Test / Review: TrustFire TF18650 2400mAh (Flame)

Significant capacity difference. Have you tested flames from Manafont and Dinodirect?

No, but I have the 3000 mAh from Manafont on order, but it will probably be some time before I get around to test them.

My current test queue looks like this:

First pile is the one I have to test, second pile is the one I am testing on now and 3. pile is the two tests I have published.

I expect to receive more batteries to test.

Very well done review here! Thanks a lot for posting it.

Frontpage'd and Sticky'd.

Fake TF maybe? :|

(old TF mouseover)

Looking forward to your tests. Appreciate the systematic data.

Either that or the factory has switches to cheaper cells. But they are definitely not a "best buy" anymore.

Thanks for your test & your time.

Big thanks from here also. :)

Just sold a pack of DX-TF´s away. On outside, they were genuine-look. Had no time to test, too bad...

This means, that on future purchases, I will be leaning towards Xtars even more. Perhaps the new TF3000, hope I get them soon.

The ones from DD are also sold out. I just received my last replacement cells shipment of 6 protected cells from DD. They test to just somewhat shy of 2300mAh @ 1A and 2.826V (as measured by my UT-58E DMM)

Thanks for sharing the test results with us HKJ, great job as usual!

On a personal note I still find these batteries outstanding and of great value.

They are still 2 for the price of less than 1 with more capacities combined.

Reliability @ longevity is another matter.

It is not a big problem finding other batteries with about 2000mAh at the same price, there are lots of different names in cheap batteries and my guess (without testing) is that many of them will be between 2000 and 2400 mAh.

HKJ, my cheap batteries do not fare 2000mAh. I'd be happy if they can do even 1600mAh. A lot of them are between 1-1.5Ah, and some like GTL and "Sony" ones do 500-800mAh. They are reclaimed batteries.

That is low. I did check the "Sony" last year and it was better than that, but the worst cell I tested.

I can see that DealExtreme sometimes writes a "Real capacity", have you checked any of these batteries and compared them to the DX rating?

Thank you for the review HKJ, I was about to order a few of these batteries. I did order some 14500's in the same wrapping, though. Hope their capacity isn't similarly reduced.

If you meant DD TF Flames, these are still available:

http://www.dinodirect.com/TrustFire-Rechargeable-Li-ion-Battery-Protected-2400mAh-TF18650-currency-EUR.html

...but these are sold out:

http://www.dinodirect.com/trustfire-lithium-battery-18650-2400mah-currency-EUR.html

Price is the same, however.

Why? Can´t tell. The same batteries?

By description, yes, two last times I´ve ordered the not-sold-out-ones but they are on the way still so can´t say a thing...

So if these are not fake, those new 3000mAh could have the same performance as old 2400 mAh ones. Waiting your review tho ;) Thanks.

Thanx HKJ for testing and reporting!

I wonder if these are fake or if all Flames now have lower mAh

That will probably sometime in January.

I am not going to check more of them for the next two months, but if other people get some and can test them, it would be nice if they could post shop (and sku), date and capacity.

Thanks for the great review!

WoW Outstanding Awesome Review!!! Thanks for sharing HKJ

I have received 12 of those new cells from DX, and I don't like them.

They DO look different from the older TF Flames, this new batteries have a crossed trash bin symbol near the CE symbol (older TF Flames doesn't have it), colors are sightly different, red color on the flames are more notorious on the new cell, and brown color in the flames is more notorious on the older TF-Battey. They also look fatter for me but I haven't measured them, and they may change in length between each other (comparing new with new).

For me it is no longer a deal to buy this batteries, I'm looking forward to your review of the ManaFont TF 3000mAh

[EDIT]

Here I show a third cycle of those batteries interconnected 4S.3P @ 400mA (that means 133mA for each cell) till protection kicks:

I'm very disappointing with this results; THIS DX's batteries performed better in my case, and they are the cheapest from their site.

[/EDIT]