Will these batteries work for an A2?

I've been spending $5+ a week on SF brand batteries for my A2. I was wondering if these batteries from batteryjunction would work as well as the SF brand? Thanks.

http://www.batteryjunction.com/1pcsofcrteli.html

Yes. Although you could go to protected rechargeables and have guilt free lumens as part of the deal.

-Steve

The A2 is actually pretty picky about batteries.

Without having used those particular cells I couldn't say whether they were good or not. However, made in China cells seem to have had far more problems with quality control and safety than the made in USA variety. The USA cells also have higher capacities on testing.

Batterystation.com have a cpf special on USA made CR123s for 1.25 each and lighthound has batterystation branded CR123A for 1.20 in quantities of 50 or more. Streamlight are only 1.30 if I recall correctly (in quantities of 50).

My personal experience is that none of the China cells I have tried have worked in my A2 whereas all the USA made (SF, energizer, duracell, ray-o-vac) have.

Grox said:

The A2 is actually pretty picky about batteries.

.

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I concur. I had some PRC Batterystation cells that would not light the incan bulb reliably. Ammondotechs at $1 each seemed to work fine.

If you buy the SFs in bulk, they are $1.75 each. If you average one battery change a week you are saving $1.50 but now are relying on the battery manufacturers warranty rather than the SF lifetime warranty - just another thing to consider. My A2s and M6s run SF cells exclusively, the others use whatever is on hand.

Grox said:

The A2 is actually pretty picky about batteries.

Without having used those particular cells I couldn't say whether they were good or not. However, made in China cells seem to have had far more problems with quality control and safety than the made in USA variety. The USA cells also have higher capacities on testing.

Batterystation.com have a cpf special on USA made CR123s for 1.25 each and lighthound has batterystation branded CR123A for 1.20 in quantities of 50 or more. Streamlight are only 1.30 if I recall correctly (in quantities of 50).

My personal experience is that none of the China cells I have tried have worked in my A2 whereas all the USA made (SF, energizer, duracell, ray-o-vac) have.

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This is exactly what I was wondering. I've used some "cheap" 123's before in my A2 and they didn't power the incandescent for poop. I didn't even consider the "made in china" factor..... Thanks for bringing that up.

I'm just trying to find a slightly cheaper way to run my A2. Like I said, at my local brick and mortar I'm spending $5+ every week or two and it's just getting ridiculous. How do I get that CPF discount on the USA 123's for $1.25? What do I need to do?

Thanks for all the info guys.

Beastmaster said:

Yes. Although you could go to protected rechargeables and have guilt free lumens as part of the deal.

-Steve

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I didn't think the A2 could use rechargeable? That would be the route to go definitely. Do you have a link for me on where to find theses???? Much Thanks!

Stick with quality batteries. I guess the made in Usa batteries are mostly made in Japan so they are good. I'm using Panasonics and they seem to do well. Avoid batteries that seem too good to be true for their price.

Terry Monk said:

I'm just trying to find a slightly cheaper way to run my A2. Like I said, at my local brick and mortar I'm spending $5+ every week or two and it's just getting ridiculous. How do I get that CPF discount on the USA 123's for $1.25? What do I need to do? Thanks for all the info guys.

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Consider switching to rechargeables, either in the A2 (if possible) or by shifting some of that usage to another light, perhaps a Surefire rechargeable or a Strion. The A2 is a multipurpose light sort of like a swiss army knife. Both are good in flexibility, neither is right for use on an assembly line.

Terry Monk said:

I didn't think the A2 could use rechargeable? That would be the route to go definitely. Do you have a link for me on where to find theses???? Much Thanks!

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Using rechargeables in the A2 is a bit of a risky proposition. I haven't done it. There are 2 problems, as I see it. The first is that many R123 (rechargeable CR123A sized cells aka R-CR123) just do not fit the A2. I seem to remember that powerizer brand R123s fit. There are a couple of threads about running the A2 on rechargables on CPF somewhere. Ah... here is one.

The second problem is that the voltage to the LEDs rises when you put R123 cells into the A2. (The bulb is unaffected though.) This means that the LEDs may be driven harder and you may experience premature LED failure or tint (colour) change.

You can get quality USA made CR123 for as little as 1.20 each in quantities of 50 from lighthound.com. Indeed, batterystation sell them for 1.25 each (cpf special price) with no minimum order quantity. By the way, batterystation has changed their batterystation branded batteries to made in USA - apparently they are made in the same factory that does surefire, energizer, duracell etc.

I have been running ray-o-vac CR123 that I got from batterystation as a special deal of $75 for 50 CR123A - I think that deal is still going. I have had no problems with the ray-o-vacs, in fact, they have lasted longer than the 60 minuted rated runtime of the A2.

All good info. Thanks guys. I'm thinking I'll just end up getting a larger quantity at a better rate.

Has anyone had experience with the "Poerizer" brand of CR123's from battery junction? I was considering ordering a 100 of them, but would be using them exclusively in my SureFire collection, which includes an A2 and U2 among others, both incan and LED. Where are the "Powerizers" made, if anyone knows?
Thanks.
Spence
:thinking::shrug:

How do the Titanium cells work in an A2?

The Titaniums that Amondotech sold were the best, They were better than surefires and BS, The only thing that compared to them was Panasonics, And for a $1.00 each it was the best deal going, But Battery Station had to ruin a good thing and buy them out, Now it sucks, But I am glad I bought over a 100 of the Titaniums before it was 2 late,

jon1996 said:

The Titaniums that Amondotech sold were the best, They were better than surefires and BS, The only thing that compared to them was Panasonics, And for a $1.00 each it was the best deal going, But Battery Station had to ruin a good thing and buy them out, Now it sucks, But I am glad I bought over a 100 of the Titaniums before it was 2 late,

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:huh:

Battery Junction bought out Ammondotech, not Battery Station, and still sells the Titaniums for $1 each.

I have not bought any from Battery Junction, but they worked fine for me in the past as mentioned in my earlier post.

BSBG said:

:huh:

Battery Junction bought out Ammondotech, not Battery Station, and still sells the Titaniums for $1 each.

I have not bought any from Battery Junction, but they worked fine for me in the past as mentioned in my earlier post.

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BSBG- are these the Titaniums that you're talking about? They work well in the A2? Thanks. http://www.batteryjunction.com/tpen-tcr123a-.html

Terry Monk said:

BSBG- are these the Titaniums that you're talking about? They work well in the A2? Thanks. http://www.batteryjunction.com/tpen-tcr123a-.html

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Yes. The Titanium branded cells were sold by Ammondotech, but Batt Junction bought out Ammondotech. I assume they are from the same source and will work as well, although I have not tried them from Battery Junction.

But a dozen and try them and report back .

Yep, we'll do. At that price you can't beat it. Like I mentioned, I've been spending $5.25 for 2 flipp'n 123's at the brick and mortar. That's actually cheap compared to Walmart's Energizer brand. $9 for 1!!!!

Terry Monk said:

Yep, we'll do. At that price you can't beat it. Like I mentioned, I've been spending $5.25 for 2 flipp'n 123's at the brick and mortar. That's actually cheap compared to Walmart's Energizer brand. $9 for 1!!!!

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Perhaps while you're ordering you might grab a couple of name brand CR123 (panasonic, energizer, SF, duracell etc) and see how they compare in runtime?

I'd be quite interested!

From my experiance, The titaniums provided longer runtimes than the surefires in my E2D defender, and my Maxfire, I had yet to try each of them in my 2x123 LED Lights, But you could tell a big difference in the Inca lights, But YMMV and that is my 02 Cents

nevermind...