I ordered 4 about 1-2 weeks ago for my brother, it was shipped the next day which is surprising for Hobby King. I have 14 orders with them but didn't buy from them for a long time (about 6 months) because of how slow they are but I think they might have stepped up their game now.
They will ship from the main warehouse in Hong Kong. China is a "back warehouse" for big items that take up too much room in their Hong Kong warehouse, Germany and Australia and USA have their own pages where you can search for things, it usually costs more than coming from Hong Kong but its faster. But they don't have those batteries in any of them.
They appear to be genuine; at least they have the date code stamped as described in this thread: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/1070. I haven't had them long enough to say anything about their performance except that they're working well in my Canon PowerShot 650 on the initial charge (there are other batteries getting conditioned in my charger at the moment). Flash recycle time is good.
I am also curious about these Camelion AlwaysReady LSDs:
They seem to have the same specs as Eneloop XX for less $$$. I know that Camelion makes decent flashlights, so maybe they have good batteries too. I don't know anything about their chargers.
Look again - the eBay ad is for 8 Camelion batteries, so the price for four comes out to less than $14, which is over $4 less than the Eneloop XX I bought.
I suppose I won't know if the Eneloop XX I bought are genuine until I've used them for a while. They do have the date code impression stamped on each battery, which is supposed to be a good sign. Impression stamping is more trouble than printing so I am hopeful.
OK, however I have paid less than 10$ for 4x Btone 2100 and 11.99$ for 4x Btone 2500. So there is a significant difference in price, and you must to buy the pack of 8.... what happens if you only need 2 or 4?
However, thanks for the heads up. I am searching not very expensive ones to test. Still nothing found except for the Turnigy
Thanks to God (at least for me) I already own 18 Btone batteries (6 AA and 8 AAA). And no need to buy more Btones, but more other brands specially in the 2200-2500 range.
There is no way Im going to pay 10$ for 4xAA/AAA Chinese LSD batteries, Id rather spend 15$(or less if I can manage to avoid VAT 22%) on locally available genuine 2000mAh Eneloops.
Make them 6-7$ for 4xAA and 4$ for 4xAAA and Im in tho :)
HC Turnigy's seems like a good deal, but their shipping is too high for me to consider them in quantities I require, its the same as those "cheap-expensive" Chinese LSD's, makes locally available Eneloops so much better option.
Even if some "Chinese" batteries (Btone and Turnigy LSD) are actually better or at least equal (bigger capacity, about the same self discharge) to 2000mAh Eneloops?
Yes, UDO, even then. I cant justify spending 70-100% of the price of Eneloops on Chinese equivalents knowing how easy it is to get a lemon or fake ones and the hassle it takes to either get your money back or wait for re-shipped items.
Its risky business+when I buy locally I know there will be some kind of warranty and I will be able to contact either seller or manufacturer and try to adress the concerns, thats not possible with any of those Chinese copies when they offer month or two of warranty I believe?
Cheap lights=no problems, but not batteries at the price of branded ones.
As I mentioned - make them cost 4-7$ shipped for 4 pack and Im all in :)