To answer the last three posts, The camera is about 2 years old, has taken thousands of exposures now, (I shot over 300 with it two days ago), and other than the two hot pixels, and the unusual battery life at purchase, it hasn't shown any other issues. It doesn't get hot, doesn't show any abnormalities in the photos, (Even the dead pixels are mapped out now thanks to CHDK), and generally performs wonderfully.
The A550 uses a small button type battery (CR1220) for it's memory, that is replaceable, and non rechargeable, so that would negate the "charging it's internal battery" theory suggested by Whim.
Also, I've dealt with a lot of different electronics, and many different cameras, which have shown shorter battery life during the first couple uses. this period is generically referred to as a "burn in" period. In my experience working for Olympus cameras, and my personal experience as a photographer working with Nikon, Canon, and Olympus cameras, it wasn't uncommon for a camera to "eat" it's first set or two of batteries before showing a more normal usage time. I'm surprised that it seems to be such an unusual concept here. Though, burn in's are less noticeable on some things than others.
Is it possible that I had a bad set of rechargeable batteries? Yes. Though, they did perform adequately in other devices that I used them in, such as the wireless keyboard and mouse combo they routinely spent their charges on. But admittedly, they weren't the best batteries, (Energizer), and the charger wasn't the greatest either, I doubt that it did any conditioning to the batteries, it was just the one that was sold with them.
I intend to try a better set of batteries with a better charger, when I can afford to get them. On that note, can anyone suggest a good make of rechargable NiMH batteries that would be good for a camera? i was looking at PowerEX 2700's. I heard someone mention that they found 2900's, but haven't seen anything higher than 2700's myself, so if someone could provide a link, I'd be grateful.
Thanks.
Dennis