Sony 18650 Protected 3000MAH

Actually that is the same batteries I'm using and my 1st 18650s, up to now its still going strong and comparable to my better named batteries. I have one soaked in water for a few hours inside a flashlight and after drying, it still performs as if nothing happen, just a visible stain of rust.

Yea I really do like them. I can't tell any advantage that the Trustfire Flame batteries have over them.

The Sony are fakes. Take a look at the battery list of old4570 or the test result:

Only 970 mAh @ 500mA discharge rate.

Next point protection: I have never seen 18650 of Sony, Panasonic, Sanyo or LG with protection. They produce them for business clients (as a part for laptops) not for endconsumer.

Other people built in a protection and sell them. This are people who build AW. Redilast or XTAR batteries.

Thanks for that link. I just sent it to ebay customer support and filed a complaint against the seller.

Fake for sure. I checked with a reputable Sony reseller here locally and they say the highest capacity currently available is the 2600 mAh US18650GR cell. His most recent parts catalog from Sony doesn't even list a cell with a higher capacity than that and the price per piece on the 2600s is higher in bulk than those ebay cells are going for retail.

Grey ultrafires are a crapshot. It's possible you get decent ones, but just as likely not.

Well I don't know. The one I compared beat the Trustfire flame battery. I'll test some more.

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/ultrafire-protected-18650-3-7v-2400mah-lithium-batteries-2-pack-grey-19624

They seem to be rated very good here.

Just buy 2 good AW or Redilast cells instead of buying a bunch of ultracrap that might blow up. Heck I even use unprotected Sanyo 2400 cells I got from laptops.

Why bother with hit or miss, how many cells do you really need?

Well that's my opinion anyway.

Thank you "undercover" poster. ;) lol

Well buy what you want. I like these for the money. And I plan on buying some more.

I'd definitely avoid the fake crap on eBay, but the "good" 18650's like AW and Callie's are amazingly expensive compared to decent cells (not some of the garbage ones) on DX, etc. Will your lights really know the difference? Most of the testing I've seen says No.

The Xtars we had here weren't all that much. They're good.

One battery that hasn't been mentioned is the Hi-Max at about $6ea. My tests show they come in at about 2500+ mah. This is the cheapest battery I would recommend to a friend.

I have opened up a lot of fake / recycled batteries. One of the sellers had a 99.5% feedback so you cant gauge battery quality by feedback ratings. Most battery buyers are not on message boards and dont actually test their batteries.

If you buy the cheapest 18650 batteries your almost guaranteed garbage. Even the "real" Fire batteries seem to suffer from high internal resistance and much shorter than average lifespans, 1-2 years? (vs name brand batteries sanyo samsung ect)

Ultrafire Grey vs. TF black (mouse over)

black line: 0.3A discharge, red: 1A, green: 3A

Well I had a red ultrafire junker battery do better than the Trustfire flame battery. Now I don't recommend those batteries, but I'm still using them. Those Ultrafire grey batteries in my opinion are a lot better battery than you guys are reporting in my opinion. These I got are dang good batteries so far. For the money they are very good batteries.

If you are like me, having only a couple of 18650 in circulation, get for example Xtars.

I have tf flames, got Xtars now. They perform well and have good capacity/quality yet quite low price

And I agree with you. The Xtars are good batteries. But I can buy 8 of the grey Ultrafire protected batteries for about the price of 2Xtars. Now to me the Ultrafires are the better deal. They may not be as good either. But when I go through a set of them and even if they won't last as long I still have 3 more sets to use. I don't think 2 Xtars are going to out last 8 Ultrafire grey protected batteries. But like I said use what you like and pay what you want. I'll take these batteries and do just fine.

That's the rub right there : The cheaper cells may test out well to begin with , but 2 years down the track may have seriously degraded ..

If you buy new cells every year to maintain mAh ...

Then buying batteries that cost twice as much , maintain good capacity for 3 years , is not so economically irrational after all .

I'm not disagreeing with you at all. But again if I can buy 4 sets of the Ultrafire grey protected 2400MAH batteries for about the same exact cost of the Xtar 2600MAH batteries I believe the 8 Ultrafires will out last 2 of the Xtars. I just ordered 6 more of the Ultrafires. So far I like these batteries. I don't need the Rolls Royce of batteries to keep my lights a working.