I've been a fan of the 16340 format for at least ten years. Remember the Fenix P1? (My first 16340 light.) I still have mine, modded with a Nichia 219b emitter, outputting about 200 lumens. It's still a little gem of a light.
In reply to the question asking "does anyone still make these," I would encourage anyone interested to surf over to the Prometheus website (darksucks.com), and check out the work Jason is doing with the new FOURSEVENS brand lights in 16340 format. These are programmable, and on the max setting easily output 900 lumens or thereabouts of neutral white light (for about 30 minutes or so, using a high-drain lithium-ion cell; longer runtimes available at lower output settings).
As pocket EDC lights go (especially if your work requires suit and tie), its hard to beat the combination of small size and really good, multi-level output that these kinds of lights offer. And insofar as air travel is concerned, given the ever-tightening rules relating to carry-on bag size, the 16340 format covers most conditions you're likely to encounter, without sacrificing performance.
I'm still a fan. I'm also of the opinion that this format will not go away, and will be with us for quite a while longer.
another problem with them is, chargers do not let the charge current go LOW enough.
without temperature sensing, charging at even 500ma will overheat and damage them.
the smaller the actual capacity (ie cheap overrated cells), the faster this happens.
i have 16340 cells that now have no more than 50mah left
plus when they charge they end up over 4.20V for some reason.
probably they are so bad they trick the charger into doing the wrong thing.
But be careful, Vapcell has a 3A version now too (called T8), while the high current 7A version is sold out on their own aliexpress store. The 7A version can still be found on other shops (also other aliespress shops).
Didn’t know they had those new cells!
Thanks for letting us know!
I was also focusing my suggestion based on the “high-drain” and not the highest capacity!
Still, for the high drain range, their INR16340 800mAh 7A white wrapping are probably the best, right?
I do not have all the latest 16340 cells to compare (are there many of them?), but it is at least the best I have.
By chance, I did a quick runtime test with one of mine this week, using a larger light with an adapter to fit this small cell. I used the large flashlight to limit temperature as a factor, what you see I think is solely the decline of the battery without much temperature effects added. The output is in honest lumens calibrated as well as possible, not inflated ones. The current in the beginning when the battery was full was 5A.
Delivering over 1000lumen/3.5A for most of the draining of the cell sounds very good to me for such a small battery.
Thanks for the test and information djozz!
This surely can handle some drain and, in case the new 16340 850 mAh T8 from Vapcell are as good as these, even for less drain, I guess we have the actual champs on these cells. Unless Shockli comes with even better cells meanwhile (as they did with their recent 14500 high-drain battery) :smiling_imp:
I have 2 of these INR16340s but I don’t use them a lot, as I have many On The Road cells.
But I ordered the new OTR 311 flashlight, that I intent to mod and…I guess the Vapcells will get some use now
1x123 in twisty format is my favorite pocket light - usually clipped to my pocket with a suspension clip
Small and can sustain 2-300 lumens for a good amount of time
Currently use a foursevens mini mkIII (kinda expensive for what it is) and they only recommend their own high discharge rate 16340 - I’m going to assume the Vapcell 7A is comparable/better?
1x123 was all the rage when LED lights first took off. They needed boost converters inside because LEDs then had 3.4v+ forward voltage. 16340 became a rechargeable replacement for 2x123 lights (buck converter) and later in some cases 1x123. These days though, cheaper 1 cell lights just use linear converters to run off 3.6v cells directly, giving up the option of using cr123a. At that point, why bother with compatibility with the form factor? 14500 (longer but skinnier) or 18350 (slightly wider) or even 10440/10180 fill most requirements. The Fenix HM50 was a dual voltage light (1x cr123a or 16340) but notice the slightly improved 2.0 version has lost the ability to run on 123a. I bet that is because they got rid of the boost converter.
I have lots of cr123a lights and lots of 16340s but they are all from an earlier time. My first 18350/18650 light is on order and I will probably be getting more.
