Duracell vs. SF (or other) batts in the Arc4+

Hi fellow Arcanians,

I am getting the Arc 4+ and wonder if any of you have experience using the Duracell and other batteries in your lights. Specifically, are the Surefire (or other) batts much different from the Duracell, in terms of performance?

The SF batts are way cheaper, but I want to feed the little Arc4+ a healthy diet.

Thanks!

I'm staying out of this one for a change. Everytime I mention that SF 123-cells are the best on the market, I get flooded with PM's and E-Mail's calling me all types of nasty names, even though I've proven it over and over and over and over again.

you're kidding right tin?
jeesh...

surefires are my cell of preference. more expensive than some asian brands, but less expensive than the store purchased brands.

of course i have no evidence to back it up one way or another.
anyone wanting to insult me via pm, please feel free.

Nothing controversial intended, just wanted to find out about people's experiences. Seems like the best thing to do is to order both the Duracell and SF batts and try them along with the Yuntong and Panasonic 123s already in my inventory. Thank God these batts have a 10 year life because that may be how long it takes to use them all.

I haven't run tests but I used the duracell that came with the arc4 and 2 surefires since and there's no glaring differences to me. I'm happy with SF cells and will continue to purchase them.

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Rothrandir said:
you're kidding right tin?
jeesh...



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I wish I was kidding.

I've had my most favorable results with the Surefire brands as well. No tests done but in terms of general use, the surefires need less changing than the other cheaper brands and my duracells don't seem any better either... that said I still have a bunch of cheaper ones that I use too. I tend to use the cheapers ones for my led lights... including the arcs... haven't ever received an insulting PM's as of yet... maybe this will be fun /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

From my tests, Surefires come out on top. The only problem I've had is that they fail early with intermittent use sometimes. Other than that they work great. They are a better deal pricewise than Duracell Ultra's.

TIN, what do people get so mad about? Do they just think your making it up or your an undercover Surefire battery seller or what?

Tin, Roth.....

You guys are sooooo far out there. SF's being the best? Oh come on! No wait, that's what I use too ..... nevermind.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Mike

personally I have had a number of sudden failures with SF, batteries after intermintent use (usually used in Surefire flashlights, E1, E2e, 6P)... it can be fairly annoying.

To be fair, these were all from the same order, so perhaps they had a QC problem with a particular batch.

I haven't had such failures with the 2 off brands that I've used in the past.

But we have established that TIN endorses SF batteries as the best... and complaints can be sent to Rothrandir /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

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this_is_nascar said:
I'm staying out of this one for a change. Everytime I mention that SF 123-cells are the best on the market, I get flooded with PM's and E-Mail's calling me all types of nasty names, even though I've proven it over and over and over and over again.


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I concur all my test show the samething never got any PM's about it but have said so many times /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Also I have gone through over 400 SF's without one failure? humm must be lucky.
I thought I had this happen once but then realized I put one used cell in the light. I would not of realized this but I mark my used batteries as I use them in some LED lights.

I use SF123As exclusively. I love Duracells as well, but they are prohibitively expensive.

In my mind, there's no reason to use anything other than SF123As. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

For now, My Arc4 page contains a YunTong vs. SureFire graph at level 1. I will add Duracell and Panasonic data when I get these cells. Hope Peter will ship Duracells (and my Arc4x) soon...

Note: The capacity of the cell can vary in the same brand. I only sampled one of these cells.

Arc sells duracell now. 5 fo $15.

Those are some really nice charts kj! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

thankyou kj for informative runtime charts, nice pictures too. it will be interesting to see the duracell and panasonic additions. would you know how energizer e2 compares?

It's hard to get the energizer here in Japan. I will do if I can get a few at a reasonable price.

kj, i could send you one, just pm me your address as i would write on the package.

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kj said:
For now, My Arc4 page contains a YunTong vs. SureFire graph at level 1. I will add Duracell and Panasonic data when I get these cells. Hope Peter will ship Duracells (and my Arc4x) soon...

Note: The capacity of the cell can vary in the same brand. I only sampled one of these cells.

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Great graphs!

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For now, My Arc4 page contains a YunTong vs. SureFire graph at level 1. I will add Duracell and Panasonic data when I get these cells. Hope Peter will ship Duracells (and my Arc4x) soon...

Hello kj, as others have said - thank you for the informative charts. When enlarged, I cannot see which color represents the Yuntong and which the Duracell. I will assume the Duracell > runtime than the Yuntong.

Note: The capacity of the cell can vary in the same brand. I only sampled one of these cells.

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