I purchaced these Ultralast ULCR123R batteries @ Fry's Electronics this last week. I was looking for a reasonably long run tyme from a Li-Ion type battery for my Inova T-3 flashlight. My hopes were to get a minimum of 1 hour run time on this flashlight.
These are regulated Li-Ion Li-Co type. The old style were not. The old ones were obviously the LiFePo4 type from thier voltage characteristics. I will be comparing them to the old style Ultralasts as well as the Juice batteries (of coarse from memory since I no longer have any of the others).
Like the original Ultralast CR123 rechargeable batteries these are slightly oversize & hence may not fit all applications. They fit very tightly in my Inova T-3 flashlight width wise. They are also somewhat taller than the standard size CR 123A battery. In contrast the Juice CR123A rechargables are slightly smaller & fit somewhat loose in my then Inova XO3 flashlight. This was true of both old & new style Juice batteries.
The original Ultralast CR123 rechargables were very deficient in terms of energy stoage & in the Inova XO3 would last 15 minutes at full brightness & trail off for the next 5 minutes.
The early Juice batteries (unregulated) were always left in a deliberately under charged state by the charger & would only last about 15 minutes tops.
The updated Juice batteries were regulated & properly charged by the included battery charger. These would last about 40-45 minutes in my Inova XO3 flashlight. The unfortunate thing with these as the batteries onboard regulater would get quite hot. These experiments were done before Juice came out with the statement that they were not to be used in flashlights. I was the guinnie pig on that. These batteries if it were not for the hot regulaters would have been my choice to reach an hour run time on my Inova T-3.
Fortunately the new Ultralasts filled the bill for reaching my one hour run time on the Inova T-3. 1 hour 3 minutes to be exact. The reason these batteries are slightly oversize is that the regulater is almost 2x taller than the Juice battery regulaters. They also seem to possably be swichmode type as they run a lot cooler. The increased diameter is due in part to the wiring for the regulater & the recovering of at least some of the capacity lost due to having to shorten the cell to accomodate the tall regulater. These batteries seem to handle the current draw from the Inova T-3 with ease as the regulater do not seem to heat up like the Juice regulaters did.
All in all I like the new style Ultralast ULCR123R batteries. Just be forewarned that they are slightly oversize & may not fit all flashlights.
These are regulated Li-Ion Li-Co type. The old style were not. The old ones were obviously the LiFePo4 type from thier voltage characteristics. I will be comparing them to the old style Ultralasts as well as the Juice batteries (of coarse from memory since I no longer have any of the others).
Like the original Ultralast CR123 rechargeable batteries these are slightly oversize & hence may not fit all applications. They fit very tightly in my Inova T-3 flashlight width wise. They are also somewhat taller than the standard size CR 123A battery. In contrast the Juice CR123A rechargables are slightly smaller & fit somewhat loose in my then Inova XO3 flashlight. This was true of both old & new style Juice batteries.
The original Ultralast CR123 rechargables were very deficient in terms of energy stoage & in the Inova XO3 would last 15 minutes at full brightness & trail off for the next 5 minutes.
The early Juice batteries (unregulated) were always left in a deliberately under charged state by the charger & would only last about 15 minutes tops.
The updated Juice batteries were regulated & properly charged by the included battery charger. These would last about 40-45 minutes in my Inova XO3 flashlight. The unfortunate thing with these as the batteries onboard regulater would get quite hot. These experiments were done before Juice came out with the statement that they were not to be used in flashlights. I was the guinnie pig on that. These batteries if it were not for the hot regulaters would have been my choice to reach an hour run time on my Inova T-3.
Fortunately the new Ultralasts filled the bill for reaching my one hour run time on the Inova T-3. 1 hour 3 minutes to be exact. The reason these batteries are slightly oversize is that the regulater is almost 2x taller than the Juice battery regulaters. They also seem to possably be swichmode type as they run a lot cooler. The increased diameter is due in part to the wiring for the regulater & the recovering of at least some of the capacity lost due to having to shorten the cell to accomodate the tall regulater. These batteries seem to handle the current draw from the Inova T-3 with ease as the regulater do not seem to heat up like the Juice regulaters did.
All in all I like the new style Ultralast ULCR123R batteries. Just be forewarned that they are slightly oversize & may not fit all flashlights.
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