Firstly a big thanks to Ken at Xtar for sending me the newer style Xtar 2600mAh 18650’s to test.
My test involves a pretty straight forward runtime test using a Sunwayman C20C until the low voltage warning light kicks in.
I used the following batteries in the test :-
Xtar 2600mAh 18650
Xtar 2600mAh 18650
AW 2600mAh 18650
Nitecore 2600mAh 18650
Xtar 2900mAh 18650 (IMR)
1st battery tested was the newer Xtar 18650.
Ran for a total of 2hrs 30mins until the low voltage warning light came on.
2nd battery up was the Xtar 18700.
Ran for a total of 2hrs 25mins until the low voltage warning light came on.
3rd battery up was the AW 18650.
Ran for a total of 2hrs 23mins until the low voltage warning light came on.
4th battery up was the Nitecore 18650.
Ran for a total of 2hrs 39mins until the low voltage warning light came on.
Last battery tested was the Xtar 2900 (IMR).
Ran for a total of 2hrs 49mins until the low voltage warning light came on.
The newer style Xtar 18650 although an unknown cell (to me anyway) is thought to be a Chinese made cell and surprisingly beat the old type 18700 which was a Japanese Sanyo cell. The AW which for a long time was considered one of if not the best cell was beaten in this runtime test by both the above Xtar batteries and considering the price premium you pay for these over the Xtars is simply not worth the extra £’s.
The Nitecore battery was the longest running of the 2600mAh batteries I tried, but not by much. The price premium over the Xtars again in my view is probably not worth the extra for a few minutes extra runtime.
The last battery I ran was the unprotected Xtar 2900mAh one. This ran not surprisingly longer than any of the other batteries given the extra capacity it has. I’ve never used these before but I did notice that the light ran a lot cooler with these over the Li-ion ones. No need to worry about discharging these unprotected cells too far with the Sunwayman having the low voltage warning light. I really like these batteries and they are quite a bit shorter than the other tested which means they should fit any 18650 light with no issues.
I would consider the newer Xtar 18650 to be good value for money and the same could be said for the 2900 IMR cells.