4 Position Advanced

This charger works very well and can charge individual batteries each on their own circuit, unlike some that must charge in pairs. I have several of these and they have held up for years. One recently failed, so I replaced it with the same thing.

Charges the batteries pretty quickly. Easy to just pop the batteries in and plug it into the wall. Good for the price.

Charging speed of 300mA for AA, 150mA for AAA - Slow but much better for a long run. I can confirm that eneloop the best rechargeable battery maker. Bought 16 yrs ago (Sanyo eneloop at that time) - still using the batteries (they are almost ending now). Amazing.

*** Updated 22nd June 2014 (scroll down to bottom of review) _______ Panasonic bought Sanyo a while ago and they have taken control of their fantastic eneloop rechargeable products. Though this charger is not branded eneloop it does show the word ADVANCED on the charger. Tempting... INDIVIDUAL CHARGING I was always frustrated with Sanyo's most common (cheaper, bundled) 4xAA battery chargers since they require charging batteries in pairs of 2 or 4 cells at a time (though not all the chargers they offer insist on charging in pairs). This charger allows any combination of AA and AAA to be charged since each cell is treated individually. I'm excited to see this change at this price point and in a 4xAA / AAA model. 100-240V WORLD VOLTAGE Users from countries outside the USA (and those who like to travel overseas with their rechargeables) will be happy to know this charger can run with world voltages, so all you need to plug in is a cheap travel adapter. The back of the unit has a flip-out US-style plug. No removable "figure 8" cable (or similar) is provided. The unit plugs into the power point. CHARGING The charge rate seems to be the same as my old NC-MQN06U 300mA for AA (~7 hours for fully depleted standard AA eneloop) 150mA for AAA (~6 hours for fully depleted standard AAA eneloop) These are very safe charge rates and probably mean better longevity for your batteries. Fans of faster charging (and more heat generation) should look elsewhere. If the charge rate were too slow the charger probably won't detect peak voltage well. So this is good. LEDs IN PAIRS? One of the claims here is that each battery is individually charged instead of it being done in pairs (which can overcharge or undercharge some cells depending on their individual characteristics). There are 4 LEDs on this charger, showing when each cell is charging and when it's complete. The 4 LEDs that light up when you are charging 4 cells are hidden below the plastic surface. You can't see the LEDs until you start charging. When you first turn the charger on, the LEDs light up one-by-one from left to right and then start glowing green. The light shines through the white plastic surface on the bottom part of the charger (below the negative poles of the batteries). The 4 LEDs unfortunately don't sit centred under each battery but rather in 2 pairs (even though this charger is showing individual charge status for each cell). Each green LED is not situated directly in the middle of each battery's negative pole, but rather occupies that bit of space closer to bottom middle of each pair of batteries. Panasonic probably made some PCB savings here. After the charging is complete, the green LEDs simply turn off. Getting to know which battery is charged when looking at the charger from some distance can be a little tricky since each LED is not centred under each battery (but it's no big deal after a closer look). It's truly a beautiful thing to see each green LED turn off individually when the charge is done for that particular cell, especially if you are coming from a charger that charged in pairs (or maybe it's just me). Finally we have individual charge channels in a reasonably-priced (ie. cheap) 4xAA / AAA charger! We don't have to live with those chargers that increase current rates when only 1 cell is populated too (possibly affecting the longevity of the cell by charging it faster and generating more heat in the cell). I like these changes. AESTHETICS The charger is a fair bit more compact than the NC-MQN06U (for example). Panasonic decided to finish the top surface of the charger in a gloss surface while the sides were kept matte. Bottom of the unit is matte except for where the text is printed. My unit shows "03-14" in the bottom-right. I assume it was manufactured March 2014, which makes it quite new since I'm writing this in May 2014. The gloss surface on the top makes handling a bit more slippery and gives distracting reflections but it's not a big deal. I'm just not sure why they didn't stick with matte like previous chargers. PACKAGING I was taken aback at the packaging (or lack of). I bought the charger alone (without any bundled AA cells) since I have plenty of eneloops. My unit arrived with charger and instruction sheet simply shrink-wrapped together. That's it. No retail packaging. It was a very OEM-ish experience. So my charger is not really suitable for gift-giving or any retail display (and there I was thinking Panasonic would proudly want to tell me about its new ADVANCED charger in great detail...). Maybe I should have bought the recently-released new 2100-cycle eneloop AAs bundled with this charger instead? I just never expected the charger to be packaged shrink-wrapped with the instructions. I can understand if Panasonic doesn't intend to sell the charger alone at retail stores and instead focus on the bundles and Power Packs (which must be far more popular) but I still didn't expect this. My unit was dancing around inside a bigger box, hitting into other things...just packed loosely. Since the charger was not totally sealed (each end of the shrink-wrap has a hole) this just didn't leave me with a good first impression since the charger's power pins were protruding a bit and hitting into my other items in the box. OK, I think that's enough talk about the packaging. CONCLUSION Bottom-line: I like the unit. It's a nice improvement over Sanyo's common 'cheapie' 4xAA chargers that can only charge in pairs. It seems to be great charger if you are not in a rush to charge your cells (I'm not). The BQ-CC17 should keep your cells in top condition without the heat generated (and possible longevity concerns) when charging with higher currents (400-500mA+) while at the same time not charging too slowly for reliable peak voltage detection. So this charger (and all bundles using this charger) are easy to recommend. Little annoyances were the positioning of green LEDs not being ideal plus a gloss top surface and non-retail shrink-wrap packaging. Despite these little niggles, this charger (and probably all bundles using this charger) are very easy to recommend. 4 stars. *** UPDATE (22nd June 2014) *** I've just found a set of batteries that the Panasonic BQ-CC17 won't charge. I had two old Olympus Camedia AA Ni-MH cells that were being used in kitchen scales (2300mAh, made in Japan). They were heavily discharged (kitchen scales reported them as "Lo"). These Olympus batteries are pre-eneloop days so they are not the 'low-self-discharge' type that we are used to with eneloops so they tend to lose their charge when sitting around. Anyway, they refused to charge in the Panasonic BQ-CC17. After the usual brief 'detection' period in the charger, the lights started flashing on and off quickly rather than remain lit with a steady green. I left the batteries (2 of them) in the charger for the several hours and the lights were still flashing. I confirmed this with 2 separate Panasonic BQ-CC17 units. The Panasonic manual states: "LED charge indicator lights will begin blinking rapidly after plugging the device in to the AC outlet. The LED lights will become solid indicating charging has begun." No solid lights mean no charge. I tested the voltage on the cells and confirmed it. To be fair these batteries were heavily discharged but I tried charging them in the La Crosse BC-700 which had no trouble charging them (or detecting them; sometimes the La Crosse can show "null" on heavily discharged cells). I don't know how likely this is in-the-wild but just thought I'd report it and I'd be interested to hear from others.

