Jetbeam at one point came and made a flashlight which they said limited production 1000pcs world wide. Just put that into perspective, such companies as Jetbeam and Nitecore with huge distribution worldwide make thousands of each model, maybe like 10,000pcs per model.
You can read the claim here of 1000pcs: http://www.jetbeamlight.com/ShowProducts.asp?ID=68
Some of the weakest cells, they won't power the M43 on Turbo, voltage sag is way serious on those.
And if they are protected they are even weaker. Even Sanyo UR18650FM outperform the NCR18650A and they were available at the same time.
I know to get the most out of this light, you should be using high drain, low resistance cells. The problem is, I’m looking for something relatively cheap, has a high capacity (>2900mAh) and performs well.
If you simply go for $ per mAh ratio, the best option is NCR18650PF at $0.0019 per mAh. The LG is a little bit higher at $0.0022 per mAh; NCR18650BD is $0.0023; and NCR18650BL is $0.0025.
I’m leaning towards the LG HG2 because that has more headroom at 20A versus NCR18650PF’s 10A discharge.
Rod911, forget about capacity, it is irrelevant becasue you do not care what capacity can be gained after 3V (most cells are claimed for down to 2.5V). And for any serious flashlight you only care about capacity that is resulted at 5A-7A down to 3.6V, after that all cells are way too weak, to matter what they offer at ultra low voltage.
Take a look at this and see the capacity at 3.6V, you will see how the NCR18650PF are the last option and the nominal 2900mAh is irrelevant for 5A.
I actually use some 9mm diameter by 1.5mm thick brass piece that is soldered on top of the cell. But I also have a button top model like the Keeppower IMR18650 2500mAh.
That chart seems to indicate that the Samsung 25R is a better choice than the LG HE-2 or Sony VTC5.
In my experience with my dozens of FET driven lights, this is simply not the case. The Sony VTC5 is one of the best cells money can buy, with the LG HE-2 and Efest 35A hot on it’s heels. The 25R is tagging along on their heels. I don’t have fancy testing equipment that makes neat computer charts, but I do have some pretty fancy high drain devices and those tell the real world story.
Yes, I have all these cells. Wish I had more C5’s but I’ve only got half a dozen of those. I’ve got a dozen or more 25R’s, used in specific lights for their button tops. I’ve got dozens of 35A’s, all in all my favorite cell out of the close to 200 that I have. (I don’t know exactly how many cells I do have, but with 105 lights and many of those requiring multiples and a box almost full of spares I have a LOT.)
I’ll try to get numbers on the Meteor M43 with as many different sets of cells as I can to show what it does with each.
No, I don’t have the light in hand at this point. I was going to put a beamshot up of my Trustfire Showerhead light with it’s 12 XP-E2 Torch emitters so I’d know where to find it, lol. Figured everyone would get confused by their anxiety and misinterpret that so I didn’t start it yet. I’ll just re-shoot comparison lights against it when I do testing on the M43.