Sony VTC5 the best high discharge 18650?

Efest has some out that are 35A and 2800mAh compared to the 30A and 2600mAh of the VTC5 which can be hard to find and I think maybe more expensive although it's widely regarded as a favorite. Curious to know what everyone's thoughts are on the two.

I'm not sure if they were updated or new cells, but the Efest 35A cells were actually 20A cells (continuous, 35A pulse) marketed as "35A high drain cells". That really kept me away from the Efest brand in general.

The Orbtronic website had a warning about this but I cannot seem to find it now.

Sony VTC5 is truly a 30A cell

The Efest 2800mAh listed on Mountain Electronics are described as having a max pulse discharge of 80A and max discharge (I assume continuous) of 35A.

WOW, I see it now. That's new to me and very impressive. Hopefully there will be a review sometime soon!

Edit: in just a few minutes of reading some comments online, it seems Efest is up to the same old tricks.

This quote from a vaping forum sums it up well:

...there is no continuous 35amp 2800mah battery in existance for them to rewrap.. If Efest claims theyre making their own cells now then wow theyve somehow managed to bypass the gigantic corporations of LG, Samsung and Sony with all of their resources and YEARS of experience at lithium battery chemistry.

Now I see there's a Efest IMR 18650 2900mAh 30A!

markr6 said:

WOW, I see it now. That's new to me and very impressive. Hopefully there will be a review sometime soon!

Edit: in just a few minutes of reading some comments online, it seems Efest is up to the same old tricks.

This quote from a vaping forum sums it up well:

...there is no continuous 35amp 2800mah battery in existance for them to rewrap.. If Efest claims theyre making their own cells now then wow theyve somehow managed to bypass the gigantic corporations of LG, Samsung and Sony with all of their resources and YEARS of experience at lithium battery chemistry.

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That's sad. I guess it's a good thing you can get VTC5 cells from Vinh as a reliable source. I'm still mulling over getting a M2Xvn and the VTC5 is his recommended cell.

I have a couple Efest 10440 and no way to test them so who knows what I'm actually getting out of them.

Recently discussing this with a highly respected member of the flashlight community, he is of the opinion that modders have found the Samsung 30Q to be the replacement for the VTC5 and that any VTC5 out there are old stock or counterfeit.

uofaengr said:

Recently discussing this with a highly respected member of the flashlight community, he is of the opinion that modders have found the Samsung 30Q to be the replacement for the VTC5 and that any VTC5 out there are old stock or counterfeit.

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I forgot about the 30Q. The LG HE2 is VERY close to that one in tests 5A - 20A.

VTC5 is actually a 20A cell even though many market it as 30A. I think it had something to do with them getting too hot at 30A. Orbtronic has them in stock and I believe them when they say they are not counterfeit. But, I have been guilty of being naive in the past.

With the Samsung 25R being so cheap now, that's still a great option.

I'm glad I don't need these high drain cells (I don't vape). It's just so confusing and there's too many choices!

The guy i get my cells off in the UK does his testing,i ordered some efest 2800mah 35a off him......... He told me to wait till he has tested them and his results were poor. Advised me against them and told me the samsung 30q he is also testing have come out great..............i ordered a good few.

Totally honest guy(why i have used him for years) and sent me the graphs via email of which i did not ask for.

LG 2500mah
Samsung 25r
Samsung 30Q 15a 3000mah and showed almost 3000mah on testing
Efest 2500mah are good cells i have found!! Lasted well and from testing come out as one of the best for higher A
Sony vtc5(very good if can get genuine,some are r-wrapped 25r cells which is not a too bad thing but of course they are not vtc5's!!! )
Pany BD/BE are fine,good happy medium cell
If run times are not too important and you top your cells off after use,always above 3.6 or 3.7v then vtc4 2100mah are not to be sniffed at!

I dont think out of the ones i have listed and own,i can tell swapping them into various lights,you needa light meter and even then there are no significant leaps imo anyway.

Good mix of mah and A rating for me.........of course value for money. Give me 2x 30Q cells at $20 over 1x vtc5 at $20 any day.........thats me though(just an example with the cost).

ven said:

Give me 2x 30Q cells at $20 over 1x vtc5 at $20 any day.........thats me though(just an example with the cost).

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Or 4xSamsung 25R for $20!!

markr6 said:

Or 4xSamsung 25R for $20!!

