Therrin
Newly Enlightened
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2010
- Messages
- 89
I've been buying Orbtronic 18650's for around 5 years now. Used to be extremely satisfied with them, but lately it seems like their quality has dropped significantly. On top of that, their website is outright lying to people.
I recently bought 4 new 18650's that claim "Panasonic inside" 3600mAh. When used in my zebralight on the same medium-ish output level, they don't even last as long as my 3 year old Orbtronic 3400mAh cells which already have 600+ recharge cycles on them. On High output (not the boost setting, just normal High), they don't even last an hour.
I use a headlamp almost all day long every day, and have for about 10 years now.
After going through a range of manufacturers products over the years, I became a big fan of Zebralights, of which I own 7.
I typically go through 4 to 6 18650's a day, and charge them all at 0.25A. I've got about 16 of them I cycle through using.
I'd say I'm pretty familiar with the products and their usage and what I expect from them. I's not like I just use them when I go camping.
The other day I saw an email from Orbtronic wanting me to review the cells I had just purchased, so I did!
Gave them a 1 star review, explained why. Didn't check the bubble for "I would recommend these" or whatever it says. Didn't make it anonymous, yes you can publish it for the world to see.
But they didn't.
And the page for them still shows ZERO 1 or 2 star reviews (and only 1% 3 star reviews), and has a special little graphic saying "100% reviewers would recommend this product". Which is a complete crock! Failing to put up the bad reviews doesn't mean they were never written. It's sad, they used to be so reliable.
https://www.orbtronic.com/3600mah-18650-li-ion-orbtronic-panasonic-rechargeable-battery
The batch I bought before that, 2 died permanently inside a week of use.
I haven't had to go looking for batteries in a while, what 18650's would you guys suggest for my type of use? I'm obviously not interested in buying any more cells from Orbtronic. Haven't posted in a couple years, not sure what's good out there and what to stay away from anymore. Any advice is greatly appreciated!
I recently bought 4 new 18650's that claim "Panasonic inside" 3600mAh. When used in my zebralight on the same medium-ish output level, they don't even last as long as my 3 year old Orbtronic 3400mAh cells which already have 600+ recharge cycles on them. On High output (not the boost setting, just normal High), they don't even last an hour.
I use a headlamp almost all day long every day, and have for about 10 years now.
After going through a range of manufacturers products over the years, I became a big fan of Zebralights, of which I own 7.
I typically go through 4 to 6 18650's a day, and charge them all at 0.25A. I've got about 16 of them I cycle through using.
I'd say I'm pretty familiar with the products and their usage and what I expect from them. I's not like I just use them when I go camping.
The other day I saw an email from Orbtronic wanting me to review the cells I had just purchased, so I did!
Gave them a 1 star review, explained why. Didn't check the bubble for "I would recommend these" or whatever it says. Didn't make it anonymous, yes you can publish it for the world to see.
But they didn't.
And the page for them still shows ZERO 1 or 2 star reviews (and only 1% 3 star reviews), and has a special little graphic saying "100% reviewers would recommend this product". Which is a complete crock! Failing to put up the bad reviews doesn't mean they were never written. It's sad, they used to be so reliable.
https://www.orbtronic.com/3600mah-18650-li-ion-orbtronic-panasonic-rechargeable-battery
The batch I bought before that, 2 died permanently inside a week of use.
I haven't had to go looking for batteries in a while, what 18650's would you guys suggest for my type of use? I'm obviously not interested in buying any more cells from Orbtronic. Haven't posted in a couple years, not sure what's good out there and what to stay away from anymore. Any advice is greatly appreciated!