CR123A Comparison Review: 4Sevens, Titanium Innovations, Tenergy, Surefire, Duracell

[Toohotruk]

I'm curious how well the 4 Sevens batteries do compared with Battery Station (USA) cells...

 

[selfbuilt]

How well do they work/compare on a medium draw light?
Like my Novatac on 60-80% brightness setting.

The NiteCore EX10 Med/Hi run is at about the same output as 60-85 lumens on the Novatac, so that should give you a general idea. But the Novatac has a fairly specific step-down pattern, so it would be difficult to say with any certainty without testing it.

I'm curious how well the 4 Sevens batteries do compared with Battery Station (USA) cells...

Based on my limited testing of one batch of Battery Station cells in my CR123A Round-up thread, their performance appears comparable to Energizer or Rayovac - once adjusted for sample age.

As you'll see in my testing there, all the USA brands tend to have a similar profile in the Olight T10 - but the Duracell/Panasonic/Surefire seem to have slightly more capacity than the Energizer/Rayovac/BatteryStation.

 

[Toohotruk]

Thanks for the info...I wasn't aware of the other thread.

 

[selfbuilt]

Thought I'd show you all my spent battery bucket (old kitty litter container in my garage). Admitedly not the best way to store batteries - it's been about six months since my last trip to the recycling centre.

Looks a little more colourful now that I've started testing some additional CR123A brands (was pretty boring with all Duracells before ... )

 

[alfreddajero]

Once again nice work on testing the cells out...might get a few of the 4sevens brand.:thumbsup:

 

[brightnorm]

Selfbuilt, thank you for the (as always) excellent review.

In the early days of CPF some members believed that cr123 auto-discharge accelerated significantly after even the briefest use. You could use your light for a minute and store it in the glove compartment, and after a week the battery was dead or near death. The idea was that a new cell had some kind of physical protection against rapid self-depletion but as soon as the cell was used that protection (some called it a kind of "membrane"), was in effect breached.

Have you ever heard of this phenomenon, and if so is there any truth to it?

Brightnorm

 

[selfbuilt]

In the early days of CPF some members believed that cr123 auto-discharge accelerated significantly after even the briefest use. You could use your light for a minute and store it in the glove compartment, and after a week the battery was dead or near death. The idea was that a new cell had some kind of physical protection against rapid self-depletion but as soon as the cell was used that protection (some called it a kind of "membrane"), was in effect breached.

Have you ever heard of this phenomenon, and if so is there any truth to it?

Interesting question, I hadn't heard of that before. I think I can dispel it, at least for Energizer CR123A cells (may be different for cheapo foreign cells).

Below is a comparison of two cells from the same batch (manufactured March 2007). One was left untouched in original packaging for two years ("Unused"), and one has been one of my "tester" cells for the last one year or so ("Lightly Used"). As a tester, I have been using it to quickly test the max output/throw on new lights as they arrive (i.e. click on Max, take a reading, turn off). I would estimate that I have used up the equivalent of ~1.5mins of continuous runtime, scattered over a one year period.

As you can see, there is no difference in time to 50%, and only a slight reduction in total capacity as measured by area under the curve.

Looks pretty convincing to me that Energizers don't suffer any ill effects from "breaking the seal". :twothumbs

 

[Justin Case]

It might be useful to know, at least at initial turn-on, what the tail current draw is for each of 123A cells for each of the tests.

 

[brightnorm]

Interesting question, I hadn't heard of that before. I think I can dispel it, at least for Energizer CR123A cells (may be different for cheapo foreign cells)...

The issue may have originally come up because what seemed to be an inordinate number of Surefire cells were dying after brief use. Whatever the cause, I haven't seen the issue raised in a long time. Thanks for your answer.

Brightnorm

 

[VidPro]

this is obviously a bad case of Rechargophobia

cool tests, specially when you changed the levels and mixed things up again.
Me wonders if some of the cells tested are the same exact manufacture, with pretty new labels on them, and different "batches" or freshnesses .

 

[selfbuilt]

Just updated the main post with an additional lower output Med mode runtime on the Olight T10

As in the case of the NiteCore EX10 Med mode, the 4sevens cells again approach the top-tier USA-made Surefire cells, and the Titanium Innovations do a little lower.

