I took the plunge into com's at last!

[Lightspeed]

Good question.

I've tried both ways and found that with Lithium Ion ( not NI MH) Cells, greater success was with fully charged batteries.

I seal the cells in plastic airtight bags before storing them in metal tins. Likewise the bodies of stored radios. Funnily enough I just inspected and topped up a few days ago.... after 3 years storage radio programming was intact on both radios, one cell slightly depleted and the other at 50%. Both were recharged and held charge fine. Now all tucked away for another hopefully uneventful year.

Checking and topping up is now reduced to an annual inspection.