The protected 18350 from Ultrafire in their new style.
Discharge curves looks very good, the cells tracks nicely and can deliver 7A, at 10A the voltage is a bit low.
Conclusion
It looks like Ultrafire has got their hands on the best 18350 batteries around and then added a protection. The protection will increase voltage drop at high current.
If they keep making the battery this way it will be a good battery.
LOL, there is not much we can trust when it comes to budget products from China, but there was one thing we could rely on: Ultrafire batteries are cr*p. Now that last straw is gone. :party:
The capacity is close, but these do not keep the voltage under load as well as the Aspire 18350, there still is a clear performance gap. And at 5 dollar/cell these are not cheap.
Thanks a ton HKJ!
Frankly, I used to think that your tests of *fire cells serve nothing but a proof for noobs…and you’ve got enough of such proofs already.
But now you have found a gem. :partying_face:
Yes. I’m pretty sure they will disappear or be replaced soon. I view any buys of these cells to be risky, but that’s probably the last chance to get the real deal. A worthy replacement may arrive any time or may not arrive in years. I’ll take the risk of buying junk.
It’s not easy to remove the protection circuit on that type, protection design, of cell. I ruined a RCR123A four sevens cell trying to remove the top hat style that this also appears to have.
This is not the first good UltraFire cell though.
I bought a USB rechargeable 18650 some time ago, rated 3400mAh and it had a decent LG cell under the wrapper.
Like you said: reliability has more to do with predictability than with a decent performance.
It’s just like my old manager. If things went OK, he re-named your work. If not, he was the first to do a Brutus on you.
You could trust him (tot do so). And looking over your shoulder without moving your head is good for the eye-muscles.
@Jerommel I have a pair of silver Trustfire 14500’s that are way better than Olight or Nitecore cells.
UltraFire is an 0K quality brand, some of their stuff is quite good for the price. However, for whatever reasons it is counterfeited. At all events, searching for whatever product in their official website is a wise advice.
It is not available anywhere in China. I see that there are still some US shops which haven’t sold their stock, but shipping to Europe is prohibitively expensive.