[yapimop (OP)]

I'm looking for reliable and more importantly fast recycling AA rechargeable for use on Canon strobes. What do you guys recommend?

[SeanB]

Reliable the only ones that are around at a reasonable price are Eneloop cells, much more expensive than the others, but at least the better made cells. You want the Japanese made cells in any case. Get a few packs, and preferably use a charger that will not fast charge them. If you need multiple packs for a lot of use, best to use an external power pack instead, with much larger capacity cells in it to handle the high current and fast charge cycles. Then you can go for Lithium packs, which are light for the power density, and also will survive multiple charge cycles better.

[Bored chemist]

If you have 3 sets of batteries and two chargers it doesn't matter if the batteries take twice as long to charge as they take to discharge.
If slow chargers and slow cells are cheap, this might be the best option (at least on a cost basis).