I guess I haven’t paid much attention lately, probably because I haven’t needed any new batteries. I just noticed banggood won’t send any 18650 cells to me. How long has this been going on? Is there a work-around? I live in Michigan, USA
I’ve just about given up on batteries from china, seems like only a few bucks difference to buy from usa shops, get them way faster and know they’re genuine.
I’ve been using these two for the best prices:
x2… I don’t even bother with the China sellers anymore. imrbatteries has been good for me. I bought efest purple 145000 and 26650 from them. I also bought some orange high drain 26650 cells from batteryspace… those cells have been going strong for a couple years.
I wouldn’t care if the batteries cost double what they cost from china,
I have no interest in waiting 3-4 weeks to save a few dollars.
The aforementioned US suppliers are very good, I also use Orbtronic.com
IMR, IlluminationSupply, etc. Even some sellers in Amazon are okay. Sometimes, it can can be a hit or miss depending on what you’re buying even from IMR and other well-known stores. In all likelihood, they won’t sell you fakes but there’s a chance you get older stocks.
Thanks guys. I’ll give one of those places a try.
I had good luck with some Liitokala 26650s I ordered from their AliExpress store, but it seemed to me like they were just managing to keep one step ahead of the courier companies. Most of the batteries I’ve purchased in the last few months have come from reputable US sellers.
Looks like everyone is sold out of good 18650 button tops. Anyone know of any other sources?
After a quick search, it seems all of the retailers listed above have good 18650 button top batteries in stock. What were you looking for?
My first choice is samsung 30Q but it looks like I’m going to find a second choice
30Q button top
But now I see only 1 in stock 
About the only way I know of to get a Chinese vendor to ship cells is to buy a light from them, and then they will put the cells in the light, I actually think this is the only legal way to for them to ship them from China, not real positive on the legal part.
One example was the recent BLF GT GB, they also offered 8 reasonably priced Samsung 35E’s and these cells were shipped in the light.
Other than that I wouldn’t buy cells from China for any reason, there are to many great vendors right here in the U.S.
I generally buy stateside if I want batteries. When I bought the GT’s they got stuffed with 35e’s for the trip. I’m glad I decided to get them now. :+1:
I buy from Illum, IMR and Llion Wholesale.
That reminded me, I just placed an order for eight batteries at GB.
Shipping Cost: $4.89 to United States Via Registered Air Mail that looks to be processing fine. Should I worry?
Liionwholesale has the Vapcell 1100mAh 18350’s for 4.98. Same exact cell as the Aspire, same battery factory.
I haven’t seen much about this place discussed here. They seem to stock a lot of batteries. How is their reputation for selling genuine cells? Customer service?
I guess I’ll just wait until the 30Q is back in stock. I’ve never dealt with Liionwholesale How often do they restock their supply?
Looks like those are coming from Yongdelli battery factory as well. The keeppower 18350 too.
I received 4 30Q BT from the most recent batch they had, I missed them on the previous batch they had around December, didn’t think they were going to even re stock them because in the listing it’s noted: “This is a PROMOTIONAL product, with LIMITED quantities available” However they did get a new batch again in January.
I would just contact them and ask.
He’s also a member here so you could even PM him through the forum and ask: http://budgetlightforum.com/user/23542
.
Before I found out they had restocked them I was getting ready to buy them on ebay from this (US based) seller:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Brand-New-4-Samsung-INR18650-3-7V-3000mAh-30Q-15A-High-Drain-Battery-Button-To/292425649874?hash=item4415ed4ed2:g:WCcAAOSwYApZyfKZ
After adding the shipping charge from Liionwholesale the ebay ones were only about $3 more for the 4pcs. I believe it was around $24.50 vs $27.50