Cheapies. Trustfire vs. Ultrafire?

[llmercll]

I'm looking to get a few sets of batteries from DX. 18650, 14500, and 16340.

It looks like the most reviewed and recommended on there are the ultrafires or trustfires. Can anyone with experience recommend some sets for me? The most important factor for me is safety, followed by capacity and power =)

thanks!

 

[VegasF6]

Here's a little preview of the answers you can expect:

"Safety is your #1 concern? Then don't look at anything "fire"
"Buy AW"
"Buy Readilast"
"Search, especially in the smoke and fire section"

Now, to not be so harsh, you will find lots of testing by members here. They spend a great deal of there time doing it for no profit, and they would love it if you took some time to look for these answers. Then, if you had questions backed with knowledge you gained here, they would probably be willing to re-hash some of those discussions. I will say you will find results of a particular cell, may be a trustfire, or an ultrafire where someone will say they had a very positive experience. The problem is, you might order that exact same sku # and have very different results. These bargain batteries, there is no consistency and most people theorize they aren't class A cells developed for those companies. Instead they may be factory rejects from the laptop industry.

Sorry if I sound like a bully, it isn't my intent.

 

[llmercll]

I appreciate the reply vegas, and have really thought about what you said =)

I understand AW are thought to be better than the DX brands, but really don't want to pay the 2-3x price premium. I use a multimeter, charge in a metal box, etc. I'm fairly read up on li-ion safety and have decided to take the cheaper route, for now. From what I understand the rate of an incident is low, especially when taking the extra safety steps, even with the cheaper batteries =)

However I still would like to get the best battery for my money, and from what I have read, it looks like the trustfires from dx are best.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...-18650-battery-comparison&highlight=trustfire
http://lygte-info.dk/info/Batteries18650-2011 UK.html

I've read good things about the black and red trustfires as well. They seem to do very well on these charts. I believe I will go with those for my 18650's. Now I just need some 14500's. Does anyone know if the red/black trustfire 14500's are as good as their 18650 version?

thanks again for the reply and will appreciate any other input =)

 

[richpalm]

I had Ultrafire blue 18650's-both of them failed within a week-so did the replacement.

Besides, do you wanna wait a month or more to get them? Why even mess around with that kind of BS? I dropped DX and their ilk a long time ago.

Do yourself a favor-go to Lighthound, get the AW's, have them in 2-3 days and use them. I have 15-20 AW cells of various sorts and none have had any problem.

Rich

 

[mellowman]

go with red/black trustfires for 18650. soshine if you want something a little better.

for 14500. I've had both blue and red/black ones, don't think there is any performance difference but the red/black ones will probably last longer as the wrapping seems more durable.

However, for 14500 sizes I'd go with IMR's, such as AW IMR 14500.

 

[VegasF6]

I wasn't going to come back to this thread, but here I am.
Let me at least try and convince you to buy AW brand cells for 16340 size.

I have bought lots, at LEAST 150 different cells over the years, by various manufacturers. Mostly, overall, with 18650 cells I have had ok luck with budget brands. Oh sure, they may not last as long as they should, but in the case of most average lights, they perform OK. Why? Because with a ~1 amp load, we really aren't asking much of them. However, when using a high power flashlight, maybe something with a SSC P7, an MCE, an SST-50 or SST-90, or multiple emitter heads, or whatever, that is when the quality really shines.

However, when it comes to 16340 sizes, I have bought off brands for both myself and many friends. Even with better brands, like battery station cells, solarforce, soshone, not to mention all the "fires" the performance soon is very bad. Like, just not even acceptable bad. Yet, when paired with AW cells, it is like a whole new light. Most customers really don't understand this and just wonder why there light isn't working to full capacity? So here especially do I feel the price difference is worthwhile.

As I was saying, while one persons experience with the red and black trustfires for instance has been good, you can't count on it again.

Ok, 'nuff said

 

[llmercll]

Thanks for the replies everyone!

I ended up getting a pair of 14500 and 18650 trustfire black/red's, as those are the only sizes I really needed. The AW's were very tempting, though... You know what you get with them, while the xxxfires can be average(at best) or crap. $14 bucks for four batteries and a 90 day DX warranty is ok for me, especially at this point in my flashlight experience.

I'm still very new to lights and if this ends up being a hobby of mine I will definitely go with the AW cells and a pilla charger, which seems to be the "go to" pairing.

@Vegas: I stayed away from 16340's for now, mostly because of the stories I read in the smoke and fire section. A lot of the "incidents" involved a 16340, or multi-cell setups. I did notice a pattern and now wonder if cheap 16340's + powerful light = . I didn't know what you explained above when purchasing my batteries, but that does make a lot of sense, and am very glad I didn't get any. AW 16430's are only about $5 so I think if I were to get any of that type, I would definitely choose AW.

