[Poll]Which 18650 battery would you trust more?

You can see the archived poll results on the Wayback Machine:

https://web.archive.org/web/20221220093741/https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/72910

Just curious what the consensus is on BLF

Very foolish to use either one. Are people doing it? Yes, Is it smart ? No.

New, name brand batteries are $5 from reputable sources.

I have been down this route, not worth the effort! The pulled cells were used for a specific purpose, they are usually not high drain and/or high capacity. You also have to address roughness from the tab removal or you will booger up springs. The exception may be 18650 or 21700 cells pulled from EV packs… if you can find them.

For Flashlights neither —— In my situation neither —— Now if you had a choice of Tool Battery Packs with better cells that were older I’d give it a shot

I do use old laptop pulls for my LT1, but all my other lights have reputable cells.

Like Zoulas said, just pay a few $ for a good cell.

It’s situational. Neither would be used for high powered applications. First important priority is to check them for faults, voltage too low, high internal resistance etc before hand. After that they would be recycled or promoted to low power use only. I would trust old laptop pulls more because they generally have some form of quality control but that doesn’t mean the old pull is in better shape than random cell from random cheap flashlight.

I would trust the laptop pulls more.

For low power stuff, I do use laptop pulls, but i test them and recycle the ones that are questionable or junk. For higher powered stuff, just use new cells. I will say I’d trust something from Samsung, LG, or Sony or Sanyo than a no-name cell even if it’s from a pull.

I just threw out (recycled) a bag of over 40 laptop pulls and cheap 18650s and 21700s. I’m also determined to test the (branded and newer) cells I use more often. Risk of fire and pipe bomb is just not worth it.

I didn’t mind 10 years ago. YMMV

(didn’t vote, neither)

Thanks for the feedback everyone. It’s not that I don’t want to buy cells since they are affordable. I just opened my first laptop pulls for the experience since I had a broken laptop and got curious whilst opening the pack.

For low-stress lights, laptop pulls are fine.

Trust Fires is a good brand; also Sure Fires, Fires Power, Sun Fires, etc. all are good crap if you can find them. :laughing: :smiley: :smiling_imp:

i;ve never had a problem with any 18650 cell ever

i am cheap and keep using something that is working

though i did get so many 18650s that i discarded maybe 15 old laptop pulls, just because i had enough without them, and they were getting warm or not terminating during charging

wle