The best 18650's: The official consensus?

For every day use though, you can't beat the 10A cells. I've started with the PD's, then PF's, BD's (I think), and the LG 3200 mAh cells, now I got a few of the SANYO GA's and ordered some of the LG MJ1's. The high amps cells are great for quoting instantaneous output at 0 secs fully charged (pretty useless really), but for real usage, you'll find GA's in my lights - much more consistent, not insane droppage and insane heat - they work great with spring bypass's and all the tweaks - more output with some decent consistency.

My Post #4998 in https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/31076 re-printed here:

Was curious how these cells compare in an A6, so, I did a shoot-out compare of the Samsung 30Q vs. the LG HG2 cells in a BLF Manker A6 with the 3D XP-L, and what the effect is of adding the bypass's on the springs:

Operation in Order

Sam Q30 #1

Sam Q30 #2

LG HG2 #1

LG HG2 #2

Volts measured

4.21v

4.22v

4.22v

4.22v

Amps measured

4.39A

4.35A

4.38A

4.27A

0 – 10 secs (lumens)

1190-1122

1241-1176

1275-1193

1268-1193

Volts measured

4.18v

4.19v

4.20v

4.19v

--- Tail spring bypass added ---

0 – 10 secs (lumens)

1411-1340

1428-1343

1401-1333

1401-1333

Volts measured

4.16v

4.17v

4.18v

4.18v

--- Driver spring bypass added, Nyogel applied on threads ---

0 – 10 secs (lumens)

1506-1411

1503-1408

1503-1397

1523-1408

Volts measured

4.14v

4.15v

4.16v

4.16v

--- Cells Re-charged ---

Volts measured

4.22v

4.22v

4.22v

4.22v

Amps measured

5.47A

5.45A

5.38A

5.36A

0 – 10 secs (lumens)

1564-1425

1554-1421

1530-1411

1537-1414

@30 secs (lumens)

1360

1353

1343

1350

I let the light cool down between battery tests, at least cool to the touch of the head, and little more. It may not have been long enough - I'm not sure.

Seems to be a pattern the HG2 cells did slightly better before bypass's, while the 30Q's did better afterwards. Differences though are slight, probably within the margins of error.

Certainly for all, the output droppage is pretty high, but for such a small light, not unexpected. Maybe better bonding of the MCPCB to the pill top may help, or even thicker wires.