Interesting result considering the 4sevens cells under-performed in the T10 on Max output. I've beginning to think the Titanium cells are best in high-drain applications, the 4sevens cells are best in lower-than-max applications (except for the Quark lights, when they perform well at all levels).

It might be useful to know, at least at initial turn-on, what the tail current draw is for each of 123A cells for each of the tests.

Just tried a couple of samples in the T10:

T10 Max Energizer: 1.30A
T10 Max 4Sevens: 1.24A
T10 Max Titanium Innovations: 1.31A

T10 Med (L4) Energizer: 0.34A
T10 Med (L4) 4Sevens: 0.33A
T10 Med (L4) Titanium Innovations: 0.35A

For Quark, initial readings fluctuated rapidly between ~1.65-1.85A on all cells, so I waited ~10 secs or so for the results to stabilize:

Quark 123 Max Energizer: 1.74A
Quark 123 Max 4Sevens: 1.80A
Quarks 123 Max Titanium Innovations: 1.71A

Me wonders if some of the cells tested are the same exact manufacture, with pretty new labels on them, and different "batches" or freshnesses .

The various USA cells fall into two discrete categories in my testing, once you account for age - a top-tier (e.g. Duracell, Surefire, Panasonic) and a second-tier (e.g. Energizer, Rayovac, Battery Station) that has just slightly less capacity. For detailed results, see my:
Quick CR123A and AA Battery Shoot-out Comparison

I suspect that the USA-brands do indeed reflect a limited number of manufacturing sources. But the China-brands likely come from different factories given their different runtime performances.

 

[bodhran]

Thanks for a great review. I purchased a 50 pack of the Titanium Innovation's from Battery Junction awhile back, and have been very happy with them. It was nice to see how they compare to other brands.

 

[MattK]

Sweet work Eric!

How did I miss this before today???

 

[selfbuilt]

How did I miss this before today???

I thought you might be happy with the Titanium cell performance Matt. :laughing:

I meant to draw your attention to results, but frankly got distracted with new light reviews once I had these results up. The purpose of this testing was really for my own edification, as I was wondering how the other cells compared to my standard Duracell/Surefire test bed. But by posting them here, everyone can now "calibrate" their cells against my runtimes a bit better. :wave:

 

[kaptein america]

Awesome stuff.
Keep up the good works

 

[recDNA]

Which company makes 4Sevens batteries for them?

 

[smopoim86]

Which company makes 4Sevens batteries for them?

Unknown... I'm pretty sure David said he could loose the supplier if the manufacturer was known.

Seems a little odd, but I trust David's quality standards.

 

[bertie123]

I think i'll buy a Titanium or a surefire cr123a for my fenix PD30+. Does anyone know if they are protected or not ? and wich is the best (not about runtime but about quality meaning no errors, or things go wrong) ! And wich is the best brand for rechargeble batteries ? and do rechargeble batteries lose there energy when the flashlights is turned off or while there just not in the flashlight ?
Thanx !! :twothumbs

 

[4sevens]

Unknown... I'm pretty sure David said he could loose the supplier if the manufacturer was known.

Seems a little odd, but I trust David's quality standards.

We sampled every major lithium manufacturer in the area and found most of
them to be utterly inferior. I personally tested each source.

When we found this particular vendor we really had
to pull some teeth to get them to do it for us
The performance was just stellar compared to others, plus
most of the others didn't even offer to install a PTC - which
we instantly turned down.

I just hope they continue to work with us when we need the next batch

 

[nbp]

I have up until this point been buying SF 123s for my lights, and because I don't go through them that fast, it has been fine, despite their higher cost. I have had zero problems with them.

Since 47s came out with their cells, I have been considering buying a big bulk pack from them so I'm set for a while. This will be a savings of about $1 per cell over the SF cells I buy. And for my purposes, their performance in this shootout is certainly adequate. Seems like a no brainer.

My only question is: is there any concern over the safety of these cells, as they are made in China? In the past, I remember reading here about some foreign cells being poorly made and venting or popping. I'm pretty confident 47s would not have purchased crappy cells like that, based on my excellent experiences with his business in the past. But I am not a battery expert, so I thought I'd ask. :shrug:

Thanks for all your hard work, Selfbuilt, these tests are very helpful :thumbsup: