Vapcell INR18350 1100mAh retested by Mooch: shenanigans again

From a view of a customer, this is a very bad practice, I mean:

1. making good cells, and getting them tested to let people see, that it is good stuff
2. changing cells under the same wrap
3. telling nothing about this to the customers, just letting them discover that, only if they are extremely aware (e.g. Mooch or HKJ)
4. differences only unveiled later, when ‘accidentally’ a re-testing happens
5. customer feels himself/herself fooled

I concur adam7027, this is about speaking truth ethics and honesty. Vapcell is discrediting itself this way.

Vapcell does not manufacture cells, this stuff is namely about this fact. A renowned battery/cell OEM does not sell different cells under the same wrap. Never. An authentic OEM wrap is something I usually choose when given the choice.

Cheers ^:)

Thanks for chiming in vapcell Dennis. The original development of this cell was because of Aspire, if I'm not mistaken, and manufactured by (?) Shenzen Yongde Lixin Energy.

Maybe some other player(s) are now manufacturing imitations?

I understand the cell could still be rated 10A, but I cannot endorse this attitude with products. Showing customers a good product and once the deal is made skimping on manufacturing costs and lowering product quality is being dishonest and disrespectful. Do you have problems with cell manufacturers committing to make a consistent cell? If I were you I would warn them of frequent and random bench tests done to their cells on every shipment, to the point of filing lawsuits against offenders. A cell is not mere capacity and amperage ratings, it is much more and this also means how much energy can it deliver and the shape of its discharge curves. Get serious if you would like to be taken seriously.

It may be a good idea to find some small electrical appliance manufacturer(s) willing to use cells like this one in their stuff: hair clippers, electric shavers, etc. It would help with achieving product consistency and manufacturing volumes, I think.

Cheers ^:)

I see that at times you may have troubles sourcing the best cells available.
But the only right way to handle such case is to change the wrapper, clearly notifying the customers that this is a different product.
Silent switch like this one seriously undermines the trust we can put in the Vapcell products that we buy. And in a volatile market like the one you’re in - trust is a huge factor when making purchases.

This is how I “sort of” see the progressive regression of these cells, from the 1st and the best to the latest and worst ones. Hope they already stopped cutting corners because there are no corners left to be cut LoL: Aspire INR18350 1300/1100mAh, KeepPower UH1835P 18350 1200mAh and Vapcell INR18350 1100mAh, and in last position but still what seems a little bit better than Mooch's Vapcell INR18350 retest is the hyperbolically rated and funnily named BestFire IMR18350 1500mAh:


Between top and bottom the difference is huge already. The BestFire's discharge curves are of a different shape, maybe the chemistry and/or the OEM is different.

Cheers ^:)

I just received a pair of the same 18350’s from Liion Wholesale. They’re the new version Mooch tested.

Should I let Liion know?

Mtn has the new versions too. I let Randy know. He’s going to check with his vapcell rep.

Thanks for this. I bought these 6 months ago, which is right after the change. Not sure yet which revision I got.

Look at the bottom of the cell, its the easiest way to distinguish it. I bought mine a few weeks ago from MTN and I have V2.

Just checked mine. I have one of the gen 1 cells.

This is a fascinating (and disappointing) thread. I often use 18350 cells in my Emisar D4 “shorty” tube while jogging at night. Wanting to maximize the potential, I switched from Efest Purple 700mAh to Vapcell 1100mAh. I didn’t notice any differences with max brightness between the two cells (which was no big deal), but I was shocked that the Vapcell seemed to have greatly less capacity. After just a couple of runs, my D4 was blinking a battery warning. This never happened with the Efest Purple. I was so puzzled, that I started checking online and found Mooch’s original FB post on this, then this thread.

Is there any realiable high-drain 18350 cell with 1000mAh anymore? I’ve read that Shockli’s 1150mAh 18350 cell is promising but doesn’t seem to have a distributor.

You can still get Aspire 18350s before they become sold out.

Where? I thought I did a pretty thorough search, but couldn’t find any.

Shockli 18 350 can be bought at Aliexpress.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4pcs-lot-Shockli-IMR18350-lithium-battery-1150mAh-3-7V-rechargeable-battery-continuous-10A-electronic-cigarette-battery/32944084793.html

Ok, maybe the Aspires are gone by now.

18350 Keeppower IMR18350 1200mAh High Discharge Flat Top https://www.illumn.com/batteries-chargers-and-powerpax-carriers/batteries/18350-keeppower-imr18350-1200mah-high-discharge-flat-top.html

The KeepPowers appear to be more of a gamble with multiple cells using the same labels.

The Shocklis in the photos on Ali seem to use the new style can, so may also be the same “new” cell.

The difference of the cells in Mooch’s test is not so dramatic really but of course it’s not great to see a performance decline. This is probably beyond the control of VapCell, KeepPower, Shockli etc. They get what they get from the factory.

The good old bait and switch…
Or should we call it “quality fade” ?
The effect is the same…

They are not exactly the same. The top is different. I have Bestfire and Shockli.
I made a small comparison. Shockli, Bestfire 1 500mAh, Bestfire 1 300mAh.



Shockli


Bestfire 1500mAh


Bestfire 1300mAh

It turns out that a lesser performance of Vapcell 1100mAh compared to my Efect Purple 700mAh, must have been my imagination. I performed a Nor Test on my Liitokala charger and the Vapcells seem to get just shy of the specs they were intended to have.

Vapcell 1100mAh (Battery #1)
Tested at 1034mAh
43mR
4:05 hour test time
charged to 4.19

Vapcell 1100mAh (Battery #2)
Tested at 1048mAh
35mR
4:08 hour test time
charged to 4.20

Efest Purple 700mAh
Tested at 708mAh
59mR
2:47 hour test time
charged to 4.19

I was still quite impressed where the Efest tested after almost 14 months of use. The Vapcells are brand new with only about a week or two use.