Roo Man, If I were you I would get a better source for my information on batteries as the comments you relate to him are quite a bit in error. The below references are all quite good and will give you a much better bit of facts to contemplate on.
http://www.hangtimes.com/redsbatteryclinic.html
http://www.camlight.com/techinfo/techtips.html
http://www.whenshtf.com/showthread.php?t=2153
http://www.srbatteries.com/nimh.htm
http://dansdata.com/gz011.htm
http://users.frii.com/dlc/battery.htm
ORIGINAL: Roo Man
Madmike10,
One of our club members is a technician for the local Batteries Plus store and he insists that both Nicad and Nimh batteries used in RC applications get cycled every 4 to 6 weeks especially if they are used frequently. Most RC batteries do not get discharged enough to prevent the memory effect which will reduce the amount of charge a battery will take, He suggests discharging at 500 MAH down to 1 volt per cell and then recharging at 500 MAH.
If you are using the new Nimh hybrids, they cannot be fast charged, we never go over 500MAH on charge. I have one in a plane and plan to replace all my Nicads when it's time. These new Nimh hold a charge when not in use like nothig I have ever seen, I have a new one that is not yet in a plane that is about 6 weeks old and it is still almost fully charged, could fly it without charging. They are also lighter than Nicads and cost much less; a 2100 MAH cost me about $15.00 [this includes our club discount].
As far as chargers/cyclers go, they are all over the board cost wise, I just bought a Turnigy Accucel 6 from Hobby King [Hong Kong] for about $24.00 plus about $12 shipping [took about 10 days to arrive] and it works like a charm, much better than my old Hobbico Accucel that would never get to a full charge.
Gary