This charger finally lets me ditch alkaline batteries for good in 2026

The Xtar L8 Box can charge eight batteries simultaneously, is compatible with both AA and AAA batteries, and runs off a USB-C charger.

• Can take AA and AAA lithium ion and Ni-MH batteries
• Powered from any 15W+ USB-C charger
• Handy charger also acts as a caddy for batteries.

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I've made it my mission in 2026 to finally rid myself of all alkaline AA and AAA batteries. OK, there will be the edge case where something will need lithium AAs to run, but that's only things that run in cold weather (like a handheld GPS receiver) or have a very long runtime (like the Elevation Lab 10-year TimeCapsule for the Apple AirTag). One of the problems I've had is keeping a sufficient stock of charged batteries -- a charger that holds two or four just doesn ...