This is a long shot question but I want my head to stop hurting :weary: … Has anyone here bought good quality protected 18650’s from Simons AE store? I can’t find any description saying “protected”, but if he does carry them I still can’t tell if they are generic or knock-off’s. No disrespect to Simon but some batteries say “for Sanyo” or “for Panasonic”.
I have been in contact with Simon thru his site but I guess he must be very busy since I have emailed him 3 times with questions. When he replies a day later he doesn’t answer my question, but rather asks me to order with “friend” somewhere in the sentence. Now I’ll be the first to agree “Friend” is good in any language so that’s cool but shouldn’t a friend answer another friends question? I mean I already have a few friends that give me headaches!!!
I hope BLF has at least one “Friend” reading this and would share some thoughts on Simon or the batteries please, I really could use some help……………. I don’t know any other way to get rid of my headache YAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I think I’ve read that sometimes on aliexpress you must write “for xxx” instead of just the brand name due to some rules. not sure why, and i don’t know if that’s the case this time.
I know it is not exactly what you are asking, but I have purchased 30q’s from Simon and they appear to be genuine. I think it must be something specific to Aliexpress to say “for” if it is real. I do not believe that you will have a problem with him.
hahaha yes “Dear Friend” blabla is ver normal in sellers reactions on AE.
For me, when a seller does not give answers to a question I assueme the real answer would not be to my liking and I find another.
Best order the cells that have several hundreds of orders and positive ratings.
search term 18650 panasonic protected.
Click free shipping and then not price but “orders” to see these as most sold, and with good feedback.
If I were to buy cells now, I would go with this, but I am a rookie so could be wrong.
Just order the ones I linked to and use a decent charger.
In my opinion it is a good idea to get things from more sellers. If there is a problem with A this won’t affect questions or followups for B for example.
I was going to ask if it isn’t getting close to nap-time, …I’m just (politely) saying… BUT that would sound rude and that isn’t how I would want it to sound, because your post honestly says more to help my headache than any post I have read since joining! I thank you for your sincere wisdom, and insight into my search for answers. I also thank you for your talent to keep things simple and direct! BTW, I loved Niagra Falls on both sides of the border but Canada had it all over the U.S. back in the mid 1970’s.
Anyway, I am officially claiming this as the first post to make a clear statement that answers an elusive but obvious remark I made in my original post.
You skillfully moved to the head of the class!!!
Thank you Ouchyfoot
Don5946 it appears you are being rude to members who are trying to help you.
177 people have read your question and several have given you useful information.
Perhaps no one has the exact specific answer you are looking for, but your title is not very helpful
in getting someone who knows the answer to read your thread.
Even “Simon Batteries AE Question?” would be better than the title you have chosen.
Sometimes the best answer is that there is no answer here; if you are questioning the legitimacy of cells from this vendor maybe you should look elsewhere.
When reading I get the impression that TS is making jokes about the “dear friend” from AE sellers. And I’d that is indeed the case we’re in for a treat since AE sellers have send me even more outrageous compliments. Apparently I am a good, friendly and wise man
As far as the title go, I do agree with the original, as rookie the Li-ion information one gets seriously worried about the technology
Toxic fumes, fire hazard, kept in ammo boxes, you get the point.
For me I sincerely hope that experienced users are not put off and will help here since I got 8 of the above mentioned cells with a Nitecore D4 and think that charging them inside a metal box is good practice
If any of you guys see problems with these would really like to know
(Oh and. I measure them with the DMM after use and before putting them in something)
Well I had a good sleep and feel better but must admit my headache may be terminal, that is unless I do what the doctor ordered and quit this site! LOL As I sit here waking up and drinking my coffee and reading your comments, which are very much appreciated, I will be brief for now and say “Thank you” for your patience with an old timer crawling around the BLF. I like to have fun and try to keep things humorous :bigsmile: I do not want to intentionally offend anyone.
I am off to town and will check in later. Who knows, maybe the local mom-and-pop hardware store just got in exactly what I am looking for thanks again for your help!
Thanks for the post! I’m glad I came across in the fun way I meant it to be and appreciate your genuine comments All of the replies have been very helpful and informative, with suggestions for products I didn’t understand before, the foreign websites and practices I haven’t experienced prior to BLF, and the cultural terms commonly used. Man what a learning curve ( I break out in a sweat just thinking about the learning curve I subjected myself to! ) lol And so I still have a headache but it’s better. It comes and goes, actually it only seems to occur when I think I know how to proceed, Then bam :~ I’m hit between the eyes with a new road block. Will it never end? I ready either way.
Again, thanks for “all” the posts “everyone”
I will check back into this thread from time to time while I try to get some products physically in my hands, lol and try not to go whacko doing it! This site is not for the squeamish J)
And oh, the comment about Lions and the dangers, wow Part of my brain pain was from reading so much about it. I was going to buy my 3 kids (31 thru 39 yrs. old) nice lites with extra cells and charger, etc, but thought it best to hold off! I can’t even educate myself enough to buy a lite, let alone educate each of them to safely own one !!! This site is the kind of challenge I can’t bring myself to torture them with lol
Well, good luck and FmC did send you to the right doctor, RMM (username here on BLF) sells quality goods and is very helpfull (he even answered me during his holiday!)
