AW is just too damn expensive for me; it’ll cost me at least $22.50 just for a couple of batteries.
Is there any other budget or semi-budget brand that you guys could recommend for 14500 that is similar to XTAR’s 18650? Surely there are other people here who can’t afford AW 
See if you can find Keeppower, otherwise TrustFire Flames seem to be the go to.
Protected 14500, I have 2 packs of these
Since 2010, they haven´t failed. One purchased on 2010 and the other in 2011
I use them all the day, drawing 1Amp and they haven´t gone bad….
Now i understand why some people (scaru, ..) think that i work for DD lol!! ( btw guys, if/when/whenever i told you how to abuse DD's discounting system, i cant be working for them, can i? )
If you're going for budget 14500, I think it has got to be TF Flame from reputable vendor. Manafont would be one (albeit a bit slow shipping from there).
The Marsfire 14500 is ok too, but it only has similar performance with TF flame, but with higher pricetag.
Either way, you're going to get around 700mAh real capacity with protection circuit. Not bad for the price.
fwiw:
eagletac 14500: ran about 1 hour on a quark x until protection kicked in which i then reset for a split second on a charger. open voltage was 3.2v
did the same on a trustfire 14500, ran for about 1 hour… open voltage 2.9
the eagletac is probably cutting off at a higher voltage than the trustfire which is good
You could get some 14500 IMR batteries fron Bestinone .
Hmmm. The flames seem to be recommended, but apparently IMR is safer technology and will last longer? Price seems ok as well. decisions decisions…
Btw, why is manafont better than buying from say dealextreme? I noticed heaps of links/references to manafont/dinodirect/other hk stores & hardly any mention of dealextreme. has there been a mass exodus I’m not aware of?
EDIT: Forgot to mention, sorry for the late reply. I was waiting for email notifications that didn’t end up coming :S
Because Manafont will ship in 2-3 days top, and dealextreme ,well I think everybody has a story of waiting for packages to be shipped from DX, If you’re really lucky , they will ship in one week 
.
Manafont has always shipped same day, or next day at the latest, for me. DX has always been much slower. I know MF sells genuine Trustfire cells, not fakes. $6.12/pair shipped...
Jack, any other place to get these IMR cells? I saw the $7.99 price for a pair with “free” shipping and figured, WTH, I always wanted to try them. Comes up in the cart as $10.26 after a $2.27 “handling” fee. WTF is that BS? Would like to get some from another seller that doesn’t pull that shady stuff. Free shipping is not free shipping if you charge a fee to sell you something. |(
Yeah , well all I can say is that the batteries are good and I get them in two weeks with no issues . These batteries are required for my new EDC , the kit light E1329 made for me . That little pocket rocket pulls 3.55 amps and I was afraid I would kill my Trustfire flame protecteds in a hurry ... As far as the cost , well , I've paid more for less ...
Yeah, I love my E1329 light. :P
If they are the only place around that sells them then I’ll have to hold my nose and pull the trigger. Just hoping someone else had them also. Thanks for the reply! 
I use protected trustfire blue’s that I bought years ago…they have decent capacity and have lasted for years now…I use them in my C3, itp sa1, 2 sipik sk68’s and my uf-h2 headlamp…would recommend them for the price without hesitation
Did some digging and ended up getting them from BIO anyway. Best price regardless of how they play with the numbers. Looking forward to seeing how well they work. Won’t be long until E’s kit light has some competition. I also need them for my triple XP-G Micros I’m going to build.
The problem with this is the HUGE number of fakes around. Never mind ebay, even Manafont has two version of the TF blue, which is the real one... who knows. DX/DD? They're known to switch supplier to whichever gives better price without changing the sku. So, buying this is kind of going for a lottery.