Ok if you’ve been here for 1+ year. You know the mantra… Protected cell are better, blah blah blah… well have you guys seen these guys?
I am not sure I see what relevance those videos have to protected batteries?
That said protected batteries now days are un-needed IMHO as long as the flashlight has low voltage protection (virtually all the good ones do) and you do not use any form of internal charging.
It is basically impossible for enough of an imbalance to happen in a single discharge to cause a problem with reasonably matched cells.
When you recharge them any imbalance is automatically fixed as well.
Imbalance issues are a problem when the cells are never taken out of series, such as laptops, cars, drills ect.