VBatty IMR14500 880mAh (yellow) has only around 650-700mAh...

Batteries and Chargers Rechargeable Batteries
1

So I ordered several VBatty IMR14500 batteries from the VBatty AliExpress store.

based from HKJ's reviews, these 14500's should have around 800mAh with 0.5A current discharge test.

refer: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/44279

(800mAh tested capacity for an 880mAh labeled battery is 10% below, I would still call it "OK")

I did capacity testing for these batteries but I got only between 630-682mAh (see images)

But 700mAh tested capacity is more than 20% below. Do you think it's worth to call a dispute to the AliExpress store?

on SkyRC MC3000, charged to 4.20v, then discharge at 0.25A to 2.50v cut-off -- got 659, 682, 648, 664mAh)

on Opus BT-C3100 v2.2, Charge Test @ 200mA: I got 637, 630, 654, 656mAh

On Lii-500, NOR Test (Discharge test) @ 300mA current: 653, 668, 682, 672mAh

Average would be around 660mAh capacity at low drain rate (0.20A-0.30A discharge).

Would you consider this still within "tolerable" range for an 880mAh nominal capacity 14500?

Even if I compare against HKJ's results of "800mAh" capacity, 682mAh is 15% lower capacity..

2

That is almost 25% off the label’s capacity.

That’s the problem with buying other than the big 4 ( LG, Samsung, Sony and Panasonic/Sanyo) brands.

3

This is indeed unfortunate but not totally unexpected with odd brands like this. It is up to you to start a dispute, but probably not worth the time and trouble. Maybe just email the seller and try to get a coupon or a few bucks refund.

In the 14500 department, the best deal these days are the Soshine white and yellow 14500 900mAh which can be found at a very attractive price.
See: Test/review of Soshine 14500 900mAh (White-yellow)

4

The problem is shipping to my country…

I did order the Soshine 14500 900mAh before on AliExpress, had problems with the shipping and they wanted to cancel/refund my order, but after several laborious messages back & forth, I got them to instead re-ship my order to a relative’s friend based in China, and when my relative visited China several months later, hand-carried those batteries back to my place, so it took about half a year or so before I managed to get the batteries.

Gearbest does not ship to my country. Only some AliExpress stores do (the store I ordered the VBatty IMR14500, just changed their shipping method to “cannot ship” to my country.)

The VBatty IMR14500 seems to be pretty good, at least when I test the IR (using MC3000), it had one of the lowest IR I’ve tested for 14500s (lower than the Soshine) — I got 50-60mOhms for these VBatty IMR14500. The Soshine ICR14500 I got 70-80mOhms. The Sofirn 900mAh 14500 I’m getting 80-100mOhms.
Downside is the much lower capacity for these VBatty IMR14500 — it would be acceptable to me if they tested 800mAh, but 650mAh is quite a bit lower than I expected, comparing to HKJ’s results…

5

If those VBatty averages ‘only’ 650mAh but has low IR, for me I can conclude that those are real IMR cells…and real IMR cells are usually low in capacity… perhaps they just exaggerated their label ratings…but a 650mAh IMR 14500 is not bad at all.

That’s also the reason why the newer high-capacity, high-drain cells are considered ‘hybrid’, and not real IMR.