Review: Trustfire TR-005 26650 Charger from Manafont

Depending on how flat the batteries are will affect the charge time as well as how close the cell is to 4 volts as it will be ramping down the charge rate, the battery size will also affect this.

I was charging 26650 in around 3 to 5 hours depending on how flat the cell was the 18650 was a a bit quicker. A hobby charger's time around would be around the same for balance charging but i could charge 6 in the time it would take to charge one.

Even a hobby charger will ramp down once the cell is near full and this is the longest part of the charge while it might be slightly quicker then a TR-005 there is not a really big gain in time saving unless you charge more then one at a time.

This is how i charge my 26650,s and 18650,s normally

Balance charging 3 x 26650,s take around the same time charging one on the TR-005 but i can balance charge up to 6 at a time in the same time, monitor each cells voltage plus other features.

This thread about balance charging might interest you

https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/3118

This thread has some stuff in there about hobby chargers and accessories for them

https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/1621

But not every one wants to buy a hobby charger, power supply and then have to buy parts to make up there own leads. I enjoy it and i like having one charger that charge's every battery in my house and the power supply i have for my charger is used for more then just my hobby charger.