Yah, I am sure they are good choices and very tempting to just buy and get it over with. The real issue preventing me from ordering ANYTHING to date is the international barrier not using paypal. The UV light I am after is not available state-side. I would rather buy everything from 1 highly rated retailer that carries the lite, and Simon is the man. I won’t use my personal banking accounts overseas ( at least not for now) and I am having a hell of a time finding an alternate way of payment.
FWIW, Simon will accept paypal but I have not been able to see where I can do it anywhere during checkout so I void the transaction. It looks like the best thing to do is to contact him again.
And of course I have to add: It is good to have “Dear Friends” :bigsmile:
Thank you, are you saying there is a way to save the order, then I can log off until I hear back from Simon about 1/2 day later? He did mention in one of his replies to let him know when I send him the payment thru paypal, but he never said how to list my purchase items. I was assuming I needed to itemize everything in the email thru his site.
I am getting closer to ordering everyday thanks to you’all.
Why not simply buy your batteries from a reputable domestic seller rather than jump through these absurd hoops to give your money to someone halfway around the world that can barely communicate with you? Sure, it might be 10-20% more expensive but it’s worth it to help our economy and our neighbors. American sellers are more likely to have better customer service and educate you as needed.
There is no reason to strictly buy 18650s from China these days. Vaping has made these cells much more common! Go to a vaping store in person and chat with them. They may help, hopefully.
Thanks for your thoughts Haterade. Yes I agree with you about buying stateside and some of the advantages. However, after all the time I have invested reading different threads on batteries, safety, chargers, led’s, flashlights, vendor complaints and rip-offs, knock-offs from lites to batteries, group buys etc, and developing a brainpain that now limits me to short sessions on the web, I have narrowed it down to doing business with a vendor in good-standing that has a UV light designed for my purpose of use, which has a great BLF review and can only be bought overseas. I will be paying about the same for the batteries as I would state-side so it isn’t just about the 20% extra cost to do business here.
I don’t mind the shipping time difference either considering I have ordered local (U.S) many times for other purchases and had to wait for out-of-stock issues after my order was placed. Additionally I am not a die-hard 100% “buy American” when a large portion of any shelf item today is imported.
Vape stores are common with common employees that mostly have no real knowledge past the latest flavor, or most popular. No disrespect to the professional employees that take pride in knowing all their products, but the average trend is more about getting a pay check with as little brain use as possible. FWIW, my experiences at 2 different Vape retails had me waiting around while vapers were tasting samples. I have also read posts about vape battery knock-offs being somewhat more common. I can believe it with vape being a huge growing market, and when that happens the scum isn’t far behind.
Unless I can deal locally with a highly reputable supplier for what I need, I will feel better dealing with Simon for all my needs I hope I am not proven wrong but so far this action seems to be my best option. Anyway, when it comes right down to it we all live on the same globe.
I agree Simon will not sell fake cells. But, to possibly add to your frustration, no 18650 manufacturer actually makes protected cells. The protection circuit is added by some unknown middleman. The quality of the circuit, and the quality of the assembly work to the cell, is as important as the quality of the cell.
There is also the quality of the shipping packaging to consider. I would expect Simon to do a decent job, but some packages from China comes in pretty mangled regardless. I will never buy cells (again) from Gearbest or Banggood for this reason. Their packaging is simply not consistently adequate for material so potentially hazardous.
Save yourself some more headache and just buy the cells from Mountain Electronics as already recommended above. Quality cells with quality protection circuits, safe packaging, very reasonable prices.
Cheap option, great performing cells for lower drain applications like your UV light. They have button tops, so could do duty in other lights that have trouble with flat tops, or that need multiple cells in series:
**Samsung ICR18650-26F Protected 2600mAh**
http://www.mtnelectronics.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=59_88&product_id=599&sort=p.price&order=ASC
These are getting old, but have a good reputation. Medium drain, also button tops:
**Panasonic NCR18650PF Protected 2900mAh**
http://www.mtnelectronics.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=59_88&product_id=50&sort=p.price&order=ASC
One of the top cells at the moment. Highest capacity available (together with the Panasonic GA), medium drain, also button tops:
**LG 18650MJ1 Protected 3500mAh**
http://www.mtnelectronics.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=59_88&product_id=561&sort=p.price&order=ASC
Just pick any one. You will be happy. You will buy more in the future.
(And no, ‘safe’ and ‘industrial’ does not mean ‘protected’ in Chinese marketing. I guess they refer to the cells being genuine/1st grade and possibly the safer IMR/INR chemistry.)
I thank you for your sincere wisdom, and insight into my search for answers. I also thank you for your talent to keep things simple and direct! BTW, I loved Niagra Falls on both sides of the border but Canada had it all over the U.S. back in the mid 1970’s.
thanks again for your help!
I ready either way.