Years ago when I was running a Stereo/Hi-Fi repair shop I ran across the ZTS products at a `Trade Show' and ended up buying my first unit from them for the purposes of being able to easily test and show the condition of a customer's batteries on a `front counter' basis before possibly taking in whatever they'd brought in for repair. (Amazing how many people would come in complaining about their `Walkman', or whatever, being `dead' and not realizing that it was just a case of dead batteries! The quickness of the test, and the flashing lights, was a wonderful tool.
Now days I've got a MBT-1, MBT-LA2, Mini-MBT, and a Mini-MBY9R where I can easily reach that I mainly use for `personal', and sometimes `loaner' use depending upon what the situation is at that time. I usually am the only user of The MBT-1 and MBT-LA2 units while the MINIs occasionally end up getting used by either one of our children or `loaned' out to close friends depending upon what types of batteries that might need testing. (One of the amazing things about the `loaning out' of the MINIs is that after they've been used a couple 2 - 3 times I've gotten questioned about where the borrower can get one of their own! I've even had some of my children's teachers ask about getting one or two units for use at school!)
Now... These testers do not actually give one a voltage but rather it is more of a `under load' Quality that they test for unlike most of the `meter type' testers one can find. And along with the various `battery types/sub-types' they have provided tests for they have a processor that runs certain tests specific to those `types/sub-types'. (The MBT-LA2 actually goes even futher in that it also provides user selected tests for voltage and current capability because it is used for `storage' type batteries one might find in use in UPSes or automotive applications. [I just recently used the MBT-LA2 to diagnose a problem with a battery in our snowplow truck. It would start the truck a few times and then suddenly act completely dead even after being put on a charger. I took it out and put it on a workbench, charged it and tested it several times over several days with both the MBT and a regular carbon pile load type tester. The MBT-LA2 would show it as bad after a couple days of sitting whilst the load tester wouldn't do so until 3 or 4 days later. After I went and took the battery in to the battery shop to get a new one, one of the `backroom guys' decided to do an individual cell test and discovered that the bad battery had one cell bad and a second cell on the way out. Apparently the load tester would just run up to the set load, take a reading and then shut down and call the battery good!] Oh, BTW, the MBT-LA2 will test more than just your `run-of-the mill' 6 & 12 batteries. It'll handle 2,4,6,8, & 12V batteries with AH ratings of up to 200AH something `carbon-pile' load type testers don't do very `gracefully' or without a lot of calculations being required.)
Now the MINI-MBT9R model does have it's limitations in that it basically is for use with Alkaline and NIMH batteries. The MINI-MBT doesn't do NIMH 9V batteries but instead replaces the NIMH 9V test with the ability to test 3V Lithium (CR123, CR2, & CRV3) batteries. Unless one uses 9V NIMH batteries quite a bit the MINI-MBT would probably be enough for general uses.
For people who find themselves having to deal with a lot of batteries the ZTS products are worth taking a close look at. They even have a couple `Military' use versions of the MBT-1 style tester if that is what one has a fair amount of `contact' with.
