2amps is definately pushing it for AA cells... As Rotornut said, 1 amp would be a much better QUICK CHARGE RATE... But remember, that is a quick charge... Not a standard slow charge...
Also, NiMH packs SHOULD be formation charged (charged and cycled) at no MORE than 10%C...
Your right that you don't have to "cycle" NiMH packs... They don't form memory like NiCds do, but, you DO need to formation charge them when they are new... Here's some reading you can do on formation charging....
Here's a FAQ that talks about formation charging...
http://www.hangtimes.com/rcbattery_faq.html
Here's another link dealing with batteries...
http://www.rcbatteryclinic.com/