In an age of Wii consoles, remote controls, wireless mice and radios, it's all too easy to go through tens of batteries every few months. For many, recharables is the next logical step.

However, I found traditional rechargeable batteries annoying; often requiring you to plug in a wait as much as 10 hours+ to fully charge. I didn't like the idea of leaving batteries unattended overnight or whilst out at work, and there are times when I just didn't have my recharger to hand.

I was really pleased to discover USBCell batteries on their release.
These are as simple as they look in the image; simply flip the attached lid and plug-in to charge. I initially purchased them as a novelty, but was really surprised just how much I use them. And they're getting more useful everyday, as USB ports can now be found in abundance on PC's, games consoles, and blu-ray players - even (cheekily) at work!

These batteries are excellent for wireless mice as if they run out it's easy to pop them into your computer. Around 2 minutes of charging can give you a good half hour or so worth of life from your mouse, enabling you to finish what you are doing.

However - you may notice that the actual battery compartment is smaller than usual to make room for the USB connector. Therefore, they don't store as much energy as typical rechargables; wouldn't recommend these for high-power devices such as cd-walkmans or cameras. The batteries take around 5 hours to charge.

A pack of two batteries typically retail at around £7.50. This does seem a bit pricey, but they do pay for themselves.

One last annoyance is that USB sockets tend to be closely spaced together on devices. The size of the battery means that you often cannot plug in two batteries side-by-side.

Overall, I love the convenience that these batteries offer, and prefer them to tranditional recharging methods.