Recently the rechargeable NiMH factory battery pack for my Minelab Sovereign GT died and I went searching for better options. I avoided the battery pack/alkaline option both because it is very expensive over time and is environmentally unfriendly. I considered the battery pack/NiMH option but was concerned about the lower nominal voltage (1.2V) vs. alkaline (1.5V). Finally, I landed on the battery pack/NiZN battery option. These NiZN batteries are amazing with initial voltage of 1.8V (1.6V nominal) and an mAh rating of 2500 (vs. 1000 for the Minelab rechargeable NiMH battery pack). They even weigh slightly less and are significantly less expensive than the Minelab pack!

At this point, I’m wondering why anyone would use the factory battery packs.

My batteries were from PowerGenix (www.powergenix.com) and I found them on Amazon.

I’d be very interested to hear feedback from others.