There is a controversy about one of Efest’s 18650 batteries brewing over at the e-cigarette forums. It did not test well, and Efest did not appreciate that information being made public.
https://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/threads/an-open-letter-to-efest-youve-gone-too-far.722293/
The only efest batteries I have or would buy are the ones where there is no equal alternative (like the 10440). I already had the sense they were not a good company. Even if you haven’t read about any issues like this one, efest themselves warn you, in a way, with their exaggerated claims on the wrapper.
After reading that post, I’m rethinking buying their stuff. Shame a company has to resort to attacking a reviewer instead of fixing the problems. Shady business tactics…
After contacting efests customer service rep Gisela for a simple enquiry, i came away from this thinking this is the most ill informed, un professional person i have ever come across and surely if this cell re wrap company wants to stay in business, they should show her the front door asap.
WOW, that is like HKJ here being told that his testing was done wrong….
Ouch to Efest, they must have new beancounters there, in my experience it is always the beancounters that f’up a company reputation. The customer service didn’t help though….
so, will Mountain and Illumn continue to support them?
Efest is not a manufacturer but a rewrapper. I like to buy in original form or trusted rewrapper who place a PCB on board. Efest has made some very tempting claims on performance. Performance no other battery does. A rewrapper can’t do that unless they have an exclusive. We should know they don’t. I always go back to the question who’s core is it, who’s PCB is it. This leaves only Panasonic, LG, Samsung, Sanyo and Sony in 18650. PCB’s have me leaning towards Seiko IC and AO8814 MOSFETs. This makes the rewrapper choice Evva, KeepPower, and EnerPower+. That’s it folks and that’s a mighty good list right there.
I agree that they likely don’t manufacture their own cells but I haven’t seen another source for some of efest’s batteries.
The efest IMR10440s, I’d really like to see someone selling the same cell under a different name.
Until we have another 10440 that is proven equal or better (by HKJ testing), I certainly hope Mountain will continue selling them.
Is this a new CS rep? If so they may not know how to do the job well yet. And I can understand that with mass-production there will be better and lesser batches of any product made; so I feel that smaller variations are acceptable (but how small is “small”?) But if this this much variance from good is acceptable to Efest it is a bad omen.
Efest has at least delivered only quality cells so far, no ‘crapfire’ sold as Samsung or Panasonic, so even if the cells are over-rated you’ll get safe cells and that is worth something. That is why my last 2 cell buys were Efest; I don’t have a analyzing charger so I must trust my seller for that. I wish Samsung, LG, and Panasonic would begin direct-to-consumer sales which would eliminate the current risks of buying LiIon cells but until that happens we are always at the mercy of the sellers.
It is only through the efforts of nice people like HKJ and Mooch that keeps most us out of trouble. If Efest is heading down the path of cheapening and over-rating by intent then I’m going to begin buying from someone else, but if this is a fluke then I can understand. Just the way I look at the world, YMMV.
Phil
Yeah, I just got a couple of those and while they didn’t quite measure up to the capacity on the label, they were close enough and still much much better than the UF 10440s I had been using. I had been contemplating trying some of their 14500s as well, but might wait to see how things settle.
KuoH
This is the reason I only buy efest batteries in 10440 and 14500 size, their amp rating for 18650 is ridiculous. Rewrapping a battery and slap any amp number they had in mind at the time? No thanks. I’ll stick to 30Qs and GAs.
Efest may be bad, but I have 10440, 14500, 18350, 16340, 18650 cells and have never had an issue with any of their cells. All the sets of them I have used, charge to the same voltage, drain the same amps at the same rates and I haven't had any of them that caused any problem at all. I could say I got lucky, but I have been buying them over a three year span, at different times and different versions.
I have seen fake Efest cells and in the newer versions, there are a lot of Efest fakes. I don't know how that affects all this, but I still like the cells and the high drain they offer. I have never used them for vaping, as I believe that is unsafe, but probably no more unsafe than some of my monster lights, that were all powered with Efest cells, at one point or another.
Just my personal opinion.
Interesting.
No more Efest 18650s for me.
I was thinking of trying some efest 18650s i don’t think i’ll bother now lol i’ll stick to my Panasonic and Samsung ones
I neither buy nor recommend batteries I don’t know which cell is inside.
Paying extra for a nice purple wrapper with grossly exaggerated performance claims is just plain stupid when one can get original cells even cheaper.
But obviously, many people need shiny wrappers and consider a bare cell “noname” because there’s no company logo on it.
Just wondering what’s the max capacity of genuine 26650 and 18650 battery’s the panasonic ones i have say 3400 mAh (18650)
Some brands change the capacity from 3000-3200 to 3500 when rewrapping cells.
Genuine Panasonic ncr18650B are tested 3400mah, but at low discharge rate. Most Green wrapping Panasonic 26650 are fake, real ones are very uncommon.
I also have Efest 18350’s, 14500’s, 26650 and one of their chargers and have had no problems with any of them. Whether their specs match their claims, I’ll keep an eye out for that. At the moment I have all the batteries I need, except for some LG ICR18650E1’s I want to try :bigsmile: . But I don’t think I’ll be boycotting or trying to put someone out of business over an internet spat.
Definitely not an internet spat, your profession is questioned and you are degraded; your work is your rep so it’s only right he provided his facts/evidence. They shot first, so he provided his own ammo for his own shots. They yet to provide extra ammo for their claims.
Not worth a try. It’s a 4.35V cell, but even a 4.20V-charged NCR18650GA beats it at 3A.