Massive post on where to get lithium-ion batteries everywhere in the world! Look at Post 2-5 for info, And Canada Post 123

Batteries and Chargers Rechargeable Batteries
1

So, after the failure that was the Liitokala Aliexpress stores scam by tricking people into buying genuine-looking 18650s. while they were in fact, fake counterparts with the same capacity, but with higher internal resistance, and different physical characteristics:

As an example, we first have the Samsung 30Q, or what they like to call, a “Liitokala” 30Q to trick you into buying the cell, and after you discover that it is a fake, they will refuse giving out refunds since it was their branded batteries, and not Samsung’s.

Heck, any 18650, 26650, 21700, etc, from the ANY of the Liitokala stores, can be faked to resemble genuine cells, while selling FAKES. Even Liitokala 26650s have been found to have lackluster performance these recent days, indicating a change in suppliers.

So, to help you guys out living everywhere from the US, to Canada, all the way to Europe and Australia, I have decided to compile a list of stores that sell legitimate cells, and have been proven to do so for a long time.

Also, I did this list to help out guys and gals everywhere, because of crap lithium ion individual cells shipping regulations which prevents inexpensive air shipping.

Let’s begin.

2

USA

You guys have it lucky. You have a ton of stores to buy from 18650s, 26650s, 21700s, 18350s, chargers, flashlights, etc, with quick shipping and easy warranties.

Li-Ion Wholesale: https://liionwholesale.com/

Illumn: https://www.illumn.com/batteries-chargers-and-powerpax-carriers/batteries.html?\_store=default

18650 battery store: https://www.18650batterystore.com/

IMRBatteries: https://www.imrbatteries.com/

Battery Junction(mostly for protected brand name cells): https://www.batteryjunction.com/18650.html

Fasttech: https://www.fasttech.com/category/1420/batteries

Mountain Electronics: Batteries

Vruzend: Products – VRUZEND DIY Battery Kit This one is a bit special, as you’ll see :slight_smile:

Orbotronic: https://www.orbtronic.com/

mAhBattery: https://mahbattery.com/

So, you clearly are blessed in terms of choice.

Edit 1: BANGOOOD has been removed because have been receiving fakes.

3

EUROPE

NKON (ships to most of Europe): https://www.nkon.nl/

AKKU-TEILE : https://www.akkuteile.de/lithium-ionen-akkus/

18650UK: https://18650.uk/

I would recommend these 3 sources, since they are the most legitimate. Also, by buying from them, you will support the European economy, and will have good customer support.

4

CANADA

Oh boy. Let’s start with this.

Due to very tight air shipping regulations regarding lithium-ion 18650s, most Chinese sellers will not take the risk to ship via airmail, or take the time via boat. Some will however.

In Canada:

Durenergy on eBay: https://www.ebay.ca/usr/durnergy01?\_trksid=p2047675.l2559

This is the only seller which will not gouge you with huge prices on 18650s and pay you for shipping. They only carry low drain 2200mAh-2600mAh 18650s, but will be suitable for most lights. They also carry 3000mAh 18650s, along with 2000mAh 20A 18650s, and 2200mAh 10A 18650s, which would be suitable for lights like the BLF Q8.

Outside of Canada:

Here we get in the real of what I like to call, vacation shipping. The only way to get cheap, high capacity high drain cells in Canada will be via boat shipping, which usually takes 1 month, up to 3 months. I’ve bought 18650s that way before, took “only” one month, but can take up to 3 as specified before.

Sunway Store on Aliexpress: https://sunway.aliexpress.com/store/group/Battery/3173029_512165822.html?spm=2114.12010608.nav-list.3.5d7d69d44E3rEx

I’ve bought cells from them, 6x Samsung 30Qs to be precise, and they test right on target at about 3000mAh down to 2.5V, have good low internal resistance, and still have great capacity at a 5A and 10A drain down to 2,8V(2810mAh and 2760mAh respectively). They also don’t stick out to other legit 30Qs that I bought elsewhere, with 3 poles on the negative terminals, and a non auspicious looking marking. They also make my BLF Q8 very hot :slight_smile:

Others have bought cells from them, and have confirmed them to be legitimate. Be aware though. They ship very slowly to respect shipping laws.

