Need some battery recommendations

I haven’t been on here in a while and I haven’t kept up on batteries so I could use some help. I have finally decided to jump on the rechargeable lithium battery train and I’m going to order a LiitoKala Lii - 100B Battery Charger from GearBest but I need to decide what batteries to get. I’m a little leary of these batteries so I’m thinking I need to get “protected” batteries.

I have a ThorFire VG15S Flashlight and need an 18650 battery for it. The ThorFire battery is 68mm long so I know that will fit but ThorFire wasn’t sure if the Panasonic NCR18650B (70.5mm I believe?) will fit so I could use a recommendation for a quality reasonably priced battery.

I’m also ordering a ThruNite TH20 headlamp (Amazon). I’m thinking I will try NiMH (assuming eneloops are the way to go?) but would also like to try a 14500 battery. So I would appreciate recommendations for that too. These also come in protected versions as well correct?

Thanks A LOT for your help!

I used to recommend protected cells for n00bz, but nowadays most non-crap flashlights have built-in LVP, so it doesn’t really pay considering potential headaches (cell-length, for one).

I like panny-Bs, others recommend sanny-As, yet others 30Qs even for low-stress lights.

So, my vote’s for an unprotected panny-B (just a shade under 70mm, last I measured).