Flash and batteries

Last year I got a cheap store-brand flash. It's been serving me fairly well, but I had two problems with it: First, it could not rotate left-right, only up-down, second, it takes AA batteries rather than a high-quality LiIon battery. On the second part, my subjective impression was that the flash recharged a lot faster with alkaline batteries than with rechargables. My flash recharge was really slow with rechargables, much better with alkalines. However, this test very clearly shows something else. I'm wondering now if I just had really crappy/old rechargables, and will have to try new ones. However, it appears I'll have to deal with AAs no matter what flash I use, that's what they all take. In which case, I'll live with the lack of left-right rotate for a while longer.