Retailer says protected Ultrafire 18650s work better than Trustfire in their light...

[hertz]

I bought a light from an online retailer that runs on and comes with 3x 18650s. I bought the light on the condition that they give me protected 18650s. Not interested in unprotected cells at all.

They offered me Trustfire 18650s, and I accepted. After paying, they sent me an email that boils down to: 'According to our testing, Ultrafire brand protected 18650s perform better in the light you bought from us than Trustfire protected 18650s. Will you accept Ultrafire protected 18650s?'

I have done some research on cpf and I see that Trustfire seems to be more highly regarded than Ultrafires. What I want to know is, could there be a situation where Ultrafires would work better than Trustfires in a particular light, or are they trying to give me cheaper cells, which means I should refuse the Ultrafires?

I emailed them back and asked for AW protected 18650s, but I don't think that will happen. I'll need to make a choice on Trustfire 18650s vs. Ultrafire 18650s.

Comments?

 

[Metatron]

i was under the impression that the trustfires were better than the ultrafires, i use them as well as AW's.

 

[matrixshaman]

I've got some of both and can't see much difference in them. Very similar in appearance other than color of shrink wrap. I haven't done tests but I think some people here have compared them. I've used both quite a bit and from a non-charting typcial users viewpoint I don't think there is much difference between them. I also use AW's and find they fit better in some lights but I think some Ultrafire batteries were actually found to have more capacity the AW's. I do believe AW's are better quality all around and in some situations are the best battery but possibly due to the slightly smaller size they have a little less capacity in some sizes.

Can you tell us which light you are talking about?

 

[hertz]

Can you tell us which light you are talking about?

Of course. L1200, by Solarforce.

 

[LEDninja]

I think it is a case of a seller offering you what they have in stock. The rest is just sales mumbo jumbo to get you to take what they have. eBay sellers do not usually have the lab facilities to throughly test their products.

There are at least 3 versions of each (6 all protected) so you do not know which ones you will get (it will be the cheapest your supplier can find).

Trustfires seem to have better capacity than Ultrafires. 2200 mAh to 1400 mAh for 18650. Note while we know the Trustfire gray are 2200 mAH we do not know what the mAH of the blue Trustfires are. Could be as bad as the Ultrafires. And RCR123As are a whole different ball game.

Ultrafires seem to have better protection than Trustfires.
Some Trustfires will not start up if the voltage is below 2.7 volts but if started above that voltage will run down to zero (source customer comments on DX, one of their blue 18650 ones). That means the protection only works if you use your light intermittently but is useless for extended runs.
Ultrafires gray protection have been known to kick in and leave their owners in the dark.
Unfortunately we do not know if the Ultrafire blues are as bad as the Trustfire blue or if the Trustfire gray is as good as the Ultrafire gray.

I would take what is offered and practice safe battery usage.
Recharge as soon as the light starts to dim or sooner.
Take the batteries out of the charger as soon as the light turns green. (You don't have to watch it, just check every 1/2 hour or so)
The protection circuit should be used as backup, not as the primary means of protection.

 

[jirik_cz]

I don't think that there is any significant difference in reliability of protected ultrafires and trustfires. But there is a huge difference in their real capacity.

 

[Chongker]

I have the Solarforce L1200 as well, and tried using the Ultrafire 18650's in it. They wouldn't even fire the light up. It isn't a contact problem as I can see the filament glowing slightly as I 'double tap' the switch. I think the problem is that the cell's PCB can't take the kind of amps the light is trying to draw, no matter how many times I tap the switch. Run the light with AW 18650's now, and its totally fine. Dunno if this would apply to you, but just my personal experience here, might be better to try and get the Trustfires if you can.

 

[hertz]

Well, I bought the light on the condition that they give me protected Trustfires instead of unprotected 18650s, so they'd better give me at least that.

Chongker, what kind of runtime do you get on the L1200?