Ikea 2016 LADDA Rechargeable Battery Impressions: Tan and white?

I recently found two new Ikea battery chargers, the STORHÖGEN and VINNINGE, on the Ikea.ca website. This eventually led me to the American website where I found four new Ikea LADDA batteries. The old ones, if my memory hasn't failed, were a silver and green color? These newer ones were in white and a tan/khaki color.

Panasonic Eneloop Batteries with Charger

Disclaimer: I had not had any firsthand experience with any STORHÖGEN, LADDA, or VINNINGE products when I wrote this piece. Details were quoted from the Ikea United States website or Canada website in early April 2016. Details on this page are NOT guaranteed for accuracy.

First Impressions: The New 2016 Ikea LADDA Batteries in white, higher capacity
I'm starting with the LADDA batteries with the white wrappers. According to the product pages on the American Ikea website, the white AA and AAA batteries shared certain features like "Life: approx. 5 years" and good for recharging "approx. 500 times." However, the rated battery capacities were different: 2450 mAh for the AA, 900 mAh for the AAA. And the price was US$ 6.99 for both versions.

No mention of low self discharge technology was noted on the product pages -- a feature of Panasonic Eneloops. Speaking of Eneloops, I looked them up on Amazon.com and found that an AA, white wrapper version was rated for "up to" 2000 mAh, and "up to" 2100 recharges. This pack of four was US$ 12.99 when I checked. An AAA version was US$ 8.99 for a four pack with a rated capacity of "up to" 800 mAh. It was also supposedly good "up to" 2100 recharges. I was looking at the BK-4MCCA4BA and BK-3MCCA4BA models.

So, the white LADDAs were obviously cheaper, but they appeared to have a life-span, based on number of recharges, of about a quarter of the Eneloops -- I didn't see an approximate time-based lifespan for the Eneloops. Where the LADDAs appeared to win out was with battery capacity. They beat both the AA and AAA Eneloops but by less than 25%. The biggest factor for me was the rated number of recharge cycles: about four times more with the AA Eneloops for a bit less than double the price, and for US$ 2.00 more with the AAA Eneloops.

First Impressions: The New 2016 Ikea LADDA Batteries in tan, lower capacity
Okay, what about the tan colored batteries?

Like the white LADDAs, the product pages noted that the AA and AAA versions had "Life: approx. 5 years." However, these could supposedly be recharged "approx. 1500 times." The capacity of the AA version was 1000 mAh and the AAA was 500 mAh. They were both US$ 3.99.

At US$ 3.99, the tan batteries were US$ 3.00 less than the white version. There was, however, a significant reduction in capacity. Again, I did not see anything about low self discharge. My use for them would be in remote controls and that's about it. They would allow me to not use Alkaline batteries for a relatively low cost. I'm not sure I'd be that happy with their performance though. There are Eneloops in my remote controls right now, and they were good even after a year sitting in an often used remote.

Final Thoughts
I was introduced to two new varieties of Ikea LADDA rechargeable batteries: a low capacity version in tan and a high capacity version in white. The lower capacity version, however, was rated for a larger number of recharge cycles. Price appeared to be the greatest attraction, but I would still probably stick with Panasonic Eneloops.