Perhaps I am a bit spoiled by the many 18650 tests.
The soshine and the mnke are often found but its hard to compare them by ourself.
I have two different versions of the soshine 26650, not sure if they are less good than maybe TF flames?
All the multi emmitter lights need good 26650s which can deliver serious currents…
I am always a bit confused if the two examples you test behave very differently, because the standard 7-15XML lights are powered in series so if one cell dies the light output dies….
Me too. I think they have a min order of $50 or maybe $100. I attempted to place a small order and got an email afterwards saying they could not honor it. There are often some Effest cells on fleabay. Not sure about 26650. (I have some of their 18360s and they’ve been great.)
I have a few Pana PD 18650s from fasttech. They all have that circular groove in the tail. It doesn’t affect function. They all work well, best I can tell. My lights running above 3A do seem brighter with the PDs than my AW IMRs. They are good cells.
Thanks for the tip on the power tool packs. I don’t have any 26650 lights currently, but that could be a handy tip.
When the two tested batteries has different capacity, it is best not to use them in series (With protected you can do it).
It is also important to remember that I only test two batteries, i.e. it is very unlikely that I get the best and worst performance you can expect in these two batteries.
The same argument also means that even if two batteries match in capacity, there is no guarantee that all batteries from that brand will match in capacity.
If you want specific batteries tested, you can always ask me (Please include a link to a shop that sells to EU) and I might include it. But my lead time will often be between one and two months, before I have made the test (This depends on shipping time and how many batteries I have in queue).
Efest has more than one website, it looks like http://www.efestbattery.com/ can be used for smaller orders (I have not tried it).
Took another look there. See this link for 26650 IMR's. Doesn't make sense. One is one efest IMR $13.12 while two are $$16.11? Then the MNKE's look identical but have two different prices?
The MNKE's test close to the rated 3500mAh capacity I believe, so I guess that would be my best choice. I know they are hard to find, but this site shows them in-stock.
If you compare the Efest descriptions of the one and two pack one says Efest 3500 and the other says Efest 3000…
I am wondering if there is any difference other than price…
All I know is that the PD cells have given me considerably higher tail readings on any light I’ve put them in. Better than my Efest IMRs. I’m impressed enough that I ordered another four of them.
I actually used my $5 coupon from DX.com and ordered a Marsfire 26650....;)
I dont have a light for it yet, and no charger either.. but maybe somehow I can try to squeeze it in my star wp2!?
Thanks HKJ. I saw it. I'm awaiting it to show up in your comparator to compare to other 26650's. I also saw they aren't so good at 7A (and therefore higher). Good to see rated capacity is true!
I know you have ruled out the Moli’s, but for the recorded they are supposed to be rated for 40amps max discharge and 7 amps max charge.
Edit: I’ve read several places that they can deliver 100A though. They are not much longer than my protected ncr18650a’s. They fit in all my lights length-wise. They have a thick cardboard protective sleeve. Slide them out of that, shrink wrap and they fit all my 26650 lights width-wise.
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