BLF top picks in batteries and chargers

WF-139

Trustfire Tr-001

Xtar 2 bay charger

!8650 BAtts

Samsung 30A

Panasonic 2900

WOW18650 [ Hi-max ? ]

Fireworm

Red Protected Ultrafire [ genuine ]

XTar 18700

RCR123A ..

AW RCR123A

Blue + White Solarforce

Grey Ultrafire

Soshine

Since I don't own much items as you do, I would only pick what I've been using so far

18650

Trustfire flame 2400 from DX

LG chemicals 2200 (ripped from my old lappy)

18650 - Charger

DSD charger from DX with Nokia 800ma adapter.(No trickle charge ,cuts off around 4.15~4.18)

AA - AAA

Eneloops and again Eneloops - These are the best cells IMO.

I would keep Sanyo 2700s out of here until I'm satisfied with its performance. Sanyo finally would be sending me the replacement of 2700s this week after a 18 Months of struggle .

@Don - Check your PM

Cheers

Mracle store is actually good if youre from europe. The owner takes care to arrange the most economic shipping available if so desired.

Are the current batches of black Trustfire flame 18650 as good as they were before or should I opt to go for the slightly more expensive Xtar 18700 instead?

Fireworm 18650 cells are good, but they are not the full 3000mAh advertised capacity and they are a bit more expensive than the flame TFs.

Xtar WP2 is a good 18650 charger, highly recommended. The old version of DX sku.13820 were also good, but I do not know if the current batches are up to the same standard.

From my point of view either XTAR or Hi-max whichever you get a better offer. I offered the seller (on ebay) 24.50 incl. shipping for 5x HI-MAX 2600mAh. He accepted. Wish i bought another 5 set since those went up recently.

http://cgi.ebay.com/18650-2600mAh-Protected-Li-ion-Battery-3-7V-1PC-/320619164465?pt=US_Batteries&hash=item4aa6643331

They were originally much cheaper. Try XTAR perhaps and if you are from germany miracle-store.de might be the ticket.

I use this stuff right now. Using rechargables since I was a child, LOL And looks like my Varta 2100 mAh, Ready2Use, are somehow better than GP ReCyko, lasts longer (when in use, but GP may lasts longer thanks to LSD)

Chargers: Varta Easy Energy Pocket Charger (slow charging, AA/AAA, NiMH, NiCd), XTAR WP2 (14500/18500/14650/17670/18650/18700)

Batts: NiMH - Varta (2100 mAh, R2U), GP (1300 mAh, old ones), GP ReCyko+ (2100 mAh)

Li-ion: Trustfire 14500 (black/flame, 900 mAh, on the way)

One question: true TF black/flame and the fake ones. How do you distiguish them?

Bought mine from kelesecurity @ ebay. Didn't tried it yet, haven't recieved my 14500

Ready2Use is just Varta's name for LSD I think. In the days (30 years ago) when I sold cameras I preferred Varta or Japanese makers for camera batteries.

The real ones are protected cells. They may exist in an unprotected form but I've not seen them offered for sale anywhere.

The 18650 on the left is protected, the cell on the right is not. If you look at the bases of the cells, you will see that the protected one has a groove just above its bottom which is where the protection circuit lives. Protected cells also have a thin conductive strip under the shrinkwrap running from positive to negative. I've failed to get a picture of this but you can feel it under your fingers.

LOL, Don, you're right I really forgot that they are LSD alike. Just found on inet: 80% after 1 year.

In any case I think they are a little bit better than GP. Here where I live you can buy only these and GP (and of course budget ones). Duracell or Energizer (rechargables) are very rare. I've never seen Eneloop here

OK, I already knew this, but if all of them are protected? Or do you mean that all fakes are unprotected?

I believe there have been some low quality protected ones sold, though these cells have had a good reputation in the past. Whether they are fakes or just poor quality control is another question. It may be that they made a good batch, saw that they sold well and made them cheaper for more profit. We've seen that too often with lights.

I know everyone at cpf is always braging about this charger: the pila IBC but it is pricy...
(which is probably why the people at cpf like it:p)

http://www.ledfiretorches.co.uk/pila-ibc-lithium-charger.html

These batteries came out as one of the best from a test i've seen on cpf.. (again, they are quite expensive and the difference between these and our beloved flame 18650's was marginal...)

http://www.ledfiretorches.co.uk/aw-18650-2200-mah-rechargeable-lithium-batteries.html

http://www.ledfiretorches.co.uk/aw-18650-2600-mah-ulta-high-capacity-rechargeable-lithium-batteries.html

ps: (NOOB ALERT!) is there a difference between a cr123 and a 16340? Sorry for this question :p

ps: (NOOB ALERT!) is there a difference between a cr123 and a 16340? Sorry for this question

CR123A is generally a 3V one use lithium battery not rechageable.

16340 is a 3,7V (4.2 fully charged!) with around 600mAh rechargeable li-ion. Size wise is the same if not protected.

Apart the cosmetic similarity they are actually very different beasts.

Pay attention when flashlights are rated that takes 2c CR123A. You may fry the driver if driven by 2 16340 most of the time as the voltage combines is 6V for CR and 8,4 for the rechargeables.

Normally.

A CR123 is a non-rechargeble 3V cell much beloved of people who can't handle chargers.

A 16340 is a rechargeable CR123 - but when fully charged is 4.2V. The difference is too large for most incandescent bulbs which tend to die instantly unless designed for use with rechargeables. Most LED lights don't care. The Solarforce Skylines do care and need 6V to give of their best (2xCR123 but will die with 2x16340)

A good CR123 will give you 1500mAh at 3V or 4500mWh. A very good 16340 will give you 500mAh at 3.6V (The capacity statements on all RCR123/16340 are lies) or 1800mWh. But you can recharge them.

Forgot to add:

Multiple 16340 are generally a bad idea especially if you can run 1 or 2 18650 instead. On occasions provide more brightness if the driver benefits from greater voltage fed to it.

Can anyone recommend a 10440 (AAA) Lithium charger? I'd prefer a 2+ bay. I'm mainly concerned about decent quality and price is secondary. I have an Xtar WP2 for larger batteries but it charges at 600 mA, and I believe 10440 batteries need less than 350 mA.

This one looks decent (230 mA, various sizes), but is only 1-bay: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.14885

I'm willing to pay 2-4x that cost for a reliable 2-bay 10440 charger under 350 mA. If it happens to charge 14500 (AA) size, that is fine as well.

I have that Universal 1-bay charger. Mine seems to charge batteries to about 4.13V, but other people have them that charge a little over 4.20V. I'm happy with mine. If you need 2 bays, buy another one. I wish there was something better.

Instead of spending more on li-ion chargers, I think the next charger I get will be a hobby charger. Then I can charge anything at any rate I want.

I got a hobby charger, since I already have 10440, 14500 and 18650 cells and am looking for a set of 16340s. It was just $26 shipped at hobbyking.com.

Which one did you get? Have you received it yet? I'm looking forward to a review.

I got this 5A / 50W charger. I will definitely do a review. http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=14857

Wasn't there one that had a built-in power supply?

I think the more expensive ones have built-in PSUs. I have a Thinkpad laptop PSU I can use for the time being. Is there a list of PSUs that work with these hobby chargers?