for any other device. Well coming to the point.. This might look silly. But the thing is, I actually use Eneloops for outdoor tours. But, I do take unwanted and silly snaps indoor too (most of them goes deleted) but i enjoy taking them. So thought I could get verified from here that my camelion batteries are in good condition and need some things like taping so that i cud reuse these and save my eneloop’s life for more outdoor use..! Pls help…

• Answer:

  The Camelion batteries are probably cheap Chinese knock offs which might be junk. Since the batteries and charger were part of a package deal, they will throw in the cheapest junk they can find. Moving to the Sanyo batteries is a good move. Your next good move will be getting a good battery charger like the ones Maha makes. Unfortunately, the Maha chargers are pretty expensive compared to the corner quickie mart varieties.