I started out all about protected cells, but now I have as many unprotected. if most of your lights have low voltage protection it shouldn’t be much of a concern. just use common sense.
the unprotected green panasonics have been great for me. panasonic PDs and samsung 20Rs are great for high amp applications. I still like AW IMRs as well. if you are a little hesitant to go unprotected IMR can be a good compromise.
Authorized sales and warranty coverage are typically tied. If not, how would mfrs know the items in circulation are legit? They can’t track and control quality of items that are sold on an unauthorized basis (not trackable). This is not some big travesty to the consumer. It’s pretty standard and makes perfect sense if you think it through.
We have all seen fakes and clones of popular lights (even clones of clones!). It is in the best interest of the mfr AND the consumer to have authorized dealer networks. It is the only way mfrs can maintain control on the items in circulation.
Everyone loves to demonize mfrs and vendors as some kind of greedy assholes, but there are reasons these practices exist. More often than not the primary goal is maintaining a quality product for us - the consumer.
I haven’t had any problems with Wallbuys aside from not liking there microsecond events, so I placed an order for one. I want a 1D cell light and I hope more companies start making them.
Got my SD10 today. The lumen rating seems accurate, nice in bright on a D cell about 200. AA battery carrier is cheap and plastic. The X3 battery carrier will work. The front contact is fine but the rear negative contact is spring on spring so that might have to be modified to keep them from entanglement.
Oh I took a protected 26650, wrapped a length of para cord around about four times and it fit fine ,no rattle.