I've been in radio and TV and used tons of rechargeable batteries. One thing I can tell you is that if you want a fresh battery, you need to take it DIRECTLY off the charger and insert it in the device. Period. Batteries lose part of their charge every day while sitting...and that's a law of nature, you can't fight it.
This means for best service, you need a charger that's designed to have batteries sitting in it long-term. Also, when I buy batteries I write the date (5/10/08) on them with a Sharpie and track their service life. You might also consider adding a file label to them and making a check mark every time you charge them. After a dozen or cycles (or perhaps two years), my experience with consumer batteries is that they start to decline quickly and won't power equipment for every long.
With the old NiCad batteries, partial charging was a problem and they needed to be fully discharged before re-charging, but the newer Nickel-Metal-Hydride (NiMh) batteries are not supposed to have this problem. I can't say I'm completely convinced.
Just remember, when rechargeable batteries auger in, they do so FAST. You don't get the warning you do with alkalines.
Here's a charger that looks like it will meet the characteristics I named:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/ACCS/C204W/C204WA.HTM
In fact, it looks so darn good that I just ordered one to replace the cheapie I've been using. So there!