 

[RBWNY]

I ended up getting a pair of 14500 and 18650 trustfire black/red's, as those are the only sizes I really needed. The AW's were very tempting, though... You know what you get with them, while the xxxfires can be average(at best) or crap. $14 bucks for four batteries and a 90 day DX warranty is ok for me, especially at this point in my flashlight experience.
I stayed away from 16340's for now, mostly because of the stories I read in the smoke and fire section. A lot of the "incidents" involved a 16340, or multi-cell setups. I did notice a pattern and now wonder if cheap 16340's + powerful light = .

I have a couple tfire (black/red) 18650, (+ Soshine & EagleTac). Also have gray tfire 16340 and bk/red 14500 plus AW 16340's. From having a few cycles on each, and using the 16340's in series... I can't say either perform any different. Perhaps over time the "fires" will degrade quicker than the others :shrug:... but it's been a learning curve for me anyway. I just try to be careful, never charging unattended and always remove `em when the green light pops.

 

[chiphead]

Smart move!
Chiphead

I had Ultrafire blue 18650's-both of them failed within a week-so did the replacement.

Besides, do you wanna wait a month or more to get them? Why even mess around with that kind of BS? I dropped DX and their ilk a long time ago.

Do yourself a favor-go to Lighthound, get the AW's, have them in 2-3 days and use them. I have 15-20 AW cells of various sorts and none have had any problem.

Rich

 

[Mjolnir]

I have been using trustfire 18650s for a few years and trustfire 14500s for a somewhat shorter time and have not had any issues with them yet. I always suggest that people who want to save money on batteries look at the latest reviews here of ****fire or other cheap cells to find out which batches are accurately rated. In my opinion it is better to save the money on the batteries and use it for a decent high quality charger like a PILA IBC, since most of the accidents with lithium ion cells occur during charging, not during usage in a light.

 

[mrlysle]

Look real hard at the EagleTac branded 18650's. They are very nice quality cells. I got mine from illuminationGear.com and I'm really pleased with them. Not quite half the price of the top brands. I paid like $19 bucks for some AW 2900's. They're awesome cells, don't get me wrong, and I'm glad I have them, but those EagleTacs are a real bargain in my book!

 

[45/70]

Perhaps a bit OT, but has anyone ever noticed that the flame symbol on many of the xxxxxFire cells is pretty much the same? I've often wondered if for example, UltraFire and TrustFire aren't actually brands from the same distributor.

From my own experience, as well as many others, it seems that TrustFire cells seem to be a bit better quality. Just the same, keep in mind that none of these companies manufacture Li-Ion cells (even AW). They all buy cells from actual manufacturers and relabel them. The question is, who gets first tier cells, and who gets the factory second rejects. The problem is, that while the label may stay the same, what it's wrapped around may change from time to time. I'll add that for the most part, I go along with Vegas' philosophy. Fewer questions that way.

Dave

 

[srfreddy]

I haven't had trouble with trustfire 16340 and 14500. I would still go to aw for the strange cells though ( rcr2, 17500)

 

[WillyB]

In general the TF's seem to be a better choice over the UF's, and the sizes seem a bit more consistent.

 

[hazna]

i've found trustfire 14500 red/black/flames are slightly too long for some lights. the blue 14500 tend to work with most lights

 

[Klingsteve]

I had Ultrafire blue 18650's-both of them failed within a week-so did the replacement.

Besides, do you wanna wait a month or more to get them? Why even mess around with that kind of BS? I dropped DX and their ilk a long time ago.

Do yourself a favor-go to Lighthound, get the AW's, have them in 2-3 days and use them. I have 15-20 AW cells of various sorts and none have had any problem.

Rich

Ditto.

-Steve

 

[mfm]

Perhaps a bit OT, but has anyone ever noticed that the flame symbol on many of the xxxxxFire cells is pretty much the same? I've often wondered if for example, UltraFire and TrustFire aren't actually brands from the same distributor.

The (real) TrustFire company is:

Shenzhen TrustFire Technology Co., Ltd.
Third Floor, D Building, No. 236 of Fumin Rd., Longxi Community, Longcheng Subdistrict,Longgang Dist., Shenzhen, Guangdong, China

while the (real) UltraFire company is:

Wha Fat Technological Co.,Ltd
Room A13,Floor 3,Jingji Building, Huaqiangbei Rd.,
Futian District ,Shenzhen, China

(Real as in there are a lot of fake Ultrafire, Trustfire, Romisen etc products).

But more on topic the XTAR 18700 batteries and the Hi-Max (former WOW) batteries are of quite high quality and cheaper than AW.