18650s $5 a pair?

Or you could pay less at Easy Light Buy

http://www.easylightbuy.com/trustfire-tf18650-2400mah-37v-protected-liion-battery-jtv1-2pack_p257.html

Real Trustfire 2400 mah Flames for $3 less than DX. I've bought them, they are the real thing, not re-branded, not fakes.

They are $6.38 for a two pack and not $9.38

The best budget bang for your bucks from a trusted vendor is probably HKequipment.net

They have the good ultrafire 3000 mAh (2600 actual) batteries in a 4 pack for around 31 usd or you can write them and hear what price they can ships them out for if you buy 8 or more (which it sounds like you may need).
That being said think that personally I may have to go for the 3100 mAh rated xtar batteries they have when next I need some. I am tired of getting random batteries of varying quality. I have bought from CNQG (no good - 2 arrived DOA but they were quick to respond to RMA and send 2 new free of charge - but they perform about 65% of the DX 3000 mAh ultrafire ones i have so I wont go there again)
I have some that were delivered with lights as part of the package but those generally suck. Have 2 good ones though but dont remember from which vendor/package I got them.
As for checking this yourself try this method: If you have a battery description you trust (mAh rating etc) then take the price of 1 battery and divide it with the Ah rating. Like the 3100 mAh rated xtar batts:
12,5 usd / 3,1 Ah = 4,0 usd/Ah
The 2400 mAh
7,5/2,4 = 3,13 and so on :-)

Thanks for the responses. I think I'm going to try my luck with easy light buy. I will probably get the flames since the price is better than anywhere else and I haven't had trouble with them before. Are any of their $5 batteries any good?

NOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooo. and i just got another pair from DX. =(

Have you guys tested the true mAh of them ?

Original?

These or these?

Both !

Because it seams a lot of people recommend batteries on here with out any actual testing and run time test do not really show true capacity.

I have personally tested 18 to 20 of these over near on 10 months now. They all test to 2400 to 2500 mAh and the protection work's, the PCB has two (IC'S) mosfets so they will handle 3 to 3.5 amp draw no problem.

Protected TrustFire 18650 3.7V 2400mAh Rechargeable Batteries - Flame (2pcs/set

I do not trust DD, DX and Ebay for genuine trustfire flame batteries !

+111111111!!!!!!

Please listen to benckie on this. Only the Trustfire from Manafont has been tested with positive results. Apparently people don't understand how easy it is to shrink a fake wrapper on an old cell and call it whatever you want. Fake TF cells have been found at DX, DD and many eBay sellers. Why take a chance to save a few bucks? TF 2400 might be $3.19 at Easylightbuy, but it also might be 600mAh in real capacity. You don't know until it is tested.

Pfft... hahaha... I have got everyone beat. 4pcs Blue UF 18650 from BuyInCoins, $3.20/pair, tested 51, 2, 3, and 18 mAh! Yes that was no mistake, TWO friggin mAh!

Granted I got most of my money back and 5% discount card, but bottom line is, don't buy these cheap batteries, especially from BIC! Well, I don't mean boycott BIC altogether, their price, shipping and CS is great, just skip their lame batteries.

Well I don't have the equipment to test for true MAH, but what I do know is all the Trustfire Flames I have got off ebay so far have been what I call very good batteries. I have bought some from Manafont as well. I can't say I can see the difference but then again I don't know which ones are actually from Manafont anymore.

I do appreciate benckie taking the time to test though. His test is why I mainly just buy the Trustfire flames now.

About TF's & Manafont...

First batch of Trustfire "Flame 3000" was good, after that, pretty much no-go price/quality wise.

You really don't know, until YOU test YOUR specific battery, one by one. DX, DD etc. have got the same lottery from all of them with TF's.

Spend 14$ / pair, get Xtars. Current count is maybe 20, not a single dud.

Fair enough, Cheap Thrills, but benckie has tested 18-20 TF 3000 flames from Manafont with consistent performance results. They seem to be the only one that sells a consistent product.

I agree with you on the Xtars - great cells, but they do have a problem fitting in some lights, as do Hi-Max, which is another good testing brand.

Hmm, sounds like I may have missed some thread now? Or just forgetting something...

Anyway, I got two pairs from there. Both alike. First with higher capacity and way higher Amp output and the second not even on-par with best

Dino-Lottery TF 2400's...

edit, correction: got first ONE good pair, after that, TWO bad pairs.

I add here some links, some other people also have had not so good results:

https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/5969#comment-133761

https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/5969?page=1#comment-141319

Here's the cap for my first pair:

https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/4092#comment-104879

...and here for the second 2x pair:

https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/6503#comment-151375

Check a couple of posts below. Most astonishing thing was, they could not deliver more than 3 Amps even with a full charge and direct drive light (First pair was over 4A!!).

edit: and yes, the first pair was GREAT replacement for a bit too long Xtars. I was an idiot selling that pair away with STL-V2 :(

Are there any domestic sellers where I could get these and pay a bit more, but know they are genuine?

I am not anywhere near the level of being able to test them on my own.

Seems to me that Xtar had some problems with their batteries if I read correctly but I don't remember what was said.

I have bought quite a few Trustfire flames from BIC on ebay and I have to say they all seem good to me and perform well in my lights.

My results from BIC batteries, discharged at 1A:

Blue UF 18650 (2400mAh): 2 - 51 mAh

Blue TF 14500 (900mAh): 270 - 350 mAh

Blue TF 10440 (600mAh): 170 - 180mAh

Sad that even the tiny blue TF 10440, crappy that they were, beat the pulp out of the 18650 blue UF.

These are ALL from BIC. I honestly give you guy a heads up, skip these, a little extra will give you a LOT more for your money. Try to stay with Manafont for budget batteries, though not perfect, but still at least have a bit of quality control.

But in above post's you have said you have not tested them and you dont know witch ones are witch.... maybe not very good advice. In the past you have suggested cheaper lights then the tested lights, that have turned out to be fake or scam's and batteries that have tested poorly or the DD lottery game.

If people want tyred and tested flames there is one seller i stick to after test flames from many diffrent sellers.

Protected TrustFire 18650 3.7V 2400mAh Rechargeable Batteries - Flame (2pcs/set

The flame 3000;s are not worth getting as they tested the same for more or gave less then 100 mAh more

Most people will not know if a battery under performs in a light with a few one and off uses, run time test dont realy show the full picture either, there is people on here that do hours and hours of testing to show you the good batteries to spend your money on.

But it seams people will always buy the untested battery to save a few $ and then link them on here for houndereds of people to see and buy. Look at it this way a good battery will save you from a crap torch and a bad charger or worse.

A good cheap battery will cost you $10 to $15 a pair really good batteries will cost you $10 to $30 + each.

Good cheap batteries

Protected TrustFire 18650 3.7V 2400mAh Rechargeable Batteries - Flame (2pcs/set

Or if you want really good batteries

Redilast

You can buy the same cell's cheaper but ive found the protection of the cheaper versions to have less (ic's) mosfets and the protection to be a bit hit and miss.

Make sure you add that to the bic recomedn thread !

https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/431

I have brought a few sets of batteries from them that performed bad or very average, but was only give part refunds because they told me i still could use them.....

benckie: I think I will also give a try with Manafonts _2400mAh_ Flames, just to see... :)

Besides, I have only one (Yes, a frigging one Flame2400) left in drawer, others are gone.