Sony BCG-34HRE4KN Battery Charger

I bought this charger around end of December 2011 and used it for a few weeks. This is a very good charger. Everything worked perfectly until a few weeks back when it won't come on.

I took it to Sony Service center in Hyderabad. They won't replace it nor repair it. They say they have no warranty for small things. They also asked me to produce the original wrapper to check warranty information. I threw it away a few days after I found it was working. I had no idea that Sony's warranty is working based on wrapper. I showed them the original bill from Flipkart. That was not enough.

Based on this experience, going forward customers are advised to keep the original packing for anything you buy from Sony !! Thank god no other company is insisting this. Otherwise, we all would end up reserving one room for all the packing considering all machines and gadgets that a modern house has.

Overall extremely disappointing experience from Sony Service for a good product.

I did a fair bit of research before buying this. Although there are other lower cost ones, this one is better because of the charger. This particular Sony Charger is better than others because:
1) It is a fast charger. Charging times are much better than other Sony and Sanyo chargers
2) It can charge 1, 2, 3 or 4 batteries. Other chargers like the one that comes with Sanyo Eneloop (and even other lower priced Sony chargers) can only charge batteries in pairs. This can be a problem if you want to charge 1 or 3 batteries (or even if one battery has discharged more than the other).
3) Has auto cut-off and does not over charge
4) Has refresh function which is not available in most other chargers.

The only downside is the cost. It is priced a bit too high. But this is a premium product.
The 4 AA batteries included are excellent. I use them with my Nissin Di622 Mark II flash.

Overall, I would whole heartedly recommend this product.

Review:
Excellent product from Sony and Par-excellent service from Flipkart.

Features:
1. "Refresh" function
2. Blinking in case of invalid/faulty battery
3. LED turns off after a battery is completely charged.
4. Really good build quality and performance (charges fast).
5. Four 2100 mah batteries (included) provide enough juice.

Summary:
This charger is must buy for normal or camera buffs (like me) using heavy AA's.

I bought this 2-3 months ago to use with my xbox & wireless mouses. While I cant complain about the product (good quality - batteries are working well), I think i may have over bought in terms of deriving optimal usage.

I have not recharged the batteries even once yet as my usage is lower than what i originally expected. Given the price of new batteries - maybe paying 1400 bucks upfront was over investing in capacity.

My suggestion to you - go with the 2 slot 2 battery combo chargers and if really required buy 2 additional batteries. It is going to be extremely rare that you recharge all 4 batteries at same time.

Just a friendly advise.

Flipkart, how did this happen? I have not tested this product yet. am writing this review as soon as I received the package. The manufacturing date on the product was April 2011 and it was sent to a customer of yours who ordered it on April 2013.

I don care how well it works. its 2 freaking years old. The trust which was built through previous purchases is gone now. Will update more after using the batteries and the recharger.