New Solarforce 18650 V2 Test

Solarforce 18650 Protected 2400mA capacity

Dia = 18.1mm

Length = 67.7mm

I would like to thank http://www.solarforce.hk for the opportunity to test these new cells .

I have included two runs of the new V2 Solarforce 18650 [ Battery No2 and No4 ] , B2 [ Battery No2 ] was run in some what warm weather , and B4 was run in much cooler weather . As can be seen B2 started somewhat harder [ 3.11Amp ] , and this is very much temperature related . Li-ion batteries discharge at higher rates the warmer they are , so this will hopefully help with the small discrepancy , but as can be seen , the overall performance is extremely similar overall . I also included a Ultrafire 2400 protected as well as the Trustfire 2500 grey so that we could have a good idea of performance in the 2400mA class . Also included is the Solarforce 18650 [ All white or V1 ] that preceded the new V2 white and blue battery .

The older battery does not discharge quite as well as the new battery , but then it does finish a little better as a result , on the other hand the new Solarforce cell discharges much better than most Chinese made cells , 3.11A is extremely good . The two cells I tested on the warmer day were extremely close in discharge , and the two I tested on the cooler day were also very close , but due to the temperature variation , the two tested on the warmer day did not match the two tested on the cooler day ... [ B1 - B2 warm day B3 - B4 cool day ]

But then it was to be expected that there would be some variation in discharge as the weather changed some what drastically , especially when you live in Melbourne .

When comparing the Solarforce batteries to other batteries in the same class , the Solarforce offers serious performance , and I would suggest that buying a lesser battery could be a mistake , especially if your planning on running a dual battery set up . The Solarforce offers well matched performance [ discharge ] and a class leading discharge capability [ high discharge ability ] . There are batteries with much higher capacity , but capacity is only one consideration when deciding on a battery , discharge capability and balanced performance [ Multi cell lights ] are other considerations , and from the cells I received for testing , the Solarforce product covers the latter two considerations very well .

Thanks old4570, another great review!

Interesting. Thank you.

Thanks for testing so many batteries in search of the best deals for the money. I always enjoy reading your threads. I personally havent found a cheap 18650 that can better these in overall performance.

The Trustfires are good , but apparently are having some quality issues , you may get good ones or you may get not so good ones ... ??

I agree with you.
In the old days the "old Blue" Turstfire protected 18650 was sometimes acceptable, sometimes terrible. The new one ("Flame", red&black), is the best in budget Li-On, but old4570 is right. The quality is just CQC (Chinese quality control). I have now 10 "Flame", and 2-3 from these, have much lower performance.
But for this price the "flame" is a good deal.

PS: I ordered 4 piece of Solarforce 18650 V2, i hope they arrive soon.