I purchased an ITP A1 CR123 light recently and I am looking to buy a few batteries for it...
What are good, reliable, cheap options from DX/EBAY ?
Thanks !
I bought a few of these TrustFire 16340 880mAh and they work just fine for me. Don and Al have a lot more experience with different brands and will help you as soon as they can. :)
How do you like them compared to the AW's.....are they the same size or a tad bit longer. The only cells that i use are AW's and Solarforce cells....i do have some Trustfires in 14500 size but find them about 2mm longer then the AW's and for some lights this is not good since the light becomes a cell crusher. I just ordered more of the SF 16340's, getting ready for hurricane season, what fun. I find these cells very comparable to AW's.....
I forgot to mention that those TrustFire 16340's are UNPROTECTED which I just found out today thanks to a call from Al. That's why Al is in my WILL but for just my flashlights, batts and accessories. :)
lol......just dont throw in any unprotected cells....lol. With single celled lights those cells will do i highly recommend not using them in a light as pairs.
I have 4 AW IMR cells for lights that draw more current than is wise for a CR123. The Ultrafire RL-118 comes to mind here. These are not cheap cells. For years I've used the really cheapest ones, from DX but would not be keen to use them in multiple cell configurations. BTW, all RCR123 cells lie like crazy about capacity. The very best of them are around 500mAh, anything more than that is "marketing", aka lying. Recently I bought a bunch of the Tustfire protected ones whose protection circuits will cut in on overcurrent (See Ultrafire RL-118) but don't seem to be so good at cutting in on low voltage.
Lithium cells don't live for ever. Many of them will die at 3 years, all of them will die eventually. I've tossed all the first batch of RCRs I bought about 5 years ago. All of them made it to 3 years old, none of them to 5.
Just noticed something - post counts have gone down - I had my thousandth post a few days ago and Al was over 1024. This appears to be my second thousandth post?
I am a little confused, so you guys are recommending the protected Trustfire from DX ? (Rechargable) ? Should I also get a charger for it (which charger? )
I can spend up to 15 dollars for 4 good cells, including ebay.
Thanks
The protected Trustfires are OK. Id go for this charger. http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1251 though you will need some conductive spacers to charge CR123 cells with it
Thanks
So are these dangerous for my flashlight ?
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.19769
btw
What charger doesn't need any spacers etc ? I don't want to start modding around chargers...
Those aren't rechargeable cells but should work OK. For a charger that won't need a spacer, http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12594
Personally, I'd not charge anything smaller than a CR123 or a 14500 in this if the claimed charge current is true.
Or for a cheaper and slower alternative. http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.936
Do NOT buy this one if your AC voltage is above 110V, at voltages above that the power supply tends to fail. I've had several of them die in contact with our 230V AC supply though it claims to be capable of this. This one will do RCR123, 17670 and 18650
The conductive spacers I use are short bits of wooden dowel with a drawing pin in each end and a bit of wire connecting the two drawing pins - they only need to be about half an inch long.
Hmmm, if the Primary 2 dollar Trustfires are OK I would rather buy 10 pairs of them and enjoy a few years of light instead of messing with the chargers ?
I will not use the ITP A1 much, and i'd rather not mess with chargers and rechargable batteries that will weaken for just one CR123 light.
If you are saying the Primaries will not ruin my new precious flashlight, I will take 5 pairs for now :)
What do you say ?
Thanks for the charger recommendations. BTW, I love this site.
It won't be as bright on primaries, but if it meets your needs, go for it. Personally I'd buy a couple of pairs and see how you get on with them - if they are satisfactory then get more. The problem is that the primaries have a voltage of 3V whereas the rechargeables have a nominal voltage of 3.6V and fully charged are around 4.2V. Depending on the regulation of the light, it may be a lot brighter on rechargeable cells. Or it may not. I don't have that light so can't say which.
I have this flashlight and both batteries (Primary & Trusfire RCR) and is more powerfull with rechargeables.(no much more)
By contrast the primary does not cut the voltage and allow more autonomy.
Both are good options depending on the occasion.
Here's something that might help you with your decision on what to buy.
I've been watching it for a while now and will continue until old4570 gets tired of doing the test.
Each time you post, 1 or more gets subtracted. 
I had some surprising results with my grey label ultrafire 16340 batteries. I ran my AW 16340 and 2 different ultrafire 16340 batteries on my Romisen A4 X Q5 single mode and after 30 minutes of run time. Here were the results:
AW16340:
Beginning battery voltage = 4.15
Volatage after 30 minutes = 3.73
UF16340 (#1):
Beginning battery voltage = 4.15
Volatage after 30 minutes = 3.75
UF16340 (#2):
Beginning battery voltage = 4.15
Volatage after 30 minutes = 3.73
Seems that the ultrafire batteries have similar capacity to the AW battery. The general consensus though is that the AW 16340 will have a longer useful life than the ultrafires, but still good to know these batteries are pretty goog (at least the ones I received). The con with the UF though is the size as the extra length is a problem with some lights.
You will also want to think about how the light is going to be used, primaries are okay and will give you long runtime but for edc use i recommend getting some rechargeables so you know when you leave the house your cell will be fully charged. Primaries are good for backup in long power outages but other then that you will get free lumens with rcr's.
Yea, I will get the rechargables and the charger sometime and turn to this thread to remind myself what is good...