Hello everyone, this is my first post on this great forum and I have been reading on here non stop for literally about 5 hours reading reviews (seasonal worker laid off…) and all kinds of information of LED flashlights. Well tonight I decided to pull the trigger and I order 2 flashlights.
Thanks for all the information on helping me decide, I hope I picked some winners, I was debating over the HD 2010 but chose these instead.
Both of these lights I think i will enjoy a lot even though I don’t have a specific use in mind. I currently only have a Coast HP17 Tactical which is nice but… Anyway since I have been reading all day I have kind of neglected to read up on 18650s and which ones are good and inexpensive. I was going to order the Trust Fire protected ones from tmart but I didn’t yet. I can order them this Friday and hopefully not get them to much after the flashlights. I currently have a turnigy accucel 8 that I have wired up to an 18650 charger with the guts removed because it did not work so i can charge 1 battery at a time but this is not practical for me. I’m inpatient.
Could someone please recommend me some 18650s that cost around the 10$ for a pair range that will not explode on me for no reason and that will power these lights effectively and also, if anyone knows of a battery holder designed for 18650s that I can use with my accucel 8 I can solder up to a spare pigtail and use or a safe inexpensive charger for 2 or more hopefully universal AND preferably from a company who ships out of the USA for free and quickly. This information is more then likely out there in one direct form or another but I am about to go cross eyed from reading these forums……If you could kindly point me to a forum post with the information i’m looking for or just a URL to a site I can order from I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks very much!!
Hi there, I would say sanyo 2600 mah for good non expensive batteries. As for the charger I am sure you will get some body else to chime in with more help then I can provide.
for charger i would recommend the xtar wp2, its fairly cheap to buy around 20 bucks, and has a very good rep around here. it has a .5 and 1amp charging option, and also can be used to reverse charge USB devices. It is sold in many places, I got mine off ebay, here is an example
also there is a intellicharger i4, composed of several different brands but same charger. advantage is it can charge 4 cells at once, and also charge other types of batteries like sanyo eneloops which are NI-MHs, but it charges slower
Don’t risk Trustfires. You can, but you may be setting yourself back. For cheapie batteries, I use Hi-Max or Tenergies, although they have gone up in price in recent months. But better than that, find Kumabear (our own battery supplier here on BLF) and he will get you the best batteries. Take it from me, don’t compromise on quality of batteries. No super cheapies. I learned the hard way.
For a charger, search for an 2 chamber Intellicharger from Nitecore. Or something basic like this would work…
I agree with the trust fire general consensus. I notice Tmart seems to have only *Fire and a no name and some GTL. I assume there all a little shady? Since my lights are 2 x 18650 I dont wanna screw around and lose a hand.
I like the idea of those sanyos. good price. i think i would need to be a little careful with them, they appear to have no protective wrapper cause im assuming the gold strip has to do with the protection and it just under the clear skin.
oh and does any one know the difference between the UR18650ZT and the UR18650FM that are both protected besides the ZT’s are 2 pennys cheaper and 200mah higher cap.?
does anyone know of a source for them from a US warehouse for around the same price? Also, after making the OP i was reading up on chargers and I think the Xtar wp2 II sounds like a good choice. any advice on this charger or one similiary priced. I have found it from sources within the US.
Thanks for all the welcomes and the great advice so far. I will be anxiously awaiting my new toys. Have a great night everyone, i must go to bed. ……who am i kidding, thats what smartphones are for….
Welcome to BLF!!
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The Sanyo ZT cells need a higher charge voltage to get a full charge. You will not find that in a standard charger. The FM cells are very reliable, and a good price at Fasttech.
I concur with the fasttech advise. I used to be the “their just batteries” guy because I wasn’t running anything of high amperage anyway. I bought some tenergy 18650’s from fleabay last year and they have held up well. I finally bought arguably the best $20 charger in the market (xtar wp-ll) and had problems with the tenergy’s making contact on the pos end due to them being a flat top battery. I bought the 18650 2900mah Panasonic’s from fasttech. They are only a few bucks more and you are getting a brand name and piece of mind. Panasonic, Sanyo or Samsung. Can’t go wrong.
Everyone here will hate me for this, but I had to buy batteries for a friend who was nearly broke, so I bought some of these from this seller, newlaunch, they might not have the best stats, but I bought 30 before Christmas — all worked, none bad, but they were just used in 501b T6s.
