I’ve been looking to expand my stockpile of rechargeable batteries, but most of the popularly-recommended options (e.g. Illumn) cost a painful amount to ship to my country.
I noticed that Sofirn has quite a presence in this community, and that they’ve also got an assortment of batteries for sale in their AliExpress store. The ones I’m most interested in are their protected 2800 mAh 18650 and their protected 3400 mAh 18650.
Some Sofirn flashlights come with the 2800 variant, and although none of the flashlight reviews I read thoroughly tested the battery, the capacity was found to be accurate and the weight was not suspiciously low. However, I haven’t seen much written on the 3400 variant, which appears to be a newer offering based on the number of orders on AliExpress.
Has anyone had any experience with their 18650 batteries, putting them through prolonged use or testing?
The only reviews I’ve been able to find are for other types such as their AA, AAA, or 14500 batteries.
I’ve been really happy with my Sofirn lights and haven’t had any issues with the supplied 2800 and 3000 mAh batteries I received with them. I’m not a battery reviewer/tester, but they seem to function as rated.
Is buying cells made by the Big 5: Sony, Panasonic, Sanyo, LG and Samsung, such a financial hardship for you, wherever you live, that you’d take some no name brand over them?
Things can’t be that bad, can they?
To confess, I just bought my first TrustFire cells from FastTech, but they’re the newish red/gold 16340s that Henrik has tested on his site, so I felt better going in.
Generally two issues—the first being a safety issue and the second just being one of longevity. Most anything will work for a few dozen cycles.
I suppose it’s just a matter of scale - if I was ordering a good number of $10 cells from Illumn for example, then shipping costs starting around $20 wouldn’t be such a bitter pill to swallow.
It’s just a bit tougher when I’m only looking for a couple/few batteries; I was hoping there might be an acceptable alternative I could try out so I don’t overspend on this hobby from the get-go.
I guess it is what it is and only you can assign a ‘value’ to what you’re buying?
I just bought a Victorinox Ranger SAK off of Ebay and the guy wanted $6+ shipping, which was fine. He’s also been selling the bigger SwissChamp for more money, but a couple of dollars less for shipping, even though it’s a heavier item—both can fit in a small packet, or flat rate box.
JasonWW tested the 21700 Sofirn in the C8F and it performs well. I think I recall someone said the Sofirn 3000mah or 2800mah battery might be a rewrapped Samsung/Sony.
14500 discharged 855mAh on Li500, happy with that.
Ordered SP33 with 26650 kit to test that. Getting a load tester in 11.11sale to test both A & mAh
21700 & AA NiMh on a separate order
Same comments as you’ve already seen - I’ve received a few Sofirn batteries when buying a “flashlight and battery” package and those batteries perform as expected and test to capacity in my Lii-500 charger.
I’ll also comment on the Sofirn 4000mAh flat-top 21700 which is correct capacity and has good IR. (I can only buy Sofirn battery with their flashlight [AliExpress — I’m in Asia], as they do not ship bare batteries to my country… although just very recently some Sofirn batteries from AliExpress seem to be “shippable” to my country now, but I have yet to test that option, it has some shipping fee, and the item description for the battery seems to indicate that they are still not definitely sure if batteries can be shipped to some countries…
For the other Sofirn 3000mAh 18650 (also bought as flashlight+battery kit), I previously tested their Sofirn 3000mAh (on the label) which turns out to be around 2800+ mAh only (despite the 3000mAh label). The IR measurement is definitely not as good as Samsung 30Q or Sony VTC6.
On a more recent Sofirn 3000mAh 18650 (also bundled with Sofirn flashlight battery kit), I tested the battery to now be 3000mAh. IR is still not the same as 30Q or VTC6.
The blue-black Sofirn 2800mAh 18650 (also bundled with Sofirn flashlight battery kit), these are correct at around 2800mAh, and they are protected 18650s (trip at around 6 amps).
I’ve also tried the Sofirn 900mAh 14500 (bundled with Sofirn flashlight), ordered in 2 or more separate occasions, they register around 850mAh capacity. The earlier Sofirn 14500s are shorter button-tops, while the more recent Sofirn 14500 are about as tall as other brands button-top 14500s (unprotected).
I just got the new SP33 which came with a 5500mah 26650 battery. I can’t find out much about the specs of this battery. Has anyone tested it or can point me in the right direction?
What tester did you get? I used the Lii-500 until learning it wasn’t testing properly on every cell. It gives a rough approximation.
I recently received the West Mountain Radio - CBA IV and it’s excellent.
I used to think my Samsung INR18650-30Q’s were fake on the Lii-500 as it was reading 2840mAh at 500mA discharge. Tried it on the CBA and it’s 3027mAh at 600mA & 2968mAh at 10A. Big difference
Yes, their 4000mah 21700 is really top notch and high drain.
I don’t know much about their 18650 cells, but they are definitely not rewrapped name brand units.
Their black 3000mah 18650 seems to be really good. It’s a high drain cell “close” to a Samsung 30Q, but not one. DB Custom got really high output and amps from it.
So I only know about their black 3000mah, black 4000mah and black 26650. All the other versions I don’t know anything about except they are low cost.
Illumn is mainly a USA seller. What country are you in? Have you checked with NKON? Do Banggood or Gearbest ship to your country?
I use them for my lasers, XP-Gs and XM-Ls.
