I have looked through but cannot find exactly what I am looking for. So… I have recently ordered a Meteor (I may have it sometime in April, lol) .
I ordered a set (4) of the sanyo/panny GAs to go with it. These were one of the recommended cells posted on mtn’s website. Inl-outdoor noted the 30Q as recommended.
The 30Q group by has me on the edge of ordering a set of 30Qs … but I keep asking myself, am I actually gaining anything with the 30Qs?
The main use for this light will be when we go camping, (that is why I selected a battery with a better run time, I think). I’m not really a fan of unprotected batteries, probably for no reason, lol.
So I don’t know if these will be used in anything but the meteor.
Bottom line I guess my question is, would the 30Qs really be that big of a difference over the GAs? How much less of a run time would they have?
If I missed a discussion on this somewhere, my apologies. Please provide me a link! lol.
Unless you are going to frequently run it on turbo, you won’t see any gains with the 30Q. At decent discharge rates, say 1A+ the GA is actually just a ~3,250mAh cell and you should get about 10-15% more runtime with the GA in low/mid modes.
I use my lights mostly for camping, too, that’s why I go for more capacity. The 30Q’s show an advantage when testing for amp draw, but that’s it. If I didn’t have an ammeter and light meter, I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. 
Awesome, thanks for the info guys!
I have the same question but after some research I would tend to order the 30Q because the offer a higher voltage all the way.
Or is the higher voltage not that important with a boost driver setup?
Have a look at this comparison at 5A
http://www.dampfakkus.de/akkuvergleich.php?akku1=609&akku2=586&akku3=0&akku4=0&akku5=0&akku6=0
The higher voltage cant make up the 17% less Ah
They are too close together its like 0,05V on 3.6V which is less than 1,5% more energy by voltage
Only if you go beyond 10A continous discharge the GA are not good for that
To a boost driver the cell with lower voltage will need to provide more current. The graphs are comparisons at same current from a psu and don’t account for the increase in current caused by voltage sag.
Yes, but the extra required current for the GA though is very little compared to the 30Qs. If you look at 7A or 10A (HKJ comparator), the extra voltage sag of the GA compared to 30Q is about 0.1V.
Let’s say voltage with 30Q is 3.6V at 10A, resulting in P = 36W
For the GA you have a voltage of 3.5V (= 3.6V - extra voltage sag of 0.1V), resulting in a current of 36W/3.5V = 10.3A (with a boost driver)
So you’re going from 10A (30Q) to 10.3A (GA), which I consider marginal.
The Meteor does step down from turbo mode if a current limit is reached (light will blink). I have measured both resting voltages:
30Q: 3.41V
GA: 3.45V
So for me this difference is sufficiently small to go for the 30Q; I just like GAs a lot.
The graph linked in post 5 shows how much capacity of the GA is diminished at high current. The advantage has dropped from 1.1Wh at 2A down to .4Wh at 5A. At 10A draw (or 10.3A) that advantage may be gone or even favoring the 30Q. A comparison of the time in turbo before step down for each cell will tell you more about the relative capacities at high drain than resting voltage. Both are good cells and are reasonable choices. The GA is generally better than the 30Q for run time but not always and not as good for maximum lumens. As always, it depends on the application. Just don’t get hung up on any single spec but consider how all specs vary with conditions.
I completely agree. To me it’s not about which cell is better, or more suitable for the M43; both 30Q and GA are top notch sexy cells. It’s like a Ferrari and a Lamborghini. I think it’s more interesting to understand what actually is going on and what influence different discharge curves have.
Sony vtc6!
you have also to consider no one do or can run the light at full power till the cell gets depleeted
a 36W load on a single 18650 light may work a Minute after 2-34 Minuted the light will shut off because you throw it away with a crispy hand or the emitter rattles inside the reflector adfter unsolderingh itself
the GA plays out the 30Q up to its rated current
you have also to consider no one do or can run the light at full power till the cell gets depleeted
a 36W load on a single 18650 light may work a Minute after 2-34 Minuted the light will shut off because you throw it away with a crispy hand or the emitter rattles inside the reflector adfter unsolderingh itself
the GA plays out the 30Q up to its rated current
you have also to consider no one do or can run the light at full power till the cell gets depleeted
a 36W load on a single 18650 light may work a minute after 2-3 minutes the light will shut off because you throw it away with a crispy hand or the emitter rattles inside the reflector adfter unsolderingh itself
the GA plays out the 30Q up to its rated current
Working on post count Lexel?
That is a good one……. 
where is the best price for protected GA?
I’m probably just being dense, but I’m not sure what that means. Would you expound?
Not sure, but here are a couple of places for protected…………
Then if you can go the unprotected route…………
BT = Button Top
FT = Flat Top
By the way, the ‘GA’ Flat Tops will work in series. Personally, the unprotected flat tops are what I am buying from here out.
For now anyway.
Oh yeah, at IMR there is a 15% discount using the Code… BLF15
I hope this helps. 
EDIT: All of the above are reputable vendors right here in the USA. Shipping cost killed the GearBest deals on batteries for me. Even though it has recently been reduced, it is still substantial; especially when the “wait time” is considered since they come from China.