Titanium CR123A vs. Duracell DL Ultra CR123A

[moosehcky]

Hi, I am about to purchase some batteries from http://www.cfrlights.com/servlet/the-Batteries/Categories?sfs=dedbd3a2

I have a mild fear of having battery issues. Are Titanium batteries good. I love the $1 price with free shipping but I can't help but think that I might be getting what I pay for...

Is it worth the extra 60 cents per battery to go for the Duracell?

Lastly, has anyone purchased from this place and are they reputable? I can't find much info on them in the forums.

Thanks,

Jeremy

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Jeremy,

The Titanium cells are good, however, the Duracell cells are better...

Tom

 

[2xTap]

moosehcky,

That place is a unknown to me, and while the free shipping sounds good you might want to stick with a known and reputable dealer. You can get the same batteries at the same price from BatteryJunction.........look here: http://www.batteryjunction.com/crba.html

And as you are a CPF member you'll also get a 5% discount on your order if you use their discount code on check-out. Code is cpf2006.

Their shipping is fast, they respond to e-mails quickly, and their customer service is excellent. They take care of their customers. :thumbsup: They are also a advertiser and member here.

2xTap

 

[moosehcky]

Thank you Tom, that didn't help at all.

I'm only kidding but do you think its worth the extra 60% to upgrade to the duracells?

As for battery junction, there site is great and there prices are great however, in my opinion they really overcharge Canadians for shipping. I think it was about $20 for 30 batteries.

Has anyone ordered from cfrlights?

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Jeremy,



I have and use both. In more demanding and multi cell situations, I grab the Duracell cells, otherwise I use the Titaniums. There was a batch of Titanium cells that had some issues, but I believe those cells are no longer available. They would develop a passivation layer and give strange results on the ZTS tester.

Tom

 

[Cydonia]

Thank you Tom, that didn't help at all.

I'm only kidding but do you think its worth the extra 60% to upgrade to the duracells?

As for battery junction, there site is great and there prices are great however, in my opinion they really overcharge Canadians for shipping. I think it was about $20 for 30 batteries.

Has anyone ordered from cfrlights?

I order from batteryjunction often. I'm in Canada. Shipping is $5 or a little more sometimes. You have to pay the $17 International, but include a message with your order saying you would like to have them ship with un insured regular USPS mail for about $5. The refund you the difference.

 

[hank]

How do we test the Titaniums? I've got a ZTS tester, what do you look for? I bought a bunch a while back for the earthquake cache, and didn't know there were problems to watch for.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Hank,

If your batteries come in at 100% on the ZTS when they are new, there is no problem.

Tom

 

[moosehcky]

Thank you Tom, you are extremely helpful. I believe I am going to go with the Duracells. I'm going to call batteryjunction tomorrow to see what they can do about shipping. $5 seems more realistic.

I was just at a dollar store and noticed they have battery testers. I wonder how accurate they are.

 

[hank]

Thanks, Tom, I didn't check; it's been six months at a wild guess since I put them in the earthquake bin (figuring they should be good for quite a few years). I'd better check them.

 

[Nitroz]

You can also buy the Titaniums in a tripple shrink wrap pack so that the cells are matched from the same lot. If you only need two just cut one off the pack.

 

[Unclemonkey]

You can also buy the Titaniums in a tripple shrink wrap pack so that the cells are matched from the same lot. If you only need two just cut one off the pack.

+1 on that. I buy triple sets and break them apart. I have single and double cell lights so it works out fine. Titanium seems to work fine for me. I used to use SF cells and I switched. good luck.

 

[moosehcky]

How important is it for them to be from the same batch?

 

[moosehcky]

Well I called BatteryJunction and they wont budge on shipping. So where can I post to see if anyone has purchased from cfrlights.com

 

[AFAustin]

I bought a (3rd gen.) Inova X1 from cfrlights a short while ago (great price, but I like the 2nd gen. better). I exchanged a few e-mails with Dan at cfr during that time, and he was very responsive and helpful. Here's his e-mail addy: [email protected]

Good luck.

 

[geek4christ]

Well I called BatteryJunction and they wont budge on shipping. So where can I post to see if anyone has purchased from cfrlights.com

Have you considered BatteryStation cells? They're $1.25 each for CPF members and are made in the USA so are of comparable quality to Duracells.

I have no idea what shipping would be like, but they're worth a look.

 

[Mr_Light]

I would only buy Titanium cells from a known good source. A year or so ago or so one of the sites (Amondotech?) was dumping marginal cells for 50 cents/each if you bought 50 (which I did for use in single cell lights). These came shrink wrapped in 4 packs with no markings to indicate they are marginal. There may still be some of these floating around possibly being sold as 1sts rather than 2nds.

 

[ampdude]

I would go with Sure-Fire batteries or Duracells.
The off brand cells I've used, including Titaniums have given me poor results with dimmer output and shorter runtime.
Sure-Fire batteries are very good and basically all I use nowadays. The Duracells I've used were of amazing quality and consistency.

 

[Taboot]

I would go with Sure-Fire batteries or Duracells.
The off brand cells I've used, including Titaniums have given me poor results with dimmer output and shorter runtime.
Sure-Fire batteries are very good and basically all I use nowadays. The Duracells I've used were of amazing quality and consistency.

+1 for Duracell Ultras. I bought 70 of them for a good price. From my research here, they are a great battery. I wanted a battery that would work well for all my lights and have the ooomph to perform well in my M6. I've used up maybe 20 of them so far, and they have met my expectations.

I'm a big fan of BatteryJunction. Sorry the shipping couldn't work out for you.

For me, if you have a question about Titanium cells, get the Duracells. .60c per cell is worth it if you are powering an expensive light.

 

[Edwood]

Are the Duracell Ultras from Batteryjunction.com Gray market ones? I don't believe they are counterfeit, but they don't look the same as USA retail packed ones I've seen from a long time ago. They have two Chinese characters next to the "123". Mind you, I have not bought Duracell Ultras in bulk or retail until recently. It's been quite some time, and I am not familiar with Duracell's current packaging and graphics.