I saw a good price on aliexpress today for 12 NCR18650B batteries for $42.19 shipped. Anyone know if this seller is legit as the price seems really good to me?
Pic looks okay but what is this
” Brand Name: Liter energy battery ” ?
Bad print, no datacode under green wrap, strange font of datacode, strange color of wrap. My bet - fake.
And I’m not afraid to lose. Still no one was able to buy the original batteries on Aliexpress. If we exclude Liitokala, of course 
Keeppower does not make the battery itself, it wraps the batteries of well-known manufacturers. So it might not be a fake, but you’ll never know what’s inside him really.
3 places in world with 100% original batteries: fasttech.com, gearbest.com, nkon.nl. It is only about LG, Samsung, Sanyo/Panasonic and Sony.
Maybe there are good stores in the US or Canada? I can not be seen from here 
I wouldn’t spend money on the most replicated 18650 out there, even if it seems to be genuine. You can get 4x 30Q for about $18 instead
I don't think the sams are protected though.
I read that Samsung only makes them in unprotected flat top. If correct, protected and button top Samsung batteries are always rewraps. It might be interesting to compare my flat tops with the button top and protected ones.
Gearbest sell protected 30Qs. I’ve got some. I can see the protection circuit. It is possible they aren’t actually Samsung cells under the wrapper. ??? My charger says they are close to advertised capacity. So far they’ve been fine.
Banggood sell unprotected button top INR-1865030Qs. The ones I ordered just arrived. I haven’t even charged them yet.
I bought some ncr18650b batteries from US warehouse gearbest about a year ago. Someone used black marker to cover up something on the label. I think maybe “made in China”? But I tested them and they came out to 32xx mah on my opus charger. Still annoyed me to no end.
Lots of US vendors and prices are fair.
klrman what is up man?
Your original question is a good question, but I think it is very likely you will not get the correct answer. There are probably hundreds, if not thousands of small unknown vendors on aliexpress (or ebay) selling lithium ion, so chances are there is little information available here. A member might have bought from the exact same vendor, but you would still not know whether that person received genuine cells or not. You need to do testing etc. It is also possible that the pictures do not match the actual product…
If I were you , I would start a new thread titled “Reliable vendor shipping lithium ion to Canada”. I already did a very quick search, but could not find results too easily. Perhaps you can search first. And once you have found a vendor (surely there must be at least one), then you can look for protected cells.
Check this: 18650 shipping to Canada :sunglasses:
and Shipping to Canada?
Hey hiKARInoob, I'm good thanks!
I like your idea of the new thread. I did a lot of searches but slim pickings in Canada and I really don't know who to actually trust up here as they probably get the batteries from aliexpress too and mark them up. Will give the thread a try, thanks again man.
Edit: Before I will pass on the new thread as your links were quite helpful, thanks.
Liion Wholesale ships to Canada. The protected NCR18650B costs $7, so it’s a bit more than prices of Chinese vendors. But you have more certainty that you get genuine cells, and after sales service should be top notch should you ever need it. I’ve never dealt with them, but read only good things about them. No idea about shipping cost though.
Well here’s a start.
Thanks. I went to the Liion website and for 6 x Protected NCR18650B's shipped to Canada it would cost me $26.21 CAD for each battery after import fees and the standard $50 UPS custom clearance fee. A little on the high side but the good news is that if I really need them, they will ship which is great so thanks for that 
My goodness. For that kind of money I think you can buy from a Chinese vendor a DIY make your own lithium ion cell factory kit or something… :person_facepalming:
Looking at different pics comparing the battery in the OP id say fake. The + sign is to thin, the lettering is to close together, the - between Li-ion is almost if not touching, no date code. Looks copied to me.
Liionwholesale has been a great place to buy batteries for me, fast shipping and no problems. Mtnelectronics is a good one also, his a member here.
Surely there must be alternatives. Perhaps you can PM some fellow Canadians for advice.
You could also get an analysing charger that measures capacity. Put 4 NCR18650B cells in them, wait half a day or so and check what it says. If all four cells have a capacity around 3300 mAh or so, then you’re good I think. You can also check for internal resistance, but usually this is not measured accurately.
I think the possibility to get fakes is pretty slim. But should you get them anyway, I think you should get completely off values for capacity…
Someone in this thread mentioned FastTech sells authentic batteries, and they do have some good prices. All over the site it advertises Free Worldwide Shipping, even on the battery pages. However, it seems they don’t ship batteries to Canada or the UK. And to ship four 18650’s to USA, the only option costs $32.46. That doesn’t sound like Free Worldwide Shipping. 
I checked specs and it looks like you can do it manually. You have to discharge the (protected) cells to 2.8V in a flashlight (until low voltage protection kicks in), then fully charge them in the VC4, and the charger tells you how many mAh went in the cells. So that’s cool. (A so called “analysing charger” does this automatically; just press a button and it fully discharges, then charges the battery to show capacity.)
You could ask member HKJ to what extent testing capacity is a reliable way to check for authenticity of cells. He’s a pro!
I think this is also a nice way to take the hobby to the next level. :sunglasses:
Welcome to BLF GreenLights! :partying_face:
Hey thanks man, I like! I can easily try and discharge two NCR18650B's in my L6 and then put them in my charger and see what happens. So I guess I could order a few cheapo's from aliexpress and see what happens. I did message two sellers on ali to confirm the batteries are 100% panasonic but mysteriously they have not replied as of yet 