Nikon Coolpix L5 - Is it necessary to use Nikon EN-MH1 Rechargeable Bats???

I just received a Nikon Coolpix L5 for Christmas and although I am not
new to digital cams or rechargeable batteries, I am somewhat unsure
about using batteries other than the Nikon EN-MH1 suggested in the
manual, although I assume that it is merely a marketing scare tactic.
The thing is I have plenty of rechargeables NiMH bats already. About a
dozen pairs of Rayovac NiMH bats rated at 1600 mAh (Nikon EN-MH1s are
rated at 2000 mAh) that I recharge on a Rayovac 1-Hour NiMH/NI-CAD
recharger that I have been well pleased with. I'd rather avoid buying
the Nikon products, especially the charger since it is much slower, if
possible. I only ask if it is okay to use the bats I already have or
will buy to work with my charger after thinking about the recent bat
malfunctions in notebooks and cell phones that resulted in fires.
Anyone out there care to put my mind at ease on this issue?

Thanks in advance,
Shawn

BTW
Nikon Coolpix L5 seems to be a great pocket cam for the price - 7.2 meg
and 5X optical.

Shawnj wrote:
I just received a Nikon Coolpix L5 for Christmas and although I am not
new to digital cams or rechargeable batteries, I am somewhat unsure
about using batteries other than the Nikon EN-MH1 suggested in the
manual, although I assume that it is merely a marketing scare tactic.
The thing is I have plenty of rechargeables NiMH bats already. About
a dozen pairs of Rayovac NiMH bats rated at 1600 mAh (Nikon EN-MH1s
are rated at 2000 mAh) that I recharge on a Rayovac 1-Hour NiMH/NI-CAD
recharger that I have been well pleased with. I'd rather avoid buying
the Nikon products, especially the charger since it is much slower, if
possible. I only ask if it is okay to use the bats I already have or
will buy to work with my charger after thinking about the recent bat
malfunctions in notebooks and cell phones that resulted in fires.
Anyone out there care to put my mind at ease on this issue?

Thanks in advance,
Shawn

BTW
Nikon Coolpix L5 seems to be a great pocket cam for the price - 7.2
meg and 5X optical.

If they are standard AA NiMH rechargeables, there should be no problem
(with the slight catch that the AA size is not /quite/ standardised, and
some batteries are a loose or even a non-contact fit....).

Good to hear you like the Nikon!

David

On 10 Jan 2007 10:04:23 -0800
"Shawnj" wrote:

[... about batteries for a CoolPix L5 ...]
I only ask if it is okay to use the bats I already have or
will buy to work with my charger after thinking about the recent bat
malfunctions in notebooks and cell phones that resulted in fires.
Anyone out there care to put my mind at ease on this issue?

The batteries that have been the subject of recalls lately have been
Li-ion batteries. NiMH may not be the perfect battery technology, but
at least it's not prone to catching fire. And these bad batteries in
Dell laptops and various cameras have all been made by Sony. (Ouch!)

Set your mind at ease. Your old 1600mAh batteries won't last as long
as newer higher-capacity cells, but they'll work well enough.

Paul Allen