This charger will allow me to finally say goodbye to alkaline batteries in 2026
The Xtar L8 Box is my dream AA/AAA battery charger - it charges eight batteries simultaneously, is compatible with both AA and AAA batteries, and runs off a USB-C charger.
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ZDNET's key takeaways
- 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't cut it. What I need is a charger that can keep eight batteries charged up.
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This is what the Xtar L8 Box comes in. This charger ticks all the boxes for me and is set to become my charger of choice going into 2026.
Xtar L8 Box charger specs.
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET
OK, so it's a battery charger. What's special about that? Well, a few things.