What started your 18650?

Before I started collecting lights, I told myself to avoid 18650 lights. I started off with AA's and went to triple barreled AAA lights. I went through incans and jumped into LED when I got a Duracell Daylite AAA. Then Surefire G2L.

Ordering a Solarforce L2P got me into 18650 lights. I found that the lights lasts hours on one cell. Since then, I tried to not go back into 123 or AA formats.

What started you off into 18650 lights and do you plan on going back into other battery lights and why?

I live out in the Middle Of Nowhere, and needed something
with more Punch and Throw than my 2xAA flashlights could provide.

So i took a Giant Leap, into the 18650 world !

After reading LOTS of articles here, i bought an Olight M20 Warrior Premium R2.

And a few AW batteries.

And a Pila IBC charger.


Now, 4 Years Later . . . .

I am still VERY HAPPY with my choice(s) ! ! !


Of course -- this is still my ONLY flashlight which takes 18650's.

On the Navy Base I'm at, in Japan, my usual CR123's are hard to come by, always out of stock. Now I can't get lithiums shipped to me with the new regulations imposed on USPS. CR123's are about $8 a piece locally in Japan after you calculate for the weaker dollar. During our move, I discovered a couple of laptop batteries I thought I had lost for a laptop that had already perished. I opened them up and discovered a total of x18 18650s. Tested them, charged them and all are still good to go. Sure beats spending $8 on each CR123 in Japan.

I have since purchased a few more lights that are 18650 compatible. Need to find a use for the lot.

I found that the 18650 batteries contained more power that smaller batteries. Soon I was using them whenever possible. I tried to choose lights that could use CR123 primaries in an emergency. I use many kinds of batteries now. It's a daily chore keeping them all properly charged. If it were not a hobby, I'd do something else.

The need (as other's have stated) for a light with a high brightness & runtime is what got me into 18650 cells, specifically a Jetbeam Jet3M :thumbsup:

I never did make the jump to 18650 lights. RCR123 provides the same performance, though the runtime is shorter, but the tradeoff in runtime is worth it to me to have a smaller light.

My first good light was a 18650 light, so that's where I started. Like I always say, one of the first budget Cree lights (EastwardYJ U2). Makes a decent host with a removable brass pill and decent space in the head.

One light: Fenix TK11 R2 edition. Finally pushed me over the edge.

Still one of my all-time favorite lights. It's currently enjoying semi-retirement next to my bed, loaded with CR123a, to serve as my "OH S***!!" light.

The Zebra SC600w was irresistable.

My first 18650 light was an Olight M20 Warrior Premium R2.
I thought the AA format might be better for battery availability, but with an 18650 having more than 3X energy storage over an AA who needs to look for batteries.

I really enjoy the runtimes that 18650s can support. That coupled with the fact that they are rechargeable and are affordable and readily available via mail order pushed me over the edge. They really are a big step ahead technologically and I am happy I embraced it. That said I won't be getting rid of any of my AA lights anytime soon.

Just about all my lights utilize 18650 batteries.

I just fell in love with the tremendous run times I get in a small package.

Started off with Sure Fire lights years ago and the replacement CR123 cells was running me broke. Fast forward to late last year and I discovered the 18650 cells and Jetbeam TM11 Tiny Monster and I was hooked. Bought a Thrunite and now a Zebralight and I am loving it. I do have a Jetbeam RRT-0 that takes RCR123 and AA cells as I like the compact size.

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My first 18650 light was an Elektrolumens MCE EDC.

My Fenix TK15 dropped me into the Li-Ion world. I started off my flashaholism with a cheap maglite xl200 but, that didn't satisfy and neither did my E21 that I bought next. So I tried something with 10k lux (TK15) and it still didn't quite satisfy for throw . So I just jumped into the throw world with a TK41 . But honestly, I would say that I have used my TK15 the most out of all of my lights because of that weight power ratio. It's always on my belt at full charge when I'm at work. It's gotten so beat up by now that it's starting to look like our issued streamlight sl20s...

RAM2 said:

The Zebra SC600w was irresistable.

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Me too.. I pre-ordered the "W" model after the massive thread that was running on the original.

I ordered a AW 2200 18650 and charger off 4Sevens web site the same day.

My first 18650 light is my Romisen RC-T602 so I guess that's what started me with 18650 light. After that, I bought my Klarus XT11 then my XT2C. All run 18650s.

The power to battery life ratio can't be beat, I love 18650s! Prior to that though I was only using AA and AAA lights. Have one that also ran CR123s.

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How many felt that you were losing too much money running on 123a primaries? I used my Surefire G2 for quite some time until I got fed up and bought some RCR's.

It was education, only a few months ago, from this forum that led me to use 18650 Li-ion batteries.

Prior to that time I had been using only Surefire made lights and their 123 lithium batteries.

Tiresius said:

How many felt that you were losing too much money running on 123a primaries? I used my Surefire G2 for quite some time until I got fed up and bought some RCR's.

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Dude, yeah. I got tired of spending 20 bucks on batteries after a few months. With shipping included I was paying about 1.60 a battery. After 60 bucks of batteries I decided I wasn't sinking any more cash into it.