Chances are, if you’re a photographer, you probably have dozens of AA batteries lying around. These days it seems like everything photography related uses them (if you’re lucky), from speedlights, to radio triggers, to light meters etc etc. I know I have at least around three dozen batteries, all of which are rechargeable, and it can be a chore to keep them all organized and together.
I have tried every method and product imaginable for storing and keeping my batteries organized but have now found a product I truly love! Chris at Outdoor Photo Gear tipped me off to the PowerPax Battery Caddies. These little guys are a breeze to use and take up little to no space. What I really love about them is that I can keep groups of four batteries together, in a small and compact, secure device.
These caddies are made of a hard, durable plastic and aren’t much bigger than a set of four AA batteries in your hand. The batteries simply pop in through the bottom of the case and snap into place, ensuring a snug fit. They won’t fall out, due to the design of the case, however you can easily pop the batteries out with one hand, which if you shoot weddings or other venues where you need to reload batteries quickly, this feature can save valuable time. When on an assignment, I always carry at least two sets of AA batteries in my pockets and up until now, I felt like I had aliens growing out of my legs due to the size of the battery case. But with these new caddies, you don’t even notice them in your pockets.
Another thing I really like about this system, is that you can get these cases that will hold various quantities and types. I personally prefer the 4-packs because most of the devices I use, either hold four AA’s or two such as my radio triggers. The 4-packs are handy to me because one important thing with batteries is to not mix and match them. In other words, when you get a quantity of rechargeable batteries, you always want to keep them in the original group, otherwise you can have problems keeping them charged. Some chargers will not charge batteries evenly when you have batteries of various charge levels in the charger. So, when I get a set of four batteries, I mark them with a sharpie so that I know which set goes together. The new PowerPax cases now enable me to keep those same four batteries together in a much easier system.
A couple of other cool tidbits about the PowerPax caddies is that they come in multiple colors, which can help you even more in organizing your batteries. You can even get them in a glow-in-the-dark color! …which should come in handy for all you night flashers 
This product has been on the market for some time and apparently, pilots, the military and other similar groups have been using these with great success. Now I can see these really taking off in the photography world.
To show how easy these are to use, I included a short video showing how to load and unload the batteries. (please excuse my poor video skills) Again I have to say I REALLY love this product and am planning on getting one of these for every set of batteries I have.
PowerPax Battery Caddy Review and Video Transcript
They’re very secure, they don’t come out. They’re lightweight and they just easily pop out. And if you have several sets of batteries, these are really good because it keeps your batteries separate. Using these for photography or any other application really you don’t want to mix and match your batteries. Typically in speed lights and a lot of other devices we use four AAs so this is a good way to keep all of your AAs together. Again, this is Power Packs battery management system.
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Tags: "John Adkins", review, PowerPax, batteries
