Happy to see your graphs, Relic. I was going to recommend the trustfires as well as I've never had a lick of trouble from any except for the counterfeit pair I got from BIC a year ago. The ones from fasttech are great and genuine. I hate it when people bad mouth all xxxxfire cells. The genuine Trustfires are great in every size they make. It's the Ultrafire celks that are crap. This process they are better than the Sanyo 14500s.
Thanks guys, the flames are sure cheaper, I didn’t realize that the nitecore was for a single battery.
Would one of these 14500s and two dummy place holders be totally, 100% safe to use in a Saik SA-305, which is a 3AA flashlight?
By the way, the Saik uses one of those 3 battery holders, what if you just put the 14500 in it without the dummies, wouldn’t it still be the same voltage coming out of the battery holder?
Sound OK to me, I don’t have that light though. Usually 3xAA and 1x14500 are electrically interchangeable.
brad,
If that battery holder is the same as mine, then it appears that it places the cells in series for 4.5v total for NiMh(when they are just out of the charger that is). So using 1 cell would not give you the voltage. Two LiFePO4 cells and one dummy would give you 7.2v when the cells come off the charger. I use the 2+1 dummy configuration in my Spark SD73 because I know it can handle up to 7.6v, and that configuration lasts about 75% as long as the LSD NiMh cells and give me marginally brighter light. You’d have to check the spec’s of your light to see what maximum voltage it can handle, probably someone here knows, otherwise if the amount of light is not important the one LiFe would work.
I'd just run a 26650 if it would fit in the saik 305 .
J-mac I agree .....the Trustfire FLAMES are solid as a rock ..the other trustfires are garbage ..don't they make a trustfire 4000 or a 5000mah 18650 ??
Thank you for the kind words for the genuine Trustfire’s.
When people cast a broad brush across the names Ultrafire, Trustfire, Crapfire, etc it pizzes me off because they are NOT all the same.
I have had Zero defective Trustfire Flames in 14500,18650 and 26650 and I challenge anyone to beat the “bang for the buck” value that these cells provide.
I am talking readily available brand new cells, not laptop pulls or industrial packs torn apart.
Yes I have Sanyos, Keeppowers, and Panasonics and they are all fine cells. But they usually come at a higher price.
I like to have as many flashlights armed and ready as possible, so cost is a factor.
Make no mistake, If I am going to use a light that is an amp-hound, I will use the best battery available.
However a lot of lights that are still nice lights, do not need a high-end cell to perform to specifications.
Kinda like using high test gas in your Ford Focus, It may start easier but it ain’t gonna pull any harder or get better mileage, it will just lighten your wallet.
But then again, that may give you better mileage from the loss in weight 
Later,
Keith
Thanks to everyone for the Head’s up about the Trustfires, I hadn’t considered them before but I will now. Just to clarify, is the the Trusfire ‘Flames’ that are the ones to be looking for?
I have the same question, at fasttech the blue 14500 protected are a few pennies more than the flame 14500 protected, what is the difference?
I too has no issues whatsoever with TF Flames - both 18650 (2400mAh) and 14500 (750mAh). Those capacity numbers are always achieved.
The TF Flame 2400 from Fasttech even beat their unprotected Sanyo 2600 in both 1A discharge voltage AND capacity. That is even more impressive when considering the Flame does this despite being additionally burdened by the protection circuit.
BTW, I have both 14500 TF Flame from DX and FT and both I have tested to have around 750mAh capacity. That’s very good for the price.
http://www.fasttech.com/products/0/10000523/1084200-trustfire-14500-37v-900mah-protected-rechargeable-
http://dx.com/p/trustfire-protected-14500-3-7v-900mah-rechargeable-lithium-batteries-2-pack-26124
Yes you want the flames, the blue’s are probably more because they do not sell as many, volume = discount.
Thanks,
Keith
Are there any complaints about the Coolook placeholder cylinders?
Is there any difference between the black ones and the yellow ones?
