Yeah, I know, there was a kinda huge thread only a few days ago. But some things have changed since most of the posts, I think.
I bought faked TF2400 and I think my TF3000 might be fake too because I dont see them on the trustfire website. Maybe they are genuine, I dont know. But I want two decent 18650s for my two XM-L lights.
XTAR are good. Or were good, nobody really knows the new cells, it seems the new ones look different from the old ones.
Solarforce, Hi-Max and some others are often recommended too. I dont want to spend like.. 10$ per battery, but I think 11$ for 2 TF3000 would be a rather bad investment at this point.
Yeah, I tend to agree, but it seems like problems have been more with other vendors. Manafont doesn't have as many reported issues with fakes, unlike DX, DD or fleabay sellers. I would go for the other choices first.
Considering the XTAR 2600 uses Sanyo cells and the wrap is quite good I'm still collecting those. The Solarforce batteries are good but the wrap is crap. I'm wondering about the Hi-Max though
I just did some tests on some XTAR 2600's about 9 months old (probably only 10-20 cycles). I wanted to do a test so I could compare them against the new ones I have on the way. Only got about 2199 and 2294 mAh at 1 amp using Turnigy Accucell hobby charger down to 3V. Disappointing. I haven't used them that hard and would have thought they would hold up better than that. One of these (not sure which) measured 2472 mAh when I first got it.
CheapThrills said in the group buy thread (last post right now) that the new ones seem to perform as well as the old ones. Also be aware that they are fatter and don't fit in all lights.
The TFs arent bad, I got 4 TF3000 from MF and 2 TF2400 from DX (those are fake, tho I dont think they are bad) and they all work very well. But its just as it is when you start with something new.. my first flashlights cost less than 10$, now I spend multiple times of that. So naturally, I'm willing to spend more on batterys, too. There is always something better.. always!