As a trail camera enthusiast, choosing the right battery has always been a key concern for me. Trail cameras often need to remain on standby for long periods while being ready to capture photos or videos at critical moments, making long-term cost, performance stability, and battery endurance essential factors.

Recently, I conducted a comparative test of three types of batteries:

Energizer Ultimate Lithium AA Battery, Eneloop Pro 2550mAh NiMH batteries, and XTAR AA 2500mAh rechargeable lithium batteries.

Here are my detailed test results.

1. Price and Cost Per Use Comparison

Brand ＆ model	Price (8 pcs)	Cycle Life	Cost Per Use
Energizer Ultimate Lithium	€22	1	€22
Eneloop Pro 2550mAh NiMH	€34.4	About 500	€0.068
XTAR AA 2500mAh Rechargeable Lithium	€52	About 1200	€0.043

*Cost per use = Total battery price / Number of cycles

What’s even more noteworthy is that XTAR also offers a bundle of 8 batteries and a BC8 charger for just €62.99 — making it more cost-effective than buying the batteries (€52) and the charger (approximately €20) separately. Additionally, the BC8 charger is compatible with batteries of other brands and models.

➡ XTAR clearly offers a much better cost-performance advantage over the long term, and with a charger that’s compatible with other batteries, it’s even more practical.

2. Battery Performance Testing

I tested the battery performance on two identical iZEEKER iG600 trail cameras, one using XTAR AA 2500mAh lithium batteries and the other using Eneloop Pro 2550mAh NiMH batteries, both set to the same mode. The test involved taking one photo plus a 30-second video at an outdoor temperature of 20°C.

• XTAR AA 2500mAh: After shooting, the camera still showed 65% battery remaining, and the captured image was clear.

• Eneloop Pro 2550mAh: After the same test, the camera indicated only 30 % remaining power. The captured video had a noticeable red color cast because NiMH cells drop voltage linearly as they discharge. Once the voltage dropped below approximately 1.2 V, the sensor no longer received stable power, causing the exposure circuit to fluctuate and resulting in a reddish, underexposed image.

➡ Under the same usage conditions, XTAR can continuously provide the high voltage required by the sensor, preventing image distortion and ensuring consistent shooting quality.

3. Battery Endurance Test

I installed fully charged Eneloop Pro 2550mAh NiMH batteries and XTAR AA 2500mAh lithium batteries in two identical iZEEKER iG600 trail cameras, set both to the same mode, and placed them outdoors to see how many photos could be taken before the low-battery warning appeared.

The test results are as follows:

Eneloop Pro 2550mAh:

The camera stopped shooting when the battery indicated 15% remaining, with a total of 12,846 photos taken.

XTAR AA 2500mAh :

The camera stopped shooting when the battery showed 10% remaining, with a total of 15,447 photos taken. Here are 2,601 more photos than with the Eneloop Pro.

Based on the above test results, I created a graph showing the number of photos taken across the battery level range (100% to 10%).

• Orange: Eneloop Pro 2550mAh

• Gray: XTAR AA 2500mAh

• Blue: Energizer Ultimate Lithium (As a control group)

Eneloop Pro 2550mAh:

• At 100% battery, it captured 300 photos. By 70% battery, the total reached 3,434 photos, showing relatively slow growth in photo count.

• When the battery level dropped to around 65% – 70%, the number of photos taken suddenly increased rapidly. However, as the charge continued to decrease (from about 60% down to the low-battery warning at 15%), the rate of photo capture slowed noticeably again, showing that the battery’s power output had become unstable.

XTAR AA 2500mAh:

• At 100% battery, it captured 13,900 photos. By 70% battery, the total had reached 15,318 photos.

• Throughout the entire process, the power output remained steady, without any sudden increase or decrease in the number of photos taken as the battery level dropped.

➡ This means that XTAR batteries can deliver a consistently high voltage output, enabling the trail camera to last longer and capture more photos.

Conclusion

From these rounds of testing, I arrived at the following conclusions:

• Cost per use: The XTAR AA 2500mAh lithium battery has the lowest long-term cost per use (€0.043/use), which is only 63% of the Eneloop Pro and 0.2% of the Energizer.

• Performance stability: The XTAR AA 2500mAh lithium battery can continuously provide the high voltage required by the sensor, ensuring the quality of photos and videos.

• Endurance: The XTAR AA 2500mAh lithium battery maintains a stable high-voltage output throughout shooting, delivering longer runtime and a greater number of photos.

While spending €50 on batteries may not seem cheap for a regular trail camera, it’s well worth the investment for anyone who needs a dependable power source for consistent shooting.