I buy the yellow ones because they are easier to identify. I have noticed that in a few of my other devices such as AA Cell battery packs for my VHF radio they fit a bit loose. It makes me wonder if they may have a problem in avalanche beacons, I guess it would be a simple enough matter to shim them a bit if required. Have not had a problem in the lights with springs however, nor have I noticed any continuity problems so far. I just measured one and I get 49.75mm, so they appear to be .25mm shorter than stated. They say the black one is 50 as well, but I suspect they might be the same.
See post #1…I wouldn’t steeer ya wrong…. 
I would stay away from xxxfires Except for the TrustFire Flames from reputable source…i.e. FastTech.
I would definitely stick to only the Flames.
Fasttech just got these in today, are they better or worse than the flames do you think?
DLG 3.7V 14500 800mAh Lithium Battery
http://www.fasttech.com/products/1/10003877/1276310-dlg-37v-14500-800mah-lithium-battery-2-pack
DLG are Japanese made (IIRC) cells of high quality, they should be definitely better than TFF’s. But they’re unprotected.
Uh oh.
Interesting graph. I never knew about this cell. But what is not mentioned, is the Sanyo UR14500P 2-pack from Intl-Outdoor.com is more than triple the price of the Trustfire flames! That’s worth mentioning. Currently $17.54 for a 2-pack, that’s $8.77 apiece (apparently there’s a free shipping option):
http://intl-outdoor.com/2-pcs-sanyo-ur14500p-840mah-protected-battery-p-467.html
2-pack of Trustfire flames at fasttech currently go for $5.32, free shipping, that’s $2.66 apiece:
http://www.fasttech.com/products/0/10000523/1084200-trustfire-14500-37v-900mah-protected-rechargeable-
Which begs a question: if the Nitecore NL147 (rated at 750mAH) is made by Sanyo, and the UR14500P (rated at 840mAH) is also made by Sanyo, and there are others reputed to be made by Sanyo, such as Zebralight’s branded 14500, how many different 14500’s does Sanyo make, assuming these are different cells, and which are which? In other words, which is the best “Sanyo 14500” deal?
Also worthy of note is the varying price on Nitecore NL147.
Intl-Outdoor has a single for $8.74, which is the same price per cell as the UR14500P:
http://intl-outdoor.com/nitecore-14500-liion-battery-nl147-p-625.html
But Fasttech has the NiL147 for 5.99, free shipping:
http://www.fasttech.com/product/1134000-nitecore-nl147-14500-750mah-37v-rechargeable-lithi
I’m wondering if Sanyo deems their own cells dangerous enough to warrant a protection circuit? I have a light where a protection circuit makes things a little too cramped, but don’t want to risk my safety. Possibly unjustified, but I’d feel more comfortable removing a Sanyo protection circuit than one on the Flames. Are any sold without protection? LiFe and probably LiMn are too low capacity in my application (tried it), plus I feel bad overcharging the LiFe cells in my standard charger. But LiFe is better for storing in a hot car (glove box), I think, and extremely safe, so they have their place. Not sure how LiMn holds up to a hot car. SK68 clones are perfect for a “glove box” light with the right cells, especially the 3-mode versions.
I have the same dilemma, I really like the LiFe, but in some cases it just doesn’t give the volts even if you can live with the lower mAh rating. It can work opposite as well though, for example using the 14500 LiFePO4 in the Spark SD52 gives you much better light than 2 NiMh cells, and makes a small marginal difference as well in the SX5. So in the end I’m using just about everything. I also just ordered those Nitecore 14500 and protected Trustfire’s yesterday. However I’m finding also that protected cells are just not a good fit for a lot of my uses. Not a problem for my single cell device use, but not too keen to use the unprotected 14500’s in series even if the device can handle the higher voltage.
I was just looking at those little plastic converters that allow you to put a AAA into a AA format, pondering if there could be a simpler adapter that you could slip an unprotected 18650 into but it wouldn’t make it any bigger than the protected cells currently are. I think that might work in some of my Spark lights because there is a lot of leeway in some of the models, and not in others.
Today I had a chance to run the Soshine 700mAh LiFePO4’s in my Spark SD52 on high after I removed them from the charger, and timed them. They lasted 1:30hrs. Yesterday when I ran the Coolooks in the same circumstances, I recorded 1:45hrs.