The meter cut for 18650s produced 14 wrappers and it will produce 19 or 20 depending on the actual length sent and length of cut for 14500s. So a meter is cheaper than theses UF wrappers. Even UF printed wrappers are a rip-off!
FastTech:
Get those cell wrappers out of your website as fast as you can. Just hope all your “genuine” Panasonic and Sanyo cells that you have sold are ALL up to task. One minor complaint and that’s it.
Nasty nasty nasty …… Like selling a kit to print $20 U.S. bills.
Lest you think it is just the Chinese: Guitar shows REGULARLY sell Fender guitar headstock decals and various Fender patent decals. Gibson decals also. IMPOSSIBLE to tell the diff between these decals and the real thing.
Vendors say that the replacement decals are intended to replace your original Fender decal if you refinish your guitar neck and it is removed as part of the refinishing process.
Ho hahahahahahah! And I have a bridge for you to buy!
Of course the REAL reason for the decals is just like the reason for the battery wrappers — to cheat and deceive and ripoff unsuspecting (and even suspecting) buyers.
I have seen several almost knock-down fights over the selling of thee decals at guitar shows, by totally irate consumers. The scarey thing is that the vendors see NOTHING wrong with it. Just another way to make a buck.
How do these people sleep at night?
So, anybody know where to buy real authentic new (as in factory fresh) 18650 batts? I’m guessing newark or digikey maybe . They’re expensive, but I guess you get whatt’cha pay for …
Let's keep things in perspective here.
These are Ultrafire wrappers, not Panasonic or Sanyo wrappers. Saying that these pose a counterfeiting risk is like saying that Monopoly money poses a counterfeiting risk.
Also, pretending that customers care more about credibility than low prices kind of ignores the evidence of people repeatedly "rolling the dice" with DinoDirect's combo of sketchy service/low prices. Fasttech is getting a lot of attention right now because their prices beat everyone and their customer service has been responsive, in that order of importance. Their credibility is mostly a bonus.
The ones from Fasttech have been fine for me, or if you want protected Kumabear has them direct from keeppower.
Thx Scaru… I’m not really a big fan of protected cells, just looking for new instead of used (like pulled from a laptop who’s had a hard life )… :] As we all know, rechargable batts have a finite lifespan, depending on use and age, maybe 4-5 years, right ?
>>>>>>So, anybody know where to buy real authentic new (as in factory fresh) 18650 batts?
Slightly used ones: pack pulls. They have to be real.
I have said this several times and I didn’t just fall outta the rutabega truck — Panasonic pack pulls are often better in output and runtime and holding a charge than the “real” unprotected supposedly new panasonics from China.
IMO, the point here is not whether FastTech is selling genuine Panasonic or Samsung cells, but the MORAL IMPLICATIONS to a company that sells something that can be used in counterfeiting. It is otherwise known as social responsibility.
^ Yes on that point.
Buying used batteries is like buying used underwear … something I just dont wanna do … 
I submitted a request for them to pull the product as an error report:
“What’s wrong? This product is wrong. Seriously, you should consider pulling this product as it promotes the building of fake batteries. That’s something none of us like, and I expect better from FastTech. Thanks”
48% shrinkage ratio ummmm....... Just like George Costanza said "I was in the pool!"
lol :]
Sure, as long as Panasonics are under the wrapper.
I understand people not liking FastTech listing these wrappers, but stand back a sec and give them the benefit of the doubt. They have been a stand-up company in every way so far. My assumption is that they wanted to provide customers like us with 18650 wrappers, not really caring too much about what they said on the outside. I'm sure they will reconsider after seeing a response from just one of us.
The 1 meter 14500 wrapper material is between 4 and 4.4 cents per cell. The UF 14500 wrappers are an alternative to what they were already selling, and they are 7.5 cents per cell. Something like 80-90% more for getting them pre-cut.
Agree with your other thoughts, though.
I was not aware those wrappers were heat shrink tubes. Looking at all of the pictures, they just look like tape that has one side that has a heat-activated adhesive. If they are tubes, they should do a better job of pointing that out.
Well, they could add another picture to show the wrapper is a tube. But pretty much all of the uncut material is sold in rolls, at least the samples others have posted. Here’s the review I did of their 18650 material.
Reminds me, the material is very slick inside, at least before heat is applied. I had thought it might be sticky or gummy and hard to slip the batteries in and out . . . but not at all.