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Here are tips, with help from Bryan Noonan, co-owner of online battery-seller Zbattery.com, and Shawn Cushman, vice president of category management and sales for retailer Batteries Plus.

Heavy duty means light duty.
Heavy-duty batteries are only good for low-drain devices, such as a wall clock. There's no compelling reason to buy these batteries, sometimes referred to as "general purpose." They have one-third the capacity of alkaline batteries that don't cost much more.

Alkalines are the workhorses.
Regular alkaline batteries work well and, among disposable batteries, are economical for most applications, except high-drain devices such as digital cameras and digital audio players. You usually can do better than a buck a battery on the ubiquitous AA and AAA cells. A decent deal is 50 cents per battery or less.

Super alkalines.
Alkalines specially designed for high-drain devices, such as Duracell Ultra, can be worthwhile because they last about 50 percent longer, Noonan said. But they're largely a waste of money if used in low-drain devices. So if you are only going to bother buying one type of battery, stick with regular alkalines, Cushman said.

Name brands.
Should you trust Coppertop or the Energizer Bunny to be better? Not necessarily, according to independent tests by Consumer Reports and Zbattery.com. No brand seems to be consistently better, at least for low-drain devices. In fact, Consumer Reports named the Costco store brand Kirkland Signature as the best value.
With generics and store brands, look on the package for "Made in the U.S.A.," which probably means it was manufactured by one of the big three makers, Duracell, Energizer or Rayovac, Cushman said. They are likely to be superior to foreign-made batteries, he said.

Quantity counts.
Buying larger quantities usually gets you a much better cost per battery. Most alkaline batteries have a shelf life of five to seven years, which means you can stock up when you find a good price.

Check online prices.
Web sites can offer great prices on batteries, especially in bulk.

Lithium lasts long.
Lithium batteries, such as the Energizer e2, last many times longer than alkalines and are great for digital cameras and digital music players. But they're much more expensive than alkalines. So they might not save you much money over the long run, but they're more convenient because you have to change them less often, Noonan said. That makes them especially good as camera batteries on vacation.

Rechargeables are cheaper.
Rechargeable batteries are much better than a generation ago. They are more expensive up front but far cheaper over the long run, even factoring in the cost of the charger and minimal electricity used.
And today, rechargeables last longer on a charge than a regular disposable alkaline, Cushman said. The big drawback is traditional rechargeables lose battery power while idle. So, if your digital camera has been sitting in a drawer for a few months, its rechargeable batteries could be drained when you need it to capture an unexpected moment. You can recharge batteries about 200 times, though some manufacturers claim hundreds more. In general, opt for nickel metal hydride (NiMH) rechargeables over nickel cadmium (NiCad).

Rechargeable math.
You can get a decent charger and four rechargeable batteries for $30 to $50. Compared with 50-cent disposables, you could save $350 after 200 charges. If the rechargeables yielded 500 charges, $1 disposables end up being $1,950 more expensive. Electricity cost for charging is negligible.

Try the new technology.
New hybrid rechargeables, or precharged batteries, are now available as AA or AAA. These NiMH cells come charged and lose power at a slow rate, maintaining 85 percent of their charge even after sitting idle for a year. And they cost about the same as regular NiMH rechargeables.

Recycle rechargeables.
You can throw alkaline batteries in the trash, but you should recycle rechargeables. Fortunately, it's easy. You can drop them off at such retailers as Sears, Radio Shack, Home Depot, Lowe's, Staples and OfficeMax. See Call2recycle.org for a list of battery recyclers.

2. Go for nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) rechargeables for real power-suckers -- digital cameras, CD players and power tools -- because they're the best, most cost-effective choice, Klatt says. "An alkaline battery takes 50 to 60 pictures. An oxy nickel may take hundreds," he says. "But a NiMH battery can take 200 to 400 on one charge -- and you can recharge it up to 500 times!" Cons: You need a charger and must power up before use.

3. Special rechargeable batteries, usually lithium-ion, come standard in laptops, electronic games and cellphones. "Smaller and more powerful than NiMH batteries, they are becoming the choice for consumer electronics," says Peter Roth, a battery researcher at Sandia National Laboratories. They are intended for a specific use and are not sold in common individual sizes (AA, C) for general use.

4. Charge with caution. To extend the life of a battery, do not overcharge it, Klatt says. "Ideally, once it's charged, remove it from the charging source," he says. "For example, don't keep your Nintendo DS plugged in or your cordless tool in its base. Continuous charging generates heat, which is detrimental."

5. Protect your home. Smoke alarms take standard 9-volt batteries, or some come with an enclosed, 10-year lithium battery. Test each one monthly to make sure it works.

Yep, we all run on the darned things. And this is great for Batteries Plus, a Hartland, Wis.-based chain of 300 stores that sell batteries, batteries and more batteries. And when the company is not selling them, it is repairing them. A customer walks in with a flat battery of just about any description, and Batteries Plus gets everything up and running again. Each store stocks up to 12,000 different types of batteries, says Russ Reynolds, CEO of the $200 million-revenue company.

“In an electric-powered society, there’s a lot more than just double-A batteries,” said George Knauf, a franchise consultant in Warrenton, Va., who has done business with the company. Batteries Plus operates in 41 states, with the heaviest concentration being in the Midwest and the Southeast. Fifteen stores are company owned; the rest are franchises. The company is privately held, and management has no plans to go public. “It’s difficult to invest in the business and achieve longterm objectives while focusing on the quarterly earnings call,” Reynolds said.

The company plans to roll out roughly 50 franchise stores annually for the next several years and to double the number of company-owned units to 30 over the next five years, Reynolds says. The goal is to have about 600 stores operating within the next five years. Most will be in suburbs of the Northeast and the south central U.S. and along the West Coast. and still not saturate the U.S. market, Reynolds says, citing internal surveys. Everyone needs batteries, and American homes are rich in cordless and cell phones, handhelds and even garage-door openers, he says. Thus, most Batteries Plus stores are located in open-air centers near lifestyle and power centers, where they are a stone’s throw from a Best Buy, a Home Depot or a Target. The company does not generally seek space in malls, because easy access is important — customers carrying the appliances for which they need batteries prefer to avoid a long trek to the store.

The stores measure between 1,500 square feet and 2,000 square feet, but the cost of real estate puts freestanding locations out of the company’s price range, says Reynolds. Batteries Plus makes a strong tenant for small open-air centers, says Mark Stewart, COO of Pellerin & Salomon Real Estate Services, Atlanta. “As developers of retail strip centers, we’re always looking for the next new concept,” Stewart said. “This is one of them.” So far Batteries Plus is a tenant in a Pellerin & Salomon center in Huntsville, Ala., and the companies are discussing future deals.

When entering a metro area, the company generally opens about 20 stores in quick succession to gain critical mass and build brand recognition. This is particularly important for the stores’ business-to-business sales, which account for about 40 percent of revenue. Corporate customers span some 20 fields, including manufacturers, government agencies and Kroll. José Perez, president of the Perez Group, Portland, Ore., operates five Batteries Plus stores in the Portland area and says he plans to open a sixth. About 60 percent of his business comes from manufacturers, technology companies, police departments and similar institutions.

The Batteries Plus concept lends itself well to franchising, says consultant Knauf. It’s a clean operation and requires fewer employees than, say, a fast-food restaurant. Most franchisees are referred by other franchisees or are former customers and have at least two stores, he says. This is a good sign, of course, indicating that earnings are generally healthy enough to allow investment in additional stores and that the operational structure is conducive to multiple units, says Joe Mathews, a consultant at Franchise Performance Group, Litchfield, Conn., which has no business relationship with BatteriesPlus.

According to the Batteries Plus Web site, the initial capital investment for a franchise is somewhere between $144,000 and $296,000. Batteries Plus franchisees invest 4 percent of net revenue in local radio and newspaper ads, direct mail pieces and the like. They contribute an additional 1 percent for national advertising, which is handled through an in-house agency of Batteries Plus. They also pay a computer-support fee of $200 a month. Most of the national marketing is focused on the company’s Web site, which added e-commerce capabilities last year.

