The only correction I'd offer is that all ***fire cells are NOT crap. Most are, granted, especially the Ultrafire offerings, but a genuine Trustfire cell is a damned good budget cell with excellent capacity and are as safe any other good Li-Ion cell.
I have heard people say that many times, but I have never come across any trustfire cell (or any xxxxfire cell) that is equal to any other trustfire cell. For this reason they can't be used in series. At one point I had 2 that were within 60 mah of each other, but they had drastically different internal resistances. (So in high drain lights they would not be equal)
So for that reason I would say they are crap, at least for multi-celled lights. I don't see the point in ordering them, when you can buy good brand name 2600 mah cells for only a bit more.
I simply don't believe in blanket statements. I only suggest that you qualify the original "crap" statement that in a multicell light they may want to avoid certain cells but some are fine in single cell lights. Otherwise it comes across like you are one of those Surefire fanboys that is convinced that any chinese light or budget light that is not a Surefire light (that is to say any light other than a Surefire) is guaranteed to fail the next time you need it or explode in your hand and kill you and your entire family.
Many of us use Trustfire cells extensively and have never had an issue with a genuine Trustfire cell. Just sayin'...
"First of all, any battery that has "fire" in it's name is not suitable for use in multi-cell lights. This is because even if they may be rated at the same capacity, they are most likely not equal and could become unbalanced under high loads."
As for using them extensively, I would personally not trust them that much. If they were in my DRY rather than name brand batteries I am not so confident it would have ended so well.
Much better. I agree about the time your DRY was turn on in your luggage. You were darned lucky regardless of what cells were in it. While I did say “extensively” I did not say “exclusively”. I prefer my Panasonic cells to the Trustfire cells also and feel safer with them in my multicell lights too, even in unprotected form. I monitor my cells voltage in multicell lights and only run in sets that discharge at the same rate and check in at the same voltage. I also have several TF Flames that are matched quite nicely and that I trust. As for any other ***fire brands, I try and avoid them like they were covered in syphilis!!
Important, but as long as you recharge the cell right after you over discharge it, it will be fine. If you don't it won't be good for the cell, but it certainly won't explode or anything of that sort.
The AW 2000mAh tests worse than the CGR18650CH at 10A, so I wouldnt recommend it for 10-20A. Anything above 10A should currently use the AW 1600mAh (its rated for a max. of 18 or 24A IIRC..).
Also, for smaller cells, you could also recommend Efest cells. They got some good ones.
I'm aware, I put it in there twice because I wanted it under IMR (since it does such high currents) and under LiFePo4. I understand this is not technically correct since it is not LiMn cell, so maybe I should remove it from the IMR section?
True, but I feel it should be there. I guess I'm sorting by function not strictly chemistry. I'll leave the LiFePo4 batteries in for the smaller batteries at least because some lights can take a 3.3v battery but not a 4.2 volt battery. 16650, 18500, and 10440 will be added later today when I get a chance. 32650, 26650, and 32600 will be added at some point in my 3rd comment which is for bigger cells.
The graph actually came from the datasheet (which I did link to already ), which is here.