Gyrfalcon S8000 Battery Charger and Analyzer Review

@enova18650.com kindly sent the Gyrfalcon S8000 Battery Charger and Analyzer for review after @stephenk recommend @SammysHP and I.

Here is my review:

Here is @SammysHP review:

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Thank you to Tim for your careful and thorough review.

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Thanks for your review

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Great review. I have two MC3000s. I am trying to figure out if there is any reason to pick up one of these.
At this point I don’t see it.
I think the absence of temperature sensors is a downside. My MC3000 has cut off on high temp a few times over the years. Possibly avoiding serious problems.

I think I will miss the Bluetooth connectivity.

BTW, is there software to allow the charger to interface with a PC for logging and graphing results. You mention using the USB port for firmware updates, but no more.

Otherwise it seems to be a very nice charger with great flexibility and that does what it claims to do. I am waiting for pricing.

Thanks for the extensive and comprehensive review.

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There’s currently no data logging. I hope that Enova implement it in the future.

Bluetooth would be nice.

I used Bluetooth for data logging with two ANENG AN9002 digital multimeters (with Bluetooth modules built-in) and I found the connection to be a bit unreliable when testing for hours. USB data logging might be more stable.

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Thanks for the review (and namecheck) Tim. Looks like a great charger, but lack of temperature sensor and automated battery type detection are notable omissions.

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Thanks for this detailed review!

I’ve been considering getting the SkyRC MC3000 for some time. But put off purchasing this due to price and due to the somewhat bulky and unpleasant looking case style.

The Gyrfalcon S8000 (or the Gyrfalcon S4000 Pro) with similar functions to that of the MC3000 appears to be a better (looking) alternative.

There are a few concerns regarding this S8000 charger, as mentioned in this review, that I have also.

The touch sensitive buttons. I hope they are sensitive enough to detect touch easily, but not too sensitive as to cause multiple inputs when you only want a single input.

I had the iSDT C4 charger briefly which had awful touch buttons! Either the buttons didn’t respond at first, or responded with multiple inputs when you only wanted a single input! This was extremely annoying, and was the main reason I sold this charger promptly!

The lack of temperature monitoring in the S8000 charger of the cells is of concern. There should be temperature monitoring at all times to prevent any issues arising from excessive cell temperatures.

There should be dimples on the positive contacts to allow proper contact with flat top cells, especially for smaller cells around 10440 size.

I have positive contact issues with both the Vapcell S4 + V2 and the LiitoKala Lii-600 chargers that I have. Issues occur particularly when trying to charge smaller flat top cells like the 10440.

I would like to see the Gyrfalcon S8000 (and S4000 Pro) have -

cell temperature monitoring added
dimples added to positive contacts to ensure good contact with (smaller) cells
hopefully a reasonable price (less than that of the MC3000 if possible)

Otherwise the new Gyrfalcon chargers look to be very promising chargers!

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This is a big omission in my view.

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Thank you to forum members “TimMc” and “SammysHP” for reviewing this charger.

I currently use three “OPUS BT-C3400” (aka “OPUS BT-C3100”) chargers and are interested in obtaining chargers with more advanced features.

Besides the as yet unknown price (which is not a critical factor for making my decision), I am not sure why I would purchase the newer “Gyrfalcon S8000” which seems to be missing features currently present in the older “SkyRC MC3000”.

Does the “Gyrfalcon S8000” provide any functional capability that works better than or is missing from the “SkyRC MC3000”?

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iSDT must have listened to feedback. I have the newer C4 EVO with mechanical buttons and it is fast to operate. I would recommend the C4 EVO for charging/discharging button top AA/AAA/10440/14500. The channels are great for AA/AAA batteries but the positive terminals on my C4 EVO don’t touch flat top 10440/14500. It can fit 18650 and 21700 cells but not much in between (18350 are too short).

The responsiveness of the Gyrfalcon S8000 has been improved with firmware updates but I think mechanical switches would make the user experience even better. :slight_smile:

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Is there any response to this request for info? I am sure there are a few of us here who would be interested.

I guess the answer to this is NO?

Yes I think the answer is no. Best to read this review and similar reviews on the MC3000 if interested.

But I think that it has been mentioned that in fact the MC3000 has features the 8000 does not.

It does, however, appear that the 8000 will be less costly. So maybe that trade off is worth it to some.

Agreed. 10+ years on, the MC3000 appears to still be in a league all its own.

Sorry for missing the question. I don’t have an MC3000 to compare with but I would assume that the MC3000 is currently more advanced. S8000 could be upgraded with some new capabilities by Enova.

If the S8000 could charge 1.5V li-ion cells as well as all the others the MC3000 can charge, that would be a considerable improvement for the S8000.