I’ve also ordered 2x 21700s 4000mAh from them recently to see if they ship out the same way, and if the cells are still legit :slight_smile:

Aliya store: https://www.aliexpress.com/store/1382210?spm=2114.12010612.0.0.7a5b23dbkNLBYu

Same thing. Other people have confirmed the cells to be coming from this store to be legit, with non suspicious terminals, not too low small unit pricing, and shipping fee.

I have tested both the NCR18650GA and Samsung 30Q, and can confirm that they sell completely legitimate cells for Canadians!

There’s also a new player on the bloc. He’s a member on BLF, and has his own store, 18650 Canada
https://18650canada.com/

Rejoice!

2021 update: Looks like the Sunway store doesn’t sell individual cells anymore. Sad.
Same for the Aliya store and even Lucky :frowning:

5

INTERNATIONAL

Here we go again with the insane shipping rules regarding shipping laws.

Same stores again.

Sunway Store: https://sunway.aliexpress.com/store/group/Battery/3173029_512165822.html

Aliya Store for more variety in cells with slightly higher prices: https://www.aliexpress.com/store/1382210

Lucky’s electronic store: https://www.aliexpress.com/store/1191644

Vruzend: https://vruzend.com/international-orders/

AUSTRALIA

Tech Around You

Tinker

LANplus

supersports600

New Zealand

Piercing Darkness

Another one: https://www.piercingthedarkness.co.nz/

UK

18650UK: https://18650.uk/

TorchyUK: http://www.torchy.co.uk/

EcoLux: http://www.ecoluxshopdirect.co.uk/

6

If you want, comment here on more sources for international sources on 18650s, 21700s, etc.

I want you guys and gals to help me out here. So we can help out even more people :slight_smile:

NOTE:

As of July 2021, here are the max capacities for common sizes of lithium ion (3,6V-3,7V) cells:

- 18650: 3600mAh

- 21700: 5200mAh

- 26650: 5700mAh

- 18350 : 1100-1200mAh

- 14500: 1000mAh

7

There are a few more choices for US people. Mountain Electronics and Vruzend and Orbtronic for example. Pretty much every major 18650 distributor in the US is in my battery database.

8

I’ve bought from Aliya’s Battery Store (AliExpress) more than once and was all good!
Thanks for the effort of putting this info together :+1:

9

Thanks for this thread BlueSwordM.

Here are three Australian suppliers I’ve had good experiences with:

Tech Around You

LANplus

supersports600

10

Banggood and Fasttech - at this time - don’t ship to Greece, I don’t know about other EU countries.

Another EU supplier - which I haven’t tried yet - but looks promising and has directly contacted BLF is https://18650.uk/

11

+1
I am also a returning customer there. (/store/1382210)

Also add Lucky Electronics Store, it is very similar. (/store/1191644)

BlueSwordM, when you use AliExpress URLs, please remove the part right from the ? mark, including the ? as well. That spm labeled stuff is for handling some user preferences (probably language settings as well).

12

GearBest, BangGood and Fasttech do not ship batteries to the UK.

13

Just an FYI, VapeCell just released a 1000mah 14500.

14

www.torchy.co.uk

In the UK and probably europe
Serving and endorsed by vaping communities for years and probably cheapest.

15

Thanks for doing that BlueSwordM ! :+1:

Illumn can also ship to Canada.

For Canadian based store, CANVAPE.CA have quite a good selection, (30Q, VTC6 and 1100mAh INR 18350 and more…). I saw some 26650 for 5-6$ CAD.

16

I remember that Liitokala thread and appreciate all your input there as well as taking the time to put this together for us. It’s so hard to find trustworthy sites these days and it’s people like you and forums like BLF that make the internet a better place.

17

OK.

I’ll include all of your suggestions once I come back home.

I love to help out, especially since even people not on BLF will see this thread.

18

...because size matters!

19

@raccoon city, nice relation you’ve got there. Size does matter when looking at capacity, marketability, and such.

I’ve done the modifications you guys/gals provided me with.

20

Thanks for compiling these lists. As I venture out into new types of cells and am buying more high-performance lights, it’s good to have reputable sources out there to choose from.