In addition to NiCds and NiMHs, there is another type of rechargeable battery. These are the "reusable alkalines" at least one of which is marketed as the Renewal battery by Rayovac. I have been experimenting with these and found them to also be a viable alternative (though not a panacea). In particular, they have the slow discharge characteristic and long charged shelf-life of alkalines, but a limited ability to recharge. I'm still using my first two pairs of Renewals. Although a fully charged pair does not power my Palmtop as long as a pair of regular alkalines, I've recharged each pair of Renewals 11 times. It works out that each pair has powered my Palmtop about four times as long as a pair of non- rechargeable alkalines -- so far.
Rayovac claims you can recharge Renewals 25 times, but each charge is lower capacity than the previous one. You won't get 25 times the initial charge, or anywhere near the life of 25 pairs of regular alkalines.
Even with this limited recharging life, and the cost of a Renewal Battery Station to charge them, it's still less expensive to use Renewals than regular alkalines. In addition, the built-in battery monitoring software for the 95LX and 100LX are set up to use alkaline batteries. You should get an adequate low battery warning and shouldn't have to use BATTman or some other third party software to monitor these batteries.
I expect to be able to get a total of at least six times the normal alkaline capacity from a pair of Renewals, but I won't be sure until I get closer to the 25 recharges.
I've heard that some of the new rechargers can charge regular alkaline batteries, but you are required to recharge them after every hour or so. It would be inconvenient to use this method with the Palmtop.
John Diamant Fort Collins, CO