Most of the "extensive battery treatment" is kinda bogus.. The problem starts with that you can abuse nimh, and they don't explode, just become "useless". So, chargers can be ****, and devices can be ****, without posing a safety hazard, but still killing the batteries.

The batteries don't die, they get slowly tortured to death.

Li-Ion is somewhat better in that regard, if you abuse them they tend to protest by doing something the industry calls "venting with flame". Normal people would say "explode". Thus, chargers and devices actually need to have a 0.1 cent part instead of a 0.01 cent part to manage the charging...