IKEA's Rechargeable Batteries: Buy More, Spend More

IKEA's sold batteries for as long as we can remember, and we don't know much about their environmental impact other than 1) they are marked "mercury-free" and 2) they don't last as long as, say, a Duracell and 3) we can't help but buy them because they are cheap, cheap, cheap. But we've got so many gadgets at home that use batteries -- wireless keyboards, Wii remotes, you get the idea -- it's high time to switch to rechargeable. Fortunately, IKEA claims they're going green, and that means they now carry rechargeable batteries, so we thought we could scratch one more thing off the list.

But, really, who can say no to the price for the throwaways? At 10 for $2.99, that's about 30 cents per battery.

So this weekend, we were pleased to see rechargeable batteries at IKEA -- they're in the little green package on top of the literal mountain of throwaway batteries in the top image. But do they pencil out?

We certainly weren't enticed by the price: $18.99 for six batteries seems steep, even if it does include a charger. Think of the charger as worth, say, $5, and that works out to $2.33 per battery. If you think of the charger as free, those rechargeables shoot up to over $3 each.

But wait: we already have a charger at home, so we thought instead to buy the bigger pack of eight rechargeable batteries without a charger. But at $24.99, we'll still be paying over $3 for each battery. And if you include the charger in the price of the 6-pack, then the batteries in the 8-pack are actually more expensive.

That's not how buying in bulk is supposed to work, and we feel like IKEA tried to take advantage of us. Just because there's more doesn't mean it's a better deal. A better option? Surf over to Amazon and enter "rechargeable battery." We found lots of options, with well-known name brands starting at $14 for an eight-pack.

IKEA isn't always a good deal as far as electronic things go - I had a bad experience with their plug-in lamp dimmers. The price was great and they worked until the bulb (incandescent) burnt out in the lamp. Even after installing a fresh bulb, the dimmer no longer worked! Thinking that I just had a bad dimmer, I tried others and they all did the same thing!

6 burned-out IKEA dimmers later (I was using them on various table lamps throughout the apartment) I realized I should have just spent the money on the more expensive and durable Lutron dimmers in the first place...

posted by bepsf on February 25th 2008 at 10:37am
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Jonathanb- what a coincidence.vi was just wondering about ikea rechargables yesterday- thanks for investigating so i can avoid the expense and disappointment.

posted by rachel leigh on February 25th 2008 at 6:20pm
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The last photo is blurry but I am pretty sure that it says 24.99/2 packs. Even if you can not see the "2" but it surely isn't a "1" .
I went to Ikea last week. The charger is 18.99, like you said.
But the 8 pack of rechargeable batteries goes for 12.99 if I remember correctly. round that up and you spend about 1.62 per battery. still a good bargain I think.

posted by sidney_day on April 1st 2008 at 11:59pm
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So, maybe the batteries are $3 each, but they're rechargeable! Therefore they don't compare to the throwaway kind. You can recharge these batteries many more than the, say, seven times necessary to make they more cost effective than the throwaways.

Don't forget how much better you will feel not throwing away batteries - and how great it is not having to remember to buy new ones all the time!

posted by lucica on January 9th 2009 at 4:39am
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