What is currently the best value in 18650 batteries

I have 4 TF 3000 soon here, wait a while before ordering. Quality may vary, going to test them…
Xtars with groupbuy price are the safest bet.

I can recommend the TF Flames from Manafont. I've bought about 100 of them in the past 3 months and I only had one that was DOA.

I think you're safest with the XTAR 2600 at $13.50/pair from Serena or I guess even that Pandawill site if you're feeling lucky. That's all I've been buying lately, for myself and for friends.

I have had good luck with HiMax 2600's in the past but they seem to have gotten very expensive.

I have over 50 Trustfire flames from DX some over over a year old all of them still work. The ones I have tested all had decent capacity.

http://www.intl-outdoor.com/panasonic-cgr18650ch-2250mah-liion-battery-p-291.html

massive discharge rate, low resistance, not going to explode

imo, they're the best value, hands down

They might not be the cheapest but I just ran some testing on these in a light that draws high amps and they truly are outstanding! Definitely more capacity than the AW IMR's and as long as your application is below 10A then you should be good.

I also used them as a pair in the EYE30 runtime testing and they yielded just slightly less than the AW 2600's:
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/6527
(look at chart under: RUNTIME (2 cells) )

Are those protected? Seems the webpage doesn't say.

-Garry

Those are great cells.

I acquired an identical one from Callie's, and it allows for more current in my Direct Drive SST90 than my AW IMRs by over a quarter Amp. (~280mA)

I will slowly but surely be replacing all of my IMR 18650s with these.

A very good cell at a fair price is the Sanyo-based Solarforce 2400 protected 18650. The wrap is a bit brittle, however.

no but I think callie's sells them re-wrapped w/ protection. They are safer chemistry cathode, despite saying li-ion on the side, so for my purposes, the protection isn't relevant (I don't drain my cells to where protection trips....on purpose anyway).

Yep

I'll also back the Sanyo-based Solarforce 2400mah. Indeed, the wrap is brittle, which is the only downfall. Otherwise they are quite the performer for the price. They seem to match my XTAR 2600's.

What about cycle life & shelf life? I’d guess they would be quite high due to low initial internal resistance (isn’t it’s increase the cause of cell degradation?)

I hate to spend $50 on 6 batteries, but I may not have much choice

These were, AFAIK, designed for use in high-draw rechargeable power tools. Since both criteria are important design considerations, I would infer that both would be excellent - why bother changing chemistry otherwise? Pricing is similar, if not greater, than common lithium-ion cells.

The sample that I own has performed above expectations over the last 9+ months.

can't say for sure, only a few cycles

but, I would assume that a cell that can do 10A discharge (at very close to stated capacity!) will handle 3 and 4A discharge for a lot longer than cells that are struggling when they do that? Now...that's not very scientific...but it made me feel better about spending $9 on a battery lol

the other thing to note w/ this cell, is that for some lights, it has more usable capacity than the mah alone implies - check out the tests/graphs done on this cell, and the voltage level that it maintains during discharge...a couple members (hkj and mitro?) were kind enough to share data of some thorough testing.

..I'd also guess that it would charge faster at amp same rate due to more time spent in CC phase and less in CV phase?

(I might be wrong on this one though, correct med if needed please ;Ь)

I vaguely recall the charge rate spec is lower than similar cells - but someone probably knows what it is off hand...

I use 1A setting on my hobby charger, or an xtar mp1

Surely is offtopic, but whats a cheap way to test the capacity of a battery?

HKJ has a roundup of 18650 batteries at CPF with a lot of good data. He's not finished yet, but there is a lot of good info there.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?330236

Cheap way to measure capacity? You can get a rough estimate by measuring current draw in milliamps on a flashlight at a regular intervals like 10 minutes until you get down to whatever cutoff voltage you want. 10 minutes is 1/6th of an hour, so you total all of the current readings and divide by 6 to get mAh. You will have to average the initial and final reading or you will have one reading too many.

If you get a hobby charger you can do it, but mine will only do a maximum discharge rate of 1000 mA.