Ikelite DS125 Battery Life

My DS125 batteries are about 5 years old now. On my last trip I got only about 200 medium power flashes on a charge using iTTL with no aiming lights on. The spec says 250 full power flashes. I wonder if this considers pre-flashes?

Is this normal for batteries of this age? How many years should I expect them to last? I only dive 1-2 weeks/year.

Can these batteries be re-furbished for less than the $112 B&H price?

The 250 spec pertains to current NiMH battery packs. Original ni-cad packs were in the 150 range. Following URL has some discussion on ni-cads: http://www.ikelite.com/faq/faq_sscharger.html

There are a few companies that rebuild NiMH and NiCad battery packs. They simply replace the batteries inside the pack for new ones and reseal the package. Here is one that I used in the past:

http://nicdlady.com/aboutus.html

I did it way back when I bought a used SS200, so I am not sure if they are still reliable, but they charged about $50 to rebuild the battery pack, and it still works fine. You will find many other companies if you do a search on google.