Cat&Mouse Games #2 the Battery Maffia
This will be short.
Avoid anything that has rechargeable batteries insides.
Why, you might ask? What's wrong with those? Aren't they "environmentally friendly"?
The short answer is: NO, they aren't. Use disposable batteries instead, better for you and for the environment.
So, the longer answer is complicated. Here it goes. On the surface, you may be fooled to believe that standard batteries that you can buy virtually anywhere on the planet 24/7, in local supermarkets, big department stores, even at your local groceries shop, they are environmentally "unfriendly" because they use all kinds of chemicals. Guess what: the rechargeable ones use even more chemicals, and even more toxic ones.
You may argue that yeah, but the disposable batteries, as the name implies, are disposed sooner rather than later, while the rechargeable ones "live longer" before the need to be disposed, too. If may seem a better option both for you and the environment. However, there is a hidden trick. Read on.
The rechargeable batteries can be recharged indeed (hence the name), but what they never tell you is this: each and every rechargeable battery is MADE DIFFERENT size, composition, parameters, etc. They are DELIBERATELY not standardized. So you shaver, your thermometer, your electric bike, your electric car, your whatever gadget EACH has a completely different rechargeable battery. This is not an accident or bad engineering: it is done deliberately to make each and every rechargeable battery inherently obsolete.
So, imagine you buy an electric shaver. If it is powered by disposable (probably AA sized) batteries then use them for months in a row on a pair of batteries, replace those batteries for peanuts anywhere in the world, dispose the used batteries properly, and you got yourself a shaver that lasts FOREVER. However, if it is powered buy a built-in (not user-replaceable) rechargeable battery, that battery will have a certain number of charge-cycles after which it will die. It will last on each charge for a certain number of HOURS (not months!), so you will have to charge it rather frequently. The charging itself is an annoyance: you should not forget the cable, make sure the cable has the proper plug (an issue when traveling), you need to be in the vicinity of an electric outlet, and you should wait (usually hours) before your shaver is fully charged. You should constantly check the power level and repeat this nuisance regularly. After a certain number of charging cycles your rechargeable battery will DIE, and you should dispose of it properly. HOWEVER, that will be the END of the life of your shaver, as you will NOT FIND A REPLACEMENT BATTERY for your shaver... So the difference is clear: disposable battery powered shaver? FOREVER! Rechargeable battery powered shaver? ONLY FOR A LIMITED TIME.
Nothing new under the Sun: this phenomenon and business practice is called PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE, and this is just one of the many ways businesses try to make it impossible for you to OWN your purchases, and force to you repeatedly buy the same thing over and over again...
More to come: BE VIGILANT and see through the tricks of today's EVIL business practices, protect yourself against them, save money and have a piece of mind.
Do it, thank me later...
Peace