“It’s a significant brand- and traffic builder for the stores,” said Reynolds. About a third of visitors to the site click on the store locator feature, he says. Franchisees are credited with any Web-related sales that come from their geographic area. A strong e-commerce strategy makes sense, Mathews says, because consumers looking for a specific battery usually begin their research online.

The concept “makes a lot of sense from a consumer point of view,” Knauf said. Though many stores sell batteries, he says, it does not appear that anyone nationally is offering the breadth and depth of inventory that Batteries Plus does.

Startup Journal turned to FRANdata to help us come up with a group of 25 high performers or our readers' consideration. Ultimately, we cannot say that these franchisees are the best in the U.S. or that they are the outfits that will net potential franchisees the most profit. Rather, we looked to create a list of franchisees that are well established, have experienced leadership, exhibit overal financial wealth and have a proven record of franchising success. Our list is not a ranking; franchises appear in alphabetical order.

Franchise Snapshots
To get to our 25, we began with a universe of 1,458 systems for which detailed performance information was available for 2005 from their Uniform Franchise Offering Circulars, including audited financial statements. Only brands with separately disclosed financial performance data were included in the final list. That meant excluding outfits like McDonald's Corp. and Dunkin' Brands, Inc. from consideration because they combine performance data for their multiple brands.

The list was reduced to a group of 37 companies that met the following criteria:

* Seven or more years of experience franchising.
* A minimum of 100 franchise units.
* A below-average turnover rate for 2004 (the mostcurrent available data). The turnover rate reflects the portion of a company's existing franchise units that were either closed ("cancelled" in franchise jargon), sold back to the franchiser ("reacquired") or sold to another franchisee ("transferred"). For that year, the industry average turnover rate was 12%.

A company's years in franchising and its number of franchised units are important because theyshow the experience a company has in franchising, says Darrell Johnson, president of FRANdata. "If you look at a company that only has one year offranchising experience, it might not know how much support to provide franchisees," even if it knows a great deal about its core business, he says.A company that has a greater number of franchise units will have "experience dealing with a wider range of services, franchisee business issues and franchisee personalities."

Franchisee turnover offers clues to franchisee success, Mr. Johnson says. While some turnover is healthy (e.g., a sale of a profitable franchise),high turnover may indicate a lack of stability, says Mr. Johnson. For example, a dissatisfied or unsuccessful franchisee might sell a franchise orclose at a loss.

Once we reduced our list to 37 franchise brands, we canvassed those companies with the following variables in mind:

* Franchises' net income/shareholders' equity ratio
* Projected additional franchise units for 2005
* Franchise unit cancellations
* Top executives' experience at the company

We looked at their net income (profit) and shareholders' equity (assets minus liabilities) forfiscal 2004 to try to ensure that franchises on our list were financially sound. The capital base of franchises in our final 25, as measured byshareholders' equity, was at least $950,000 for fiscal 2004. All franchises in our final group exceeded a 25% return-on-equity ratio (netincome divided by shareholders' equity) average over the past three years and in 2004. It's also worth noting that our 25 franchises had positivenet income over the prior three years. We also looked to see whether the franchise was in a growth mode. We included only systems in the final analysis that were projecting nine or more units for 2005. In trimming our list, we also took a closer look at turnover, specifically at cancelled units, or units that were closed. All 25 companies on our listhad a cancelled unit rate of less than 3% in 2004.

We wanted the systems on our list to have top executives with significant experience at the company. All the franchises on our list had topexecutives with at least six years of experience at the company.

Looking over our list as it stood, we eliminated two more franchises. One we dropped because it was extending its franchise only in rural markets and through existing businesses under a cobranding arrangement. Another franchise with more than 700 units had a net growth in units of only 20 in the past five years; we thought readers would want to see franchises with more active expansion plans.

Thus, we came up with our list of 25. Is each one right for every prospective franchisee? Certainly not. Minimum investment alone is a differentiating factor. Start-up costs can range from a few thousand dollars in the case of, say, CruisePlanners, to more than a million dollars in the case of Pizzeria Uno. (These figures exclude real estate purchase costs.)

