New Trustfire Flame 18350s vs Ultrafire Orange 18350s

Batteries and Chargers Rechargeable Batteries
1

I ordered these new 18350 Trustfire Flames from Manafont as soon as they posted on the new products page on 9/13/11 and received them today. By chance I also received some Ultrafire 18350s from DX today (ordered on 9/10/11) strange coincidence so I decided to compare the 2 since the choices in the 18350 category are pretty limited and the batteries would be on equal ground both new out of the package.

I paid $7.20 for the pair of Trustfire Flame 18350s from Manafont.

http://www.manafont.com/product_info.php/protected-trustfire-18350-37v-1...

I paid $5.80 for the pair of Ultrafire Orange 18350s from DX.

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/ultrafire-18350-3-7v-1200mah-batteries-pair...

Both vendors took roughly 4 weeks to deliver the product.

The Bestinone 18350s were $7.40 a pair shipped, but the site is currently down.

Initial impression is damn these new Flame batteries are sexy probably the nicest looking batteries I have seen, but I am partial to the looks of the old Flame batteries also.

The Ultrafires are blah a dull orange wrapper nothing to see here pretty generic.

Size wise the Flames measure 36x18mm and the Ultrafires are 34x18.25mm. It is worth noting the Flames are protected and the Ultrafires are not explaining the 2mm difference in length

I am testing 2 of each, I will be calling the Flames TF1 and TF2 and the Ultrafires UF1 and UF2.

I am going to add 2 Bestinone IMR 18350s with about 6 cycles on them only because the results were so poor on the new batteries. BIO1 and BIO2

I am using a Fluke 179 for measuring voltage and a Turnigy Accucell 6 for measuring mah.

Initial resting voltages of all 4 new batteries was 3.8volts.

The Ultrafire and Trustfires are rated at 1200mah and the bestinones are rated at 800mah.

I give new batteries 2 rides in the cradle to charge them just to make sure they are full.

First test: 1amp charge on the Turnigy Acucell 6 starting at 3.8volts up to 4.2volts.

TF1 took 197mah and 11mah total 208mah resting voltage of 4.176volts

TF2 took 194mah and 10mah total 204mah resting voltage of 4.190volts

UF1 took 309mah and 25mah total 334mah resting voltage of 4.174volts

UF2 took 275mah and 46mah total 321mah resting voltage of 4.175volts

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Second test: .5amp draw on the Turnigy Acucell 6 starting at 4.2volts down to 3volts.

TF1 went 76minutes and 11seconds total 634mah, resting voltage 3.36v.

TF2 went 86minutes and 53seconds total 723mah, resting voltage 3.38v.

UF1 went 92minutes and 42seconds total 772mah, resting voltage 3.43v.

UF2 went 91minutes and 23seconds total 761mah, resting voltage 3.51v.

BIO1 went 111minutes and 11 seconds total 926mah, resting voltage 3.42v.

BIO2 went 97minutes and 21 seconds total 810mah, resting voltage 3.42v.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Third test: Max amperage draw on Manafont/Ultrafire 3 mode direct drive drop in.

TF1 Delivered 3.22amps @ 4.19volts.

TF2 Delivered 3.81amps @ 4.14volts.

UF1 Delivered 3.04amps @ 4.12volts.

UF2 Delivered 3.01amps @ 4.11volts.

BIO1 Delivered 3.31amps @ 4.16Volts.

BIO2 Delivered 3.21amps @ 4.18volts.

It was a little unfair to include the Bestinone batteries as I expect the other two will pick up after a couple cycles, but since the numbers were so low I needed a control for the test.

The new Flames really threw down the amperage on the direct drive test, but they were really low in the absolute power department for a 1200mah battery.

2

Have been looking into switching my 501a over to the 18350. Looking forward to your results

Rob

3

those mini flames look different than the ones i have from DX. wonder why??

