Surefire lithium batteries

[eebowler]

Hello everyone. Could any of you from experince tell me whether the Surefire Lithium batteries are any good compared to Duracell Lithiums? Thankyou.

 

[naromtap]

I once heard that using batteries other than Surefires own brand can blow the lamp - not sure tho myself, but do always use Surefire batteries in my E2e & M6.

 

[scrappy]

I don't know if this is true or not, so let me start with that disclaimer, BUT I heard that surefire lithiums are manufactured by Duracell for surefire. Wouldn't be unheard of, but I can't prove it.

Rich

 

[eebowler]

I would assume that is a ploy to make people keep using Surefire batteries. If they are ment to be used in all electronics using the same 123 batteries, they should have the same voltage output. Thanks

 

[lightemup]

Hi eebowler,

Welcome to CPF /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink2.gif!

Firstly I have used surefire, duracell and Energizer batteries through my lights. Which do I have in my Surefire lights? The Surefire SF123's.

This is because I have found all three brands to be as reliable as each other, and I have experienced zero failures so far. In terms of performance, I have not run any 'formal' tests, although the Surefire batteries 'seem' (very slightly /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif) to provide a higher intensity initially. I have not been able to ascertain their relative run times against each other. So then I go to cost. Surefire batteries are MUCH cheaper. In my experience this applies even outside the US (In Australia Surefire Batteries retail for between $5.50 AUD and $8) which compared to at least $12 AUD each for Duracell and Energizer. You can also ask a friendly cpfer to post you some batteries from the US /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif for $1.25 US each plus postage etc if bought in bulk.

 

[eebowler]

lightemup . I guess, in the end, price really is the biggest factor.Though, if you don't notice much difference after trying all three, they must be good. Thankyou.

 

[Stanley]

YMMV, but most of the experiences that I've read about here regarding SF batts vary. I guess apart from price, it also depends a lot on Murphy sometimes, you get a couple of bad ones in a batch every now and then. So far with my own experience I haven't encountered any bad ones with the mentioned brands... yet.

 

[eebowler]

Stanley, how many Surefire batteries have you used? (just so I can get a better guage of your experience.)

 

[LEDependent]

Shouldn't this be in the Electronics section of the Forum? (Moderator?)

 

[eebowler]

Sorry. I don't know. Where then should I post this question LEDependent ?

 

[The_LED_Museum]

I've also heard that SureFire cells are rebranded Duracells. But I have no proof to offer here.

Moving thread to Flashlight Electronics - Batteries Included forum...

 

[eebowler]

Second time I have been told that for the day. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif

 

[bwaites]

I've peeled them both, can't see any differences. (A little dangerous, I know! I'm in the medical field and took appropriate precautions using dead batteries, LED dead) Waste went into medical waste baskets.

I suspect that Surefire may have made a VERY small chemistry change to get a little more boost for their lights, but you can't see that in the dissection I did. I also suspect that they contract them out on a bid basis so they might actually look different inside from batch to batch.

Bill