2 x 350mAh NiMh AAA (Poundshop) recently put in 2 handsets each.

I don't Yak enough to test them fully. But her indoors complained they were no good in the kitchen.

So I put the 4 yr old knackered ones back in.

The original Binatones were 700mAh.

I would have thought 1000mAh would be ample.

Are you sure they are definiely the correct type AND rechargeable. ie don't mix up NiCd/NiMh/Li-ion

The only problem you will normally have is if you have used NiCad instead of NiMh or vice versa as the charging characteristics are different. I have replaced batteries with higher rated ones and had no problem.

I usually leave mine off the base station occasionally until the batteries run right down, as especially with NiCad you can get the 'memory effect', and even though it isn't supposed to it can sometimes happen with NiMh ones.

The phone starts to beep quietly before the batteries are completely flat so that it reminds me to put it back on the charger.

I've got Uniross 700mAh in mine - if I let them go flat, the phone doesn't recharge them. When that happens, I have to recharge them using an external charger, then they work fine and the phone charger keeps them topped up.

Now you tell me.

Mine went flat when I turned the electric off while we were away. When we got back and I turned everything on again, the remote handset was dead. After buying 2 new batteries, I stuck them in the phone thinking it would charge them up. It didn't. They needed to be charged in an external charger, and that's all that was wrong with the original batteries.

I now remove the batteries when the electric is turned off, otherwise the remote handset keeps trying to contact the base-station until the batteries go flat.