4

They are new they have a 3000mah 18650 that I would love to test after seeing the 3.8 amp push of the 18350.

http://www.manafont.com/product_info.php/protected-trustfire-18650-37v-3000mah-rechargeable-batteries-2pcsset-p-7941

5

Nice test. You touched on the internal resistance issue measuring the tail cap draw. Direct driving a few of my lights this measurement means more than just capacity. Now if we could measure cycle life without destroying
our batteries. LOL

6

I honestly wouldn't mind destroying a battery if there was a way to do it without taking so much time charging and discharging. This test alone took me almost 20 hours on the charger and I used 3 chargers at one point in the test.

7

I just got some of the 3000 mah 18650's new flames at manafont and they showed 4.6a at 4.15v in my 980l..some of my regular flame will do this also (not all), but nice to see they will do the job..seem to be a winner..

8

Wow 4.6amps is a great number for a protected battery. I would buy a bunch, but I just bought 20 ReverendJim batteries plus the 20 oldflame 18650s I have. Why do I always stock up on things at the wrong time?

9

Welcome to battery testing !

Dont look like much on paper when reading it , but its a real time consumer [ ask your wife = probably time waster , and she would tell you 20 hours of overtime would have put some green in your wallet / eeeer - her purse ] [ if you have one of those flashlight accessories ]

10

Yeah she usually doesn't mind this hobby but at around 2am after I spent most of the night helping her study for a test and going back and forth into the kitchen to check on batteries she started getting really pissed.

11

Great job E. Perhaps it's time to get an 18650 body for my SF C2 so I can run a P90/P91.

12

Great job.

The Trustfire Flames 3000mAh are nice, but really i'd just pay 90 cents more each and get the XTAR 2600 and get a better cell (Sanyo) + better PCB (they do give 5A before the PCB kicks in in the DRY)

Nice 18350s, i think i got about 700 too for the TF Flames 16340, so these are average. But the current draw is nice. The one important positive aspect is that the TF Flames 18350s are protected!

Your tests confirms that the BIO are very nice batteries!

13

The Bestinone 18350s really are great batteries. I would have posted a link, but there web site is down and I can't remember what I paid for them. I believe if you PM WendyHo she can get them for you.

You can also get these batteries from Shao.fu.tzers web site.

http://www.shaotech.com/batteries.html

14

Look like shaotech.com is closed for now. http://www.shaotech.com/index.html Anyone know for sure?

15

TF2 looks good ....

16

768mAh with the Ultrafires, digging down to 2.75V loaded @ 1A (measured by UT-58E). I think it dives very fast below 2.9V or something....

Comparatively my BIO IMRs do over 900mAh consistently. But these buggers i only got for $4.51 per pair so it's cool. Good for stuff like XM-L throwers in shorty mode like STL-V2 with DBS/CL1H/C8/U80 tubes or Crelant 7G5. Or Solarforce MPP-1 or DBS aspheric 3SM/1SM pill.

17

I got some more of the Flame 18350s only because once broken in they belt out 3.5 amps with ease. I have a new 5 mode program with a firefly low and a turbo 3.5 amp high I have been using in my 501As and this battery makes the the turbo mode usable. I have been using the BIO 18350s in my XPG 501As, for the price these can't be beat unless you really need the 3.5 amp wallop.

turbo: 3.50 amps

high: 1.68

medium: .75

low: .09

moonlight: .002

18

I was actually looking for this thread.

Thanks, ringmeat !

19

I guess it's time for an update, I have 6 of each brand 18350 and rotate them. The Trustfire Flames have become my favorite 18350s belting out a solid 3.8 amps every time. The Bestinone 18350s got tired really quick and barely push 3 amps. The Orange Ultrafires have remained very consistent over time delivering the 3 amps they did when new.

20

I rock the orange ones in a l2m with a 1.7a nanjg xp-g..they've been really good delivering long runtimes..haven't tried the flames yet but 2 of these oranges last long enough for my liking..especially vs 16340's..