In my limited experience, I would go with the lithium. I tried two NiMH batteries in succession and had really poor luck with them. The two types behave quite differently, and now that I have lithium battery I find it delivers more consistent power, and has less variability in terms of range. That's my 2 cents, but I couch it with saying that I know many people are perfectly satisfied with the NiMH. I don't know about the risk of explosion... mine has not exploded, or even gotten warm during recharging.