I bought two of these as there are now so mant NiMH batteries in the house. It was necessary, especially with all the extra recharchable batteries in the house.

I think I did good buying this one. Panasonic is a big company with a long history of premium quality electronics, and they probably know better than others about batteries and chargers because they make really high quality cells themselves. This charger is a good reflection of Panasonic's expertise in battery and charging technology. The charger, unlike other chargers, can charge any number of batteries simultaneously, or just one battery if you only want to charge one. Also, the batteries do not need to be "paired" to be charged. Every slot functions independently. The batteries charge reliably and consistently, and I experience a long service interval between charges. There are chargers that for some reason wont charge batteries all the way, but this one does it right every time. Also, I think using this charger is good for preserving the total lifespan of the batteries being charged because it doesnt really get noticeably hot, which affects the health of the cells. I think this charger is optimized for a long service life of the batteries you charge with it.

Used to have a similar charger for years and years. We loved it, used it well, and it finally quit on us. We tried a few battery chargers, and others have been defective or mediocre… slow-charging, confusing indicator lights, pair requirements, etc. We have definitely not been successful with USB-powered chargers and decided we needed that wall power. This is a solid charger that can be used for a single battery, or two, or three, etc. Most importantly: IT ACTUALLY CHARGES BATTERIES. No doubts! Highly recommend.

I have a Panasonic cordless phone system (2 handsets) that came with Panasonic AAA rechargeable batteries (one pair for each handset). Lately, my phone calls lasted about one minute or so because the batteries need to be charged. Ergo, I purchase this battery charger thinking it will charge my Panasonic batteries!! NOT!!!!!!!!!!! Two days ago, I put in 2 AAA batteries and left them charging overnight (plus 15 hours or more)...When I inserted the charger into the jack, the green lights were rapidly blinking....the next afternoon, I saw that the green lights were still rapidly blinking...hmmm! Let's see how much charge is in them. I put the batteries back on my handset and saw only one bar on the battery icon. So...let's do this again....today, I again took the batteries out of the handset (8am or so), put them back into the charger, plugged the charger to the outlet, inserted the batteries as directed on the instruction leaflet (for AAA batteries insert from the ( - ) negative side first. I just went to check on the charger (it's 7:11pm EST)...that means they were "supposedly charging" for about 11 hours or so...I put them on my handset, and guess what??? There is still only one bar showing in the battery icon!! I'm sending this back ASAP...this product is a bust!!!!!!!!!!!!!!