Authentic AW IMR?

[honeycombdome]

I just purchased some AW IMR 18350 and 18650 from a vendor on ebay and noticed that the logo was a little AW sticker and not the printed on the battery itself, I was just wondering if this is the norm or if I might have received a counterfeit? The seller had a good rating and the description didn't give me any reason to believe they weren't authentic but you can never be sure with ebay I suppose.

 

[exnihilo]

Gotta pic? Typically they're all stickers, but of the shrink wrapped variety, I.e. should encase the whole battery body. YMMV.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

 

[honeycombdome]

That's what struck me as odd, I would think most companies would have their logo printed on the shrink wrapped "casing" itself, on mine it looks as though someone could have just slapped one of these tiny little "AW" stickers onto a generic red battery.

It's hard to tell from other pics I've seen online, no pic from me until I get home from work.

 

[Baditude]

AW batteries are the most counterfeited battery due to their popularity and reputation as the best battery available. I use only the red IMR variety. The AW is just a sticker on the shrink wrap. They should look like these:



The third battery above is an AW protected ICR variety with a black/silver shrinkwrap.

RTD Vapor is a reputable online vendor who is an authorized AW retailer.

 

[Rickajho]

Not getting fakes comes down to buying from reputable vendors with a known reputation. A seller rating on eBay is about the transactions - not the individual products. Since there are no product reviews it's kind of hard to judge the quality of what you will get based on a seller rating.

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

Counterfeit battery= short lifespan and possible hazard. Quality battery= long life, superior performance and knowing you've done all you can to stay safe. The extra cost of quality only amounts to pennies per day. First PV was a Mech mod Kit with cheap batts and charger- 3 months later they failed and were tossed in the garbage= an absolute total waste of $$...except for the 3 months I used them.

 

[honeycombdome]

Thanks baditude, that's what I was wondering (whether the logo is a seperate sticker or is incorporated into the shrink wrap)

It looks like the 18650's I bought are legit though the 350's print looks a little bit sketchy compared to baditude's image above...this image is from the ebay vendor's posting and is identical to what i received:

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

Here's another reputable reasonably priced Vendor:
Batteries-Chargers-Flashlights-Only The Best

 

[honeycombdome]

Not getting fakes comes down to buying from reputable vendors with a known reputation. A seller rating on eBay is about the transactions - not the individual products. Since there are no product reviews it's kind of hard to judge the quality of what you will get based on a seller rating.

Understood but they seem to do most of their business with batteries/chargers alone so going through negative ratings for "product not received as described" or the like might be an indication. Nonetheless, next time I will opt for a known authorized retailer as opposed to saving a