Rechargeable Battery Help? Answered

I'm sick of throwing away AA batteries, and I go through a lot with my camera flash. The only rechargeable, multi purpose batteries I've used were some generic energizer ones I got some years ago, so I need your recommendations.

I'm willing to spend a bit more for a quality charger/batteries that will last.

For batteries, I'd like to support Eneloop, as they sponsored an instructables contest in the past. They are significantly better than Energizer/Duracell, right? How does Rayovac compare in price/power?

For a charger, I was looking at the the BC-9009 by La Crosse. It has good reviews, charges slowly for a slower drain, prevents overcharging and has all sorts of other features. It comes with 4 AA, 4 AAA batteries and a case for $40. See it here:

http://www.amazon.com/Crosse-Technology-BC-9009-AlphaPower-Battery/dp/B00077AA5Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1251579646&sr=8-1

I don't know how good the la crosse batteries that it comes with are, though. The BC-700 would work fine and can be bought alone for $30.

For packaging reference, I need to have at least 8 AA batteries, but would definitely use any extra AA or AAA that might come with it.

So, what do you have to suggest? Thanks!

Update: I read that energizers may be better than eneloops for things that use a lot of power quickly (like a camera flash) while the eneloops are better for things that use it slowly (like a remote control). Is that true? I'm concerned about getting batteries that will store a lot of electricity over many charge cycles, but not so much about them holding a charge during storage.