I am not very experienced with the inner-workings of these lights. I don’t MOD them and am not planning on learning to.
What I am looking at now is getting a nice, powerful thrower that can shine a long way and still give me plenty of light to illuminate a good radius.
What I don’t know is 3 of these lights I am looking at have the option of using a 26650 cell or an 18650. I have several of the 18650 cells and a charger, but I don’t have any of the 26650.
It would seem that if given the option the 26650 would be the best choice. I would think that it would give the light more energy to run compared to the 18650.
Is that right or am I off base?
When I pick a light that will take either one of these cells, should I take the 26650 cells or just keep on using he 18650 cells in the light?
Please explain why.
Thanks all.
With the right 26650 battery you will have a longer run time, with maximum output also for a longer time. At the end of the day you can use 18650 batteries with a sleeve in a 26650 light but cannot use 26650 batteries in a 18650 light.
18650 will give best capacity/price ratio, pretty much since all the laptop industries AND electric cars are using this format. You’re going to have so much more brand, chemistry, and manufacturer choices. This is not going to change for a while.
A 26650 is just a bigger battery. Bigger in capacity and physically. They are 26mm wide vs 18mm for an 18650. Note the naming. (The 65 means 65mm length. The 0 means the shape, as in round).
18 vs 26mm doesn’t seem much. But in reality the latter is quite a lot bulkier and will feel heavier too. If you want to put the torch in a coat pocket or a bag it’s not an issue. But can make a difference on if you’d want to put the torch in your trouser pocket.
The advantage of the 26650 is simply capacity. They generally have more mAH. Just like a D cell does over and AA battery.
While it’s true you can use an adapter to run an 18650 in 26650 torch. I struggle to see why you would apart from an emergency. As all you are doing is carrying something bigger and bulkier for no reason. Just like if you used a D cell to AA adapter in a 2D Maglite. It’ll run fine on 2AA but makes for a bloody big torch for the batteries in use.
Not only is the capacity/price ratio better with 18650s, the capacity/weight ratio appears to also be better.
Edit: Note that I don’t have any 26650s, I’ve just done some calculations based on weight measurements from HKJ reviews.
Looking from an energy (mAh) standpoint there is not much reason to get 26650, they are 100% more volume and at best 50% more capacity.
But after I got the DQG 26650 light I can see a good reason for them. That light is short and fat, but not nearly as fat as 3x18650 would make it. I do like the size of the light and it has good brightness and runtime.