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Oh yes, defo the winner there mark !!!! I use many of those 25r cells, some in lights like my triple quad x40vn to my vape mods. Bang for buck a brilliant cell that does stand the test of time/hard use! By that I mean at times 2 maybe even 3 discharges/charges In a day for months .

I am yet to recycle a 25r cell from heavy use yet!!

samsung smurfs

I use many.....just not that many :laughing:

cool pic there what are they used for Mr overclocker?

ven said:

I use many.....just not that many :laughing:

cool pic there what are they used for Mr overclocker?

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In parallel like that, 3 stacks...methinks for an electric motor or car?

electric bikes

Awesome!!!

Do you find the 25R's a great cell for this use or do you have any preferences to what perform even better?

I found this comment on batterybro.com:

"The Sony VTC5 is perhaps the most notorious lithium-ion 18650 battery of all time - but wrongly so. Many vendors claimed it to be a 'step up' from the VTC4 but naming conventions are not that simple. Actually the VTC5 was a step down for many modders because its max. cont. discharge rating is actually 10 amps lower. There is a lot of controversy surrounding this, as many trusted vendors falsely claim higher specs. This is all due to bad Chinese suppliers that exaggerate specs, and vendors that fail to enact due diligence and test their batteries thoroughly."

Yeah I think I'm gonna stick with the 30Q when the time comes for it.

magellan said:

I found this comment on batterybro.com:

"The Sony VTC5 is perhaps the most notorious lithium-ion 18650 battery of all time - but wrongly so. Many vendors claimed it to be a 'step up' from the VTC4 but naming conventions are not that simple. Actually the VTC5 was a step down for many modders because its max. cont. discharge rating is actually 10 amps lower. There is a lot of controversy surrounding this, as many trusted vendors falsely claim higher specs. This is all due to bad Chinese suppliers that exaggerate specs, and vendors that fail to enact due diligence and test their batteries thoroughly."

Click to expand...

Not saying the info is incorrect, but from testing of genuine vtc5 they perform at least as good as the best IMR/INR cells. From my own testing they hold V better over time than any of my other brands including pany. Also i do notice an ever so slight bump on some lights over other quality cells(i know not exact science,but i can notice it ).

Sure some of justins tests and vinhs have proved better along with the efest 2500mah 35a ones.

Still in flashlight world where A are not as high as in the mod world,most 10a cells will be sufficient for most uses,more so in multi cell lights. Single cell,not many ask for more than 10a i can think of. Even then its short lived at that kind of demand........and heat!

The vtc4 have the advantage (sounds strange) with only being 2100mah,so no doubt can hold higher A for longer due to less voltage sag under load........I am no expert so could be wrong!!

The good thing about vtc5 is that vtc4 become cheaper Most uses are short bursts for the type of lights that benefit from these high drain cells,so 2100mah or 2600mah..........imo its no big deal. Want run time,then 10a 3500mah would make a better choice with a slight loss at top end. As eyes adapt,after a few seconds its hard to tell any difference. Even when high ouput lights step down after X amount of minutes its hard to tell,even though its a few 1000lm .

Just my opinion, what ruined the vtc5 for me was lack of supply, price increases and copies to feed demand. Luckily i got some original ones and have been very impressive when used in my mm15vn/k60vn as a trial.

Again imo........by no means could i be right,just from what i have interpreted though my built in auto-balance eyes

Interesting, it seems the controversy continues on these much discussed cells. If your experience has been they hold V better, but the VTC4 maintain the amps better, then it sounds like the 5's are better for flashlights unless you need really high current output, like the vapers do with their custom mods; then you'd go with the 4's.

My findings are far from scientific :tinfoil: just what i have noticed over time. If you can get hold of some genuine(vinh) i would sample some for maybe one of your exquisite lights. One that gets driven hard and compare, i am confident you would notice a little bump if direct drive.

Sony make cracking cells imo,vtc4/vtc5 are both great cells,for me the vtc5 at 2600mah just have that edge as we all like as much mah as possible without effecting performance.

When higher mah cells come out i like it, for the fact the slightly lower mah cell prices drop and in the real world 3400 or 3600mah for me is really not worth the premium(for me).

For my mods, i use LG and 25r mainly for duel cell set ups,single cell mods i use a variety of efest/sony/pany as long as they are rated 10a minimum(those mods i tend to not use more than 6a with).

Bang for buck i think 25r are hard to beat!!