K2 Energy LFP123A 600mAh vs. SureFire SFLFP123 450mAh

[Robin24k]

If anyone's curious how the current SureFire lithium iron phosphate 123A performs, there is indeed less capacity compared to the K2 Energy ones (these were the ones SureFire used to sell around 2012/2013). Due to rounding, all of the ANSI FL1 runtimes ended up being the same, but you can see the difference on the graphs for two different SureFire lights:

As a side note, the K2 Energy batteries used here are quite old (from 2012 and 2015). Although they only have a handful of cycles, those were mostly previous runtime tests. The tested runtime for the P2XIB was 35 minutes in 2015 but only 28 minutes in 2021. Here is the runtime test from my review of the P2XIB when it first came out:

 

[vicv]

Welcome back!
Thanks for the info. These look good

 

[xxo]

Yes, welcome back!

Didn't know SF came out with these - thanks for the info.

 

[Robin24k]

Also, the charger in the SFLFP123-KIT appears to be dual channel, whereas the old K2 Energy charger has the batteries in parallel.

 

[aznsx]

If anyone's curious how the current SureFire lithium iron phosphate 123A performs, there is indeed less capacity compared to the K2 Energy ones (these were the ones SureFire used to sell around 2012/2013). Due to rounding, all of the ANSI FL1 runtimes ended up being the same, but you can see the difference on the graphs for two different SureFire lights:

View attachment 18406

View attachment 18407

As a side note, the K2 Energy batteries used here are quite old (from 2012 and 2015). Although they only have a handful of cycles, those were mostly previous runtime tests. The tested runtime for the P2XIB was 35 minutes in 2015 but only 28 minutes in 2021. Here is the runtime test from my review of the P2XIB when it first came out:

View attachment 18408

Thanx for the info! What I'm curious about is why SF switched to these lower capacity cells, and who the OEM is. Let us know if you have any thoughts.

 

[vicv]

The OEM is k2 energy. They're from a different generation most likely

 

[aznsx]

The OEM is k2 energy. They're from a different generation most likely

Possibly so, but the LFP123 currently listed on K2's site is still rated @ 600 mAh, which is why I'm asking. Seems odd, huh?

K2 LFP Energy Cells - LFP123A - K2 Energy Solutions, Inc

k2battery.com

 

[Robin24k]

Thanx for the info! What I'm curious about is why SF switched to these lower capacity cells, and who the OEM is. Let us know if you have any thoughts.

If you search for the model number of the battery charger (PB02LF-SUFR), you'll see Harding Energy Inc. show up.

Since the new batteries have even less capacity, I would assume that the reason for switching suppliers is either product availability or branding. I can't imagine they would be too thrilled about having both K2 Energy's logo and House of Batteries's logo on the battery packaging, especially since neither are well-known.