Hi all
Buying my first charger.
I decided to go for Xtar VP2 as HKJ my fellow Dane gave it a good review 
If possible I would prefer a deal including good 18650 batteries.
But I can’t find any danish resellers.
I found this Gearbest deal at 25.79 usd. But I read that some BLF members are experiencing long delivery times - and there is a good chance that I’ll have to pay extra tax when having it shipped to Denmark.
Any advice on a good (European) deal?
There are a lot of possibilities just outside Denmark:
http://eu.nkon.nl/charger/lithium.html
Being inside EU the price is higher.
Recommended EU dealer for quality batteries / chargers and related goods:
http://eu.nkon.nl/xtar-vp2-charger.html
Competent service, decent prices, reasonable shipping charges.
Cheers,
__philippe
Going for this
Seems to be the best deal I could find - including good batteries. Can’t find any coupons though … 
~~The price of this VC2 is damn good I would think http://eu.nkon.nl/charger/lithium/xtar-vc2.html~~
Its out of stock, not surprising at that price if its the regular VC2, but it says ’mini’ in its title?
Is there a difference between this so called ‘mini’ and the ‘regular’ VC2 HKJ?
I could be wrong, but my understanding is that as a charger the VC2 is as good as the VP2, but the VC2 has better analytical capabilities? That same charger is available, and under 20 Euros at one of the other linked Euro sellers, should leave room for a few batteries too. Check it though, might only do 1/2 amp.
EDIT: Doesnt come with a PSU, you need to supply one… so scratch that.
Theres a Chinese seller I got my VP2 from, they automatically, at least they did to me in Australia, send the right power pack, mine was under $40 delivered. Ill see if I can find the thread they had as I cant recall the business name. (Im back) AirSoftPeak. Ive only bought one thing from them, and that went very smooth, Fairly quick delivery, not just for Chinese sellers, quick in general, and a good price. Best part of all, it has the right PSU for my power sockets with it and no extra charge for the included 12v car socket either.
You could ask member Abby here for a coupon, you never know your luck. http://budgetlightforum.com/user/12581
I have not heard about a special mini version of the VC2.
Nearly all Xtar chargers has the same good charging, but there are differences with the function. VP2 has high precision voltage readout and support for 3 current and 3 voltages. VC2 is single current and single voltage and considerable less resolution on voltage readout, but it add a charged capacity readout.
Thanks HKJ. As always, helpful and informative.
I had not read about the mini, went looking but couldnt find one, its just that site lists it as mini for some reason, yet VP2 listing has no mention of the word ‘mini’. Im assuming it might be a google translate thing when the seller set up the blurb for it, or some such. Just a guess though.
Yea - thanks for the links
…
Trying to figure out the Danish import regulations … :Sp
Did some calculations, and the cheapest way for me is to buy via the Gearbest offer - just have to figure out how I change the order so i get the EU adapter …
With danish tax I have to pay ~ 58 USD. ( 26.79 + 25% Danish VAT + import fee of ~ 24,3 USD-> 26,79*1,25 + 24,3 = 57,7875
But thats still cheaper than buying through the German or the Dutch web-shop. They both end up at ~ 70 Euro. And the British one ends up at approx 80 Gbp :Sp
You must be very unpopular with the shops, I get 56,80EU, €43.90 and £41.94
Oh - the price i wrote is with batteries. Sorry
Buying batteries from Chine can be problematic, if they sell batteries the shipping will often long time, the EU shops is within a week.
At one time some of the shops shipped with Post Nord (The company that delivers post in Denmark and Sweden), but only to Sweden, they would not ship to Denmark, last time I ordered with batteries it took two months.
This has been asked for repeatedly and they cannot supply EU-plug power adapter. If you order it they will include a cheap plug adapter. I can live with that given the differences in price, but if you can’t then the nkon site at 36 Eur + shipping is probably the best option. As for the batteries, I have been very pleased with my latest orders from Fasttech using the shipping through NL-post (I think that it is a +1$ option). By ordering separately batteries and charger you might avoid getting over the limit that to pay import duties. Below 25 Eur you are supposed to be exempt from them.
Thanks!
I did not know of the battery-shipping problem. And I misunderstood this post. Thought it meant EU-plug 
Danish import rules (for electronics):
Under 12,2 USD : You pay no duty, VAT or import fee
12,2 - 174,7 USD: You pay VAT and import fee
Above 174,7 USD: You pay, duty, VAT and import fee
Duty for electronics = 12% of product price + shipping
VAT = 25% of product price + shipping + duty
:Sp
The cheapest way to get the charger with EU-plug must be buying it from the Dutch web-shop, and then try to find the batteries in Denmark.
… getting a headache …
I don’t know about Danish customs inspection but the proportion of small goods from China to Spain actually opened and inspected is ridiculous. For small items like these it is very well worth the risk to have to pay VAT +fee if it asked for. So I’d just try to keep orders as fragmented as possible. For batteries, they would be below 12,2 in most cases so you can buy them safely in pairs. My battery shipments from FT are taking 2-3 weeks using NLPost.
Good idea splitting up the order.
Maybe I should take a chance and order it from Gearbest. And then find a EU-plug somewhere in Denmark.
I have no idea about how thorough the Danish customs inspection are. I could try getting Gearbest to label the parcel “stool sample”. Maybe that would keep the customs inspection from inspecting my goods J)
I think I’ll order the batteries from somewhere within the EU. I would not have the patience to wait for two months for them to arrive from China
Actually if you go for the GB deal, just ask for an EU plug in the observations field and they will include the adapter for free (a simple plug converter, not the actual power adapter as I said before). Not the best I have seen, but I live with it. And hey, if you try the stool sample strategy who knows…. the inspection could be more thorough for 5$ worth of taxes than for monitoring risks of importing deadly diarrheal diseases :evil:
LOL I’ll do that :)
By the way. I’m going to Germany on Wednesday. Mein Freundin gehen zum Zahnarzt in Flensburg (approx one third of the price in Denmark)
I haven’t been able to find a reseller in Flensburg though- Does any of you good German people know of a good webpage to search for electronics in Germany?
For which electronics?
reichelt.de
conrad.de (mostly very expensive but with stores where you can buy the most stuff instantly)
led-tech.de
leds.de
ebay.de 