I don't trust Orbtronic anymore, what else should I use?

Therrin

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Jun 25, 2010
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I've been buying Orbtronic 18650's for around 5 years now. Used to be extremely satisfied with them, but lately it seems like their quality has dropped significantly. On top of that, their website is outright lying to people.

I recently bought 4 new 18650's that claim "Panasonic inside" 3600mAh. When used in my zebralight on the same medium-ish output level, they don't even last as long as my 3 year old Orbtronic 3400mAh cells which already have 600+ recharge cycles on them. On High output (not the boost setting, just normal High), they don't even last an hour.

I use a headlamp almost all day long every day, and have for about 10 years now.
After going through a range of manufacturers products over the years, I became a big fan of Zebralights, of which I own 7.
I typically go through 4 to 6 18650's a day, and charge them all at 0.25A. I've got about 16 of them I cycle through using.
I'd say I'm pretty familiar with the products and their usage and what I expect from them. I's not like I just use them when I go camping.


The other day I saw an email from Orbtronic wanting me to review the cells I had just purchased, so I did!
Gave them a 1 star review, explained why. Didn't check the bubble for "I would recommend these" or whatever it says. Didn't make it anonymous, yes you can publish it for the world to see.

But they didn't.
And the page for them still shows ZERO 1 or 2 star reviews (and only 1% 3 star reviews), and has a special little graphic saying "100% reviewers would recommend this product". Which is a complete crock! Failing to put up the bad reviews doesn't mean they were never written. It's sad, they used to be so reliable.

https://www.orbtronic.com/3600mah-18650-li-ion-orbtronic-panasonic-rechargeable-battery

The batch I bought before that, 2 died permanently inside a week of use.



I haven't had to go looking for batteries in a while, what 18650's would you guys suggest for my type of use? I'm obviously not interested in buying any more cells from Orbtronic. Haven't posted in a couple years, not sure what's good out there and what to stay away from anymore. Any advice is greatly appreciated!
 

parametrek

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Apr 3, 2013
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That is a shame. The were basically the 1st people selling 18650s to us normal folk. I've compiled a searchable database of every major vendor's inventory of 18650s. (See sig.) Illumn is a particularly good vendor. The current favorites for high capacity 18650s are the LG MJ1 or Panasonic NCR18650B or Samsung 35E. Maybe the Samsung 36G but that is newer and people don't have as much experience with it.
 

LittleBill

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Jan 21, 2009
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Long quote removed

did you load test them? i have 6 of those 3600 cells but did not run them through a mah test... maybe i should although its prolly too late they are 6 months old at this point
 
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Javora

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Feb 18, 2014
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I seem to remember Keep power reviewing pretty well here. Maybe give them a try.
 

Lou Minescence

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Hi Therrin,
I often wonder why retailers want people's feed back and then won't post the non-praising reviews or don't reach out to see what they can do to change the reviewers rating. I do not trust reviews that are too positive. Some people post a positive rating to get 5% off their next purchase. That's Garbage ! It's not just Orbtronic, it's a lot of retailers.
As far as advice on what cells to buy and where, Illumin has big selection and good prices. I don't know how they are with honest reviews but they probably would not be worse.
 

fmc1

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Mar 16, 2017
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Long Island NY
It's disappointing that you are having premature failure issues with Ortronic batteries. I hope it's only that one model the 36000mAh 18650. I have about 40 Orbtronic batteries but none of that particular model and I could not be happier with them. I could make a case for two of their models being among the best on the market if not the best. Their 1200mAh 18350 rated at 10A continuous and 15A pulse that can be used in series is one example. I have 12 or them and would buy them again in a heartbeat. Same with their 5750mAh 26650 rated at 22A continuous and 30A pulse. I have 16 of them and would also buy them again. As far as I know no one else has a 26650 button top anywhere near that quality. Two 26650's button tops in series is exactly what you need if you want to run a 2D Maglite body with a 6D drop in.


I would E-Mail them for sure. Unlike other popular vendors on this board I have never waited more than 24 hours for a response from them. I don't own any Zebralight products but do they recommend protected cells or do they not have a low voltage cut off? If not you might be better off with an unprotected cell. One less thing to fail or in the case of a dual protected Orbtronic cell two less things to fail.


The 36000mAh batteries I'm sure are based on the Panasonic NCR18650G cell. It has a very high capacity but it also has a conservative maximum discharge and charge rate which may not work for your application. The higher drain NCR18650GA's might be a better fit even though the capacity is 3500mAh.
I hope it works out for you.


Frank
 

alpg88

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Apr 19, 2005
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ZL headlamps do not require much current, seems like the cells are faulty, and the fact that they did not publish your review looks bad as well, thanks for the warning,
 

Climb14er

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Denver, CO
Never have had a problem with any of my Orbtronic 18650's. Running newer dual Orb's in my older Olight Triton, performing well. Also single newer Orb in my ZL 600. I rotate all of the 18650 batteries regularly. I agree with OP... assuming there is a problem, this should be addressed by Orbtronic and the review included.
 

Nichia!

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Orbtronic is the best of the best no one better than Orbtronic when comes to li-ion batteries

Not to mention Sal is my closest friend!
 

KITROBASKIN

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Sal at Orbtronic has been helpful to me in the past and all the cells from them were fine performers. You can help all of us by communicating with Orbtronic about your problems. Just wondering what it is that you are doing going through so much every day. How low a voltage are you going before recharging? (Just trying to get an understanding)

Illumn is great: both in product and customer service
 

CobraMan

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Over the last few years I have done all my LION cell purchases from Orbtronic and gone with their protected/branded cells - 18650, 16650, and 14500 sizes. Have not encountered any problems with any of them but I am not a heavy user that cycles the cells daily, etc.

I would think that Orbtronic would want to get the faulty/problematic cells back from you to troubleshoot and make sure and address any problems that might exist.

Hope you get this straightened out.

Cheers,
Tim

-
 

chaosdsm

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Feb 11, 2014
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Therrin;5341944[SIZE=3 said:
The other day I saw an email from Orbtronic wanting me to review the cells I had just purchased, so I did!
Gave them a 1 star review, explained why. Didn't check the bubble for "I would recommend these" or whatever it says. Didn't make it anonymous, yes you can publish it for the world to see.

But they didn't.
And the page for them still shows ZERO 1 or 2 star reviews (and only 1% 3 star reviews), and has a special little graphic saying "100% reviewers would recommend this product". Which is a complete crock! Failing to put up the bad reviews doesn't mean they were never written. !

You mean this review:
Not what they used to be

The new 3600mAh cells I purchased don't even last as long in my headlamp as the 3400mAh Orbtronics cells I have that are several years old with 500+ charge cycles on them. (using the same light output mode). That is very disappointing. Would not recommend their batteries any longer. After 5 years using Orbtronic I'll be looking for a new company to purchase 18650's from now. Thoroughly disappointed in their products now.


K...F. United States (NOTE: I edited the name for your privacy)

Did you Contact Orbtronic about the bad batteries and give them a chance to replace them???? It could be that their supplier changed source without notifying Orbtronic.

 

sonofjesse

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Aug 10, 2005
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Best bang for the buck and still well made IMHO. KeepPower. I have switched all my lights over to that one minus 2 I think. Great value, lots of different sizes and capacity. They even offer the high discharge 15A, 18650's now as well.
 

BlackHawk99

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Nov 4, 2019
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Best bang for the buck and still well made IMHO. KeepPower. I have switched all my lights over to that one minus 2 I think. Great value, lots of different sizes and capacity. They even offer the high discharge 15A, 18650's now as well.


I am looking to buy some Keeppower 18650 batteries for a ThruNite TN40 and a BLF Q8, but what concerns me is some of the battery tests I have seen such as the one below saying...


"At 15A I had to stop both discharges due to temperature."

[SIZE=+3]Conclusion[/SIZE]

"This is a good cell, but the build in protection do not trip on overload (It will probably trip on higher currents)."



REVIEW: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/v...f-Keeppower-18650-3120mAh-P1831R-(Black)-2017
 
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