SF - 123's Banned...

jayflash

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SF - 123\'s Banned...

...from my stock. Until SureFire improves the quality of their CR-123 cells, I'll no longer purchase more.

Of the four 12 packs of SF cells I had in the past year five of them suffered premature failure while in storage. Today was the last straw when I tried to show an interested fellow tech how well my G2 performed. By the time I threw in some old Yuntongs he had to leave. This was the second time I was unable to show off a good light, due to dead SF cells.

One would think that buyers of SF products place heavy importance on reliability - I do. It matters not that some CPFers have gone through hundreds of SF cells without failure...five out of 48 is too much for me.

So far only SF lithiums have gone belly up when the light was turned off. Some other brands had some cells with poor capacity but at least they gave a warning well before dying.

I hope the Streamlight brand proves to be reliable because that's what I'm trying next.
 

Dukester

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Re: SF - 123\'s Banned...

Your not the first to complain about the SF-123's. I have read a few threads on this very topic.

Let us know how the Streamlight 123's hold up. According to SilverFoxes Test he performed on various brand name 123's Streamlight did well and as expected because of the complaints SF did not.
 

voodoogreg

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Re: SF - 123\'s Banned...

I haven't owned 123 light's for too long, but both my SF light's had the "running fine then dropped dead" thing. will be getting batt station's,,, they pretty much mimmicked silverfox's plot for my fav duracell ultra, and shut th door. VDG
 

ResQTech

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Re: SF - 123\'s Banned...

In defense of SF, Ive never had any problems with their lithium cells...
 

sotto

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Re: SF - 123\'s Banned...

jayflash:

And what does the "world-class" CS at SF have to say about this??
 

jayflash

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Re: SF - 123\'s Banned...

Yeah, ResQ, that's the odd thing about this situation. Many who have used far more SF cells haven't had any problems. I can't fathom that I'm stressing the cells beyond what might be expected from a "normal" flashaholic. Sometimes the light is on for only a few seconds or minutes and other times up to ten minutes at a crack, but usually less.

There is a "supernatural" explanation in that some people seem to affect electro-mechanical systems by unknown means. For example, if my wife is with me, the car remote often malfunctions.

Over a year ago my first experience with 123's was SF cells in my Scorpion. They suffered "sudden death" the next time I turned the light on after about 20 minutes of intermittent use. Since my first use of 123's was flawed, maybe I'm also affecting the "cellular" chemistry. Hey! Maybe that's my wife's problem...ME.
 

jayflash

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Re: SF - 123\'s Banned...

sotto, the CS tech at SF knew less about electricty than I do and gave me answers that indicated he lacked theory.
 

sotto

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Re: SF - 123\'s Banned...

jayflash:

But did SF CS offer to make good on your bum cells? (you know, in case the rest of us run into the same glitch) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/popcorn.gif
 

jayflash

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Re: SF - 123\'s Banned...

I didn't ask for replacements yet. If I decide to send in my E2e head (the reflector gets milky when hot) I might mention the bad cells and hope for the best.
 

greenLED

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Re: SF - 123\'s Banned...

Check the graphs in this thread. 123's from BatteryStation are top-notch (especially at high currents). Plus, you can't beat their CPF price. I don't use a lot of 123's, but the ones I have are from BS; no problem.
 

NeonLights

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Re: SF - 123\'s Banned...

I have had one or two Batterystation 123's that didn't live up to my expectations (out of 20-25 or so I've had), but out of the 6-8 dozen SF 123's I've gone though in the last several years, I've never had a single cell let me down. I don't doubt that I may eventually have a problem, after all, quality control is never 100% on things like these, but so far so good. I'll continue to use both Batterystation and SureFire lithium cells.

-Keith
 

raggie33

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Re: SF - 123\'s Banned...

ive never had a battery station battery let me down. and they are best priced and great custermer realtions .
 

koala

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Re: SF - 123\'s Banned...

Save all your SF 123 wraps, buy batterystation CR123 and rewrap with SF123 and your problems all solved. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

this_is_nascar

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Re: SF - 123\'s Banned...

For 99.9% of my applications, I've used SF 123-cells for over 2-years. I've had 2 or 3 cell failures at the most. I've purchased several hundred of these cells over the last couple of years.
 

shifty646

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Re: SF - 123\'s Banned...

I've been using Golsten cells from ebay... they are dirt cheap 20 for $20. Been working flawlessly for the past year that I've been using them...
 

cobb

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Re: SF - 123\'s Banned...

I have two boxes. So far they seem to measure the same on my VOM meter. I do not seem to consume them at the rate you guys do.

On the other hand, its common for me who uses aa cells to have them drop dead. I just found a dead cell in my wireless mouse and another in my remote control. Rather I use cheap no names or name brand I seem to have those problems. Then again, they do say not to store batteries in devices, but how do you do that with radios and remote controls that are low drain devices?
 

tequilathursday

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Re: SF - 123\'s Banned...

I've had 2 cells die, out of about 8 boxes of Surefires. Like many others have reported, the light worked fine then the next time failed to light. Also, only one of the cells were dead. Strange isn't it.

One thing that I've noticed and never heard anyone mention is that the Surefire, and Streamlight cells look identical. The little green insulator disks on both ends and the positive posts are exactly the same. I assume the same company manufactures them and lables them for the appropriate company. Maybe they are built to the individual company's spec, since I've seen many posts saying that one is better than the other and vise versa.

I usually use the Surefires because of the price and the box they come in. All the other 123's I've used definately show sublte physical differences, but the Streamlight/Surefires look identical to me.
 
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