CopperTop and Energizer Bunny are marketing terms most Americans are familiar with, but they don’t necessarily represent the brands of batteries consumers should be buying.
It’s not that Duracell or Energizer batteries are bad; it’s just that cheaper, lesser-known brands perform about the same, at least for traditional disposable alkaline batteries, according to recent testing by the Worcester Polytechnic Institute for a report at .
The report found “no measurable difference in quality among these batteries.” In the testing, brand-name batteries were tested alongside generics and a cheaper brand, Rayovac.
Those findings echo other studies, including one by Consumer Reports, which found so little difference among alkaline batteries that it recommended cheap Kirkland Signature brand batteries sold at Costco.
Online retailer also did its own tests and found less than a 20 percent difference among brands of alkalines, while price differences are often much greater than 20 percent, said owner Jim DeWitt. Gregory Karp, Chicago Tribune
