Review: TrustFire R5-A3 XP-G R5 1xAA 3-mode

Hey Don, do you think my Eneloops are functioning correctly? I did another runtime test with a freshly charged Eneloop, and it held very steady until about 2:10, and at 2:21 it was as bright visually as the K-106 on Low. By 2:30 the glow is hardly noticeable. It seems that yours lasts quite a bit longer.

Yes i would say so.....it also depends on the driver. With time and more use your Eneloops will get better and better, so for the first few uses you might get short runtime.

You might be right Al. In fact, I am now convinced these are NOT just cheap knockoffs... I just started a runtime test with a cheap BTY 2700 mAh NiMH that came with my charger, and it's about done for already at 1:14. A full hour more with the Eneloop!

High Quality cells like the Eneloops will just get better with time it seems.......so enjoy them man. And as for fakes i never thought they were.Sealed Usually with new cells i like to cycle them first before they get put to use, so in your case i would just use them and put them back on the charger.

I was the one who was suspecting them actually :X the price was pretty good. But I think this is the proof that they are genuine, fully 100% more runtime than the BTY.

It must be said - BTY cells are reputed to be junk.

http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2010/03/01/dont-buy-bty-batteries/

Any cell claiming over 2300mAh is probably going to be junk very soon if it isn't immediately. High capacity NiMH (>2000mAh) have to make too many compromises to be useful. My reputable 2700mAh cells never gave me more than 2400mAh even after gentle forming. Now they are junk and are too big to fit in most AA using devices. Hence, Eneloops only for me. I have cheaper LSD cells but they aren't as good - but then they were half the price. With sensible treatment (not charging them above an amp), they should last for more than a decade. Most of my >2200mAh cells are in a recycling box and the rest relegated to cordless mice and the like.

Yup, I never expected much out of these BTY cells, they just came for free with the charger. But my point is that if these Eneloops were fakes, they would probably be every bit as cheap as the BTYs, which they aren't.

So you say that the BTY cells quickly lose their initial charge capacity and become even worse in short order? Mine are not noticeably lighter than the Eneloops, so they do appear to have a healthy dose of electron soup inside.

In the short term they may work well enough, and if you never overcharge them (This kills more cells than anything else) and never expect high currents out of them (anything over half an amp) then they might serve well. Or they might not. Modern NiMH cells contain a small and very carefully measured amount of water. If this is lost by overcharging, overheating or overdischarging they will irreversibly lose capacity. It is normally reckoned that cells have had it when they are down to 80% of original capacity. If the seals aren't very good even if you avoid all the above, then they will irreversibly lose capacity.

In a year's time they may well be useless - or, if you are lucky they will still have life in them. None of my very gently treated "2700mAh" cells made it to 3 and they were not cheap cells.

Hey Don do you remember the infamous Energizer 2500's......charge them up and discharged within a day and thats with the cells not being used. Those cells were truly crap, now the only ones i like to use are the 2300's and 2450's since they hold a charge longer.

We never got those here - first time I ever saw Energizer rechargeables was a couple of years ago - they are all over the place now. The only ones i have came with an Energizer 15 minute charger - aka "Death to all cells". That thing bungs more than 8 amps through the poor cells and kills them in 30 cycles. And that's with good cells.

I had some Vanson branded 2300mAh ones that were just as bad. In two years 10 of them couldn't run a 12V PC fan for more than 5 minutes - that fan needed less than 100mA.

I guess we all had our share of bad cells........

That's for sure! There are still loads of really bad cells out there that put people off rechargeables for ever. In the 80's I had no choice but to use rechargeables even the not very good ones available then - 300mAh was a high capacity AA then. Been using them for everything I can since.

What got me was that i had a lot of those cells and i always wondered at the time why they sucked. Nowadays i know better on what cells to spend my money on, but rechargeables are the way to go in the long run.

Do you reviewers with 1.2/1.5 NiMH also have 14500s? If you have both, please comment on whether there is a point to using the NiMH cells.

Generally if I can use 14500 I'll default to them. Ty

I like to use both because one will get longer runtime with a high quality nimh cell then with a 14500, now if you want the light to be brighter then go with the 14500.

Welcome to BLF Meester.

A lot of lights with a 14500 get far too hot. Depends whether you need a lot of light for a relatively short time (and burnt hands) or less light without burning your hands. Any light that gets too hot to hold is going to get the LED and driver even hotter which does not augur well for longevity.

I wanted to make sure there wasn't comparable brightness with NiMH that I was missing. I like having the options for bright and long runtime that come with multimode lights and that is my default approach. I was willing to give up some bright with my Romisen RC-I3 with what may have been a P4. It ran preety bright and after I opened it up to a 17500 it was about the best I could expect in a single mode. I love those 17500s. Now that I've lost it I'm looking to replace it with a multi-mode R2 or R5 EDC. I just ordered the UltraFire A10B Cree R2-WC HA-III 5-Mode 250-Lumen LED Flashlight (1*18650) http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.29096. It doesn't look too much bigger than most AA lights but with those modes and battery it may be just the ticket.

I had one of those, didn't much care for it. It is quite small though. There is a review of mine on Jayki.com here

What do you think? Is there room to open uop the walls?

TY, meester

I don't think so, but will dig out the measuring gear and check. The plug nature of the tailcap would probably make boring it out difficult.