quality 18650 (Panasonic?)

Batteries and Chargers Rechargeable Batteries
1

Hi,

I´ve done some research over time here and there, also here in the forum, but as there is lot of information and things changing, I would like to ask where do You suggest to buy quality 18650 rechargable batteries right now? Button top, EU shipping (estonia). I usually buy 4 piece set and price under 5 $ per piece (while ordering 4) I consider to be fake. Last time I was looking for long time to find reliable aliexpress shop, but didnt find any I considered to seem original or close to that. So I finally found so called Panasonic NCR (?) batteries from banggood.com.

Unfortunately I dont have right charger to measure real capacity and I havent tested them too much, but so far they seem OK, especially as I can feel in my hand they weight more than similar ones my brother ordered for half the price.
if anyone considers ordering the same, from my experience my first order was cancelled after few days due to “no shipping to estonia” and after that the item showed shipping price to estonia, before it was free shipping. Although, I was able to make the order again, so I tried again and did everything the same way, and that order successfully shipped to me. Also re-ordered one more set which also came through.

Is’s the possibility that these are real Panasonic ncr cells, or everything from such places are just more or less good copies of Panasonic product? Is there anything/any shop better to consider?
Shipping price tends to grow there, at first it was 0, then 2 dollars, now already 7 dollars. Hit me with suggestions where to get quality 18650 batteries and if my price range approx 6 $ per batterie is correct?

Thanks,
Joosep

2

The Panasonic NCR18650B is very counterfeited. This is because there is plenty of other brand cells which can meet its capacity rating for less money, even being better overall cells. If you buy cells with button top, an aftermarket addon, from shady providers (eBay or random AliExpress sellers) it is very likely you are going to get a counterfeit. This is because the plus pole shape of a cell is a very distinctive characteristic.

If you are adamant on getting something 100% genuine take a look at NKON's 18650 catalog, see if they can ship to your country. There are plenty of cells from major OEMs which meet or surpass the NCR18650B: Sanyo NCR18650GA, Panasonic NCR18650G, LG INR18650-M36 or INR18650-MJ1, Samsung INR18650-35E and also many others which can be quite close or effectively meet its performance for less money or much less money.

Here are the links to a couple AliExpress sellers known to sell genuine first brand cells:

Good luck.

Cheers :-)