This list, and our look-up tool for it, should serveas a starting point. StartupJournal will be doing an ongoing series of franchising articles throughout the year to provide our readers with information that will help them make the best investment for them and then make the best of their investment. If you have thoughts on this list, or our coverage in general, please email them to sjeditor@dowjones.com. We look forward to hearing from you

Wright, who's been trying out Rayovac's new batteries, is impressed. In the month since he snapped them into his camera, he hasn't had to recharge them once.

"It's nice being able to just pop them in there," said Wright, an Athens, Ga., home remodeler who has been using his camera frequently.

Battery makers see big potential in rechargeables, a small but steadily growing part of the $3.5-billion-a-year battery industry. They're also improving the technology to address consumer complaints.

Madison, Wis.-based Rayovac Corp., the nation's third-biggest battery maker, is broadly launching its revamped rechargeables in a few weeks. The batteries, which are fully powered out of the box, are now available only at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. locations with a suggested retail price of $8.99 for a four-pack of AA or AAA batteries. Chargers cost $9.99 to $19.99.

The time spent recharging is a major complaint, said Sean Martin, a division vice president at Rayovac, a unit of Atlanta-based Spectrum Brands Inc.

"It's the inconvenience of 'I have to charge them before I can use them and then every time I go back to use them they discharge their power,' " Martin said.

The new Rayovac batteries, called Hybrids, not only ship fully charged but also can hold that power for about nine months when they're not used.

They're made of the same elements as standard nickel-metal hydride rechargeables, but the nickel-metal alloy is treated with a chemical process that enables the batteries to hold their juice longer, the company said.

Hybrids will completely replace Rayovac's other rechargeables after the first of the year.

Electronics giant Sanyo Electric Co. has a similar nickel-metal hydride rechargeable called the Eneloop for sale at Circuit City Stores Inc., Ritz Camera Centers Inc. and other chains, said David Isola, a Sanyo senior product manager.

He said the company had sold 10 million Eneloop batteries worldwide in the 10 months since they went on sale. The batteries, which are fully charged out of the box, can hold their power for as long as two years when they're not being used, Sanyo said.

Both No. 1 Duracell and Energizer, the No. 2 battery seller, also have shortened the time it takes to charge their products to as little as 15 minutes with a $25 charger.

"There is a lot of behind-the-scenes science to have the most efficient charge rate and complete this in the most efficient time period," said Tony Mazzola, product technical support manager for Energizer. "People like to get things done quickly and not necessarily wait overnight."

Duracell also has a new nickel-metal hydride charger with a lighted display that shows the progress for each battery. The Power Gauge Charger also allows people to charge gadgets via a built-in USB port.

Rechargeables currently make up less than 5% of all battery sales. Still, they're considered among the fastest-growing segments. All the major brands figure that rechargeable sales are growing at least 20% a year.

As sales of more high-drain gadgets such as digital cameras increase, so will rechargeable sales, battery makers say. Duracell said it expected more than 80% of households to have digital cameras by 2008, up from about 50% today.

But rechargeable batteries aren't the best choice for all devices, said Edgar Dworsky, a former Massachusetts assistant attorney general and founder of the consumer education website Consumerworld.org.

Traditional alkaline batteries, for instance, tend to keep their power longer when not in use. It makes sense, he said, to use them in flashlights stashed away for blackouts. Rechargeables, on the other hand, are a good choice for frequently used gadgets like cameras, he said.

However, the initial cost of rechargeable batteries - sometimes more than $30 for batteries and chargers - puts off some consumers. For example, Beth Theve of Ohio figures she spends about $25 a month on batteries for Game Boys, electric toothbrushes, digital cameras and remote controls. She knows she'd eventually save money with rechargeable batteries but is reluctant to make the investment.

"I've got three kids and I'm a stay-at-home mom, so whatever is cheapest is what I go with," Theve said.

Companies are marketing lithium-ion batteries as ideal for people who may not want to spend as much for rechargeables but want batteries that last longer than standard alkaline ones.

Consumers are putting more thought into their battery decisions as dozens of gadgets in their homes need them for power, said Russ Reynolds, chief executive of Batteries Plus, a chain of 270 stores based in Hartland, Wis.

"When you start rattling off everything that takes a battery - from a garage door opener to security systems to fire alarms - it adds up pretty quick," he said.