AardvarkSagus
Flashlight Enthusiast
I am running into a little bit of a dilemma. I have gotten to the point where it may well turn out that rechargeable 123 batteries may be more financially reasonable for my usage levels than primaries. I now have a couple of lights that get used on a regular basis and prefer the concept of knowing I have a fully charged light handy at all times. My question now becomes one of which ones to choose.
When I first started looking into RCR123A batteries it was when my company purchased a fair number of Fenix P2Ds (15-20) for the Printing department. I had read here somewhere that full 3.6v RCRs would eliminate the ability to use the lower light levels in that light causing it to instead go into direct drive. At this point I ran across a decent deal for some Tenergy 900mah (claimed) 3.0v protected RCR123As that seemed to be a good fit. I suggested them to my employer and they went ahead and purchased several of them along with a couple chargers.
Now at this point, I am curious about whether or not those are the best way for me to go or not. At the moment I am looking at 3 lights that use 123s and one of them is in the role of long term storage emergency light and therefor isn't really needing rechargeables anyway. Other than that I have a Pila GL2 with Cree LED Module and a Nitecore EX10. My initial thought is to go with the 3.0v even though they likely have reduced capacity over the 3.6, because that way I can completely view them as direct replacements on a 1:1 basis with primaries for any light. The more I think about it however, the more I see some reasons not to head that direction. Both lights I will be using RCRs on are capable of using the 3.6v batteries. The EX10 claims to have full compatibility and the GL2 drop in also works in the GL3 running either 9v of primaries or 2x300P rechargeable li-ions.
Since these 2 lights are all I am considering at the moment, what advantages would I be seeing from 3.6v's over the 3.0v's? What brands are quality and hopefully not too terribly expensive either?
When I first started looking into RCR123A batteries it was when my company purchased a fair number of Fenix P2Ds (15-20) for the Printing department. I had read here somewhere that full 3.6v RCRs would eliminate the ability to use the lower light levels in that light causing it to instead go into direct drive. At this point I ran across a decent deal for some Tenergy 900mah (claimed) 3.0v protected RCR123As that seemed to be a good fit. I suggested them to my employer and they went ahead and purchased several of them along with a couple chargers.
Now at this point, I am curious about whether or not those are the best way for me to go or not. At the moment I am looking at 3 lights that use 123s and one of them is in the role of long term storage emergency light and therefor isn't really needing rechargeables anyway. Other than that I have a Pila GL2 with Cree LED Module and a Nitecore EX10. My initial thought is to go with the 3.0v even though they likely have reduced capacity over the 3.6, because that way I can completely view them as direct replacements on a 1:1 basis with primaries for any light. The more I think about it however, the more I see some reasons not to head that direction. Both lights I will be using RCRs on are capable of using the 3.6v batteries. The EX10 claims to have full compatibility and the GL2 drop in also works in the GL3 running either 9v of primaries or 2x300P rechargeable li-ions.
Since these 2 lights are all I am considering at the moment, what advantages would I be seeing from 3.6v's over the 3.0v's? What brands are quality and hopefully not too terribly expensive either?
but if you have a bunch of Fenix lights it may be your best solution to try the 3.0 volt RCR's - but as you may know their are a couple types of these. One uses a circuit board to limit the voltage whereas the other uses a different chemistry that is closer to 3.0 volt. Closer is key though as it's usually still a bit higher than primaries fresh off the charger and you still may not see much difference on your low settings.
