Originally Posted by paulrad9

1) Just use them and they'll be putting out full capacity after just a few charges. As a general rule, it's never good to discharge any battery completely (especially if they're in series) unless you know what you're doing

2) Rechargeable NiMh? If yes, I've been using Maha (over the last couple years) and Sanyo (forever) and happy with both. My worst experiences have been with Radio Shack batteries.