Displaying reviews posted
by certified DX gadget owners first, followed by all other posted reviews.
Good 14500 Cells If, They Are Not Too Long
Posted by
74Sharps
on 1/20/2010
Involvement:
Expert (understands the inner workings)
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more than 1 month
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Pros: These cells seem to work pretty well.
Capacity seems a bit optimistic, but they are not too bad.
Cons: The biggest problem with these cells, is that they are 51.9mm long. The addition of the protection circuit adds a bit too much length for some, but not all applications.
They do not fit in most of DX's plastic cases, because of the additional length, due to the protection circuit being added onto the end.
Other Thoughts: If they fit in your application, they will work fine.
As I said, the capacity printed on the side is a bit optimistic, but they are not too bad.
Bottomline: Reasonable price, just make sure you can fit 51.9mm cells into your application.
These are the ones to get
Posted by
gogogogadget
on 12/8/2009
Involvement:
General (knows how to use it)
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more than 1 month
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Pros: -Not overrated
-Not oversized
-Well built
Cons: None
Bottomline: One reviewer said that these are identical to the more expensive sku#3435, except that they are slightly wider, creating potential fitment issues. I have several torches that accept 14500 cells, including a couple of K-106's (which at least one reviewer said was a tight fit with these cells) and all fit just fine. The capacity seems to have held up as well over 4 months of regular use. If there are slight differences between batches in the DX warehouse, I suspect it's more a matter of "chance" than the sku# you order, since the warehouse employees tend to grab whatever product is within reach since they can't tell the difference without using a caliper. Maybe I just got lucky (others have also then) but I can't see any reason to pay the extra $ to order #3435 unless I saw the difference myself. Even the reviewer that said these were wider only said they were "tight" in his K-106, not that they wouldn't fit.
I haven't measured capacity, but at similar brightness, they seem to come close in runtime to my Duracell 2650mAh 1.2v AAs, which is roughly the same capacity, so I'd say they're around 700-800 mAh, which is pretty good. I wish there were more options in this cell size, but the trustfire/ultrafire cells seem to be the only rechargeables I can find. Hopefully some other manufacturer(s) will start making them and hopefully we'll start seeing some higher capacities become available. I found some 2600mAh primaries online, but they were at least 3 times as much and I hate primaries anyway lol.
Cheap but low capasity
Posted by
InnerCircle
on 7/27/2009
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General (knows how to use it)
- Ownership:
1 week to 1 month
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Pros: cheap, easy to use, Protected.
None of these 6 batteries is inferior goods.
and...
cheap?
cheap.
Good. cheap!!
Cons: What a #uc$%g capasity!!!
It seems 500mAh ~ 600mAh.
It has horribly short runtime.
Not very good looking with + point.
Other Thoughts: It seems 500mAh ~ 600mAh.
It has horribly short runtime.
It cannot work just 1.5 hours with "UltraFire A10 HA-III Cree Q5-WC HA-III 220-Lumen LED Flashlight".
What a happy feature of a misfortune, None of these 6 batteries is inferior goods.
Bottomline: change your print 900mAh to 500mAh.
Good, but only 560mAh
Posted by
neilo
on 7/21/2009
Involvement:
Expert (understands the inner workings)
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1 week to 1 month
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Pros: Reasonably well made, as far I can see. I have seen some pretty miserable cells in the past. Work as you would expect. Can make a lot of difference in the flashlights that support it.
Cons: The capacity of these is around 560mAh (tested with a 500mA discharge current). This is only around 60% of advertised capacity and much worse than I would have expected given the excellent performance of the sister cells:
TrustFire Protected 18650 Lithium Battery
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5790
I am using a Trustfire charger:
TrustFire All-in-One Charger
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4151
Other Thoughts: It's obvious, but worth restating that not all the flashlights on the DX site that take AAs take these batteries as well.
Bottomline: I am happy enough with these to buy more, but I would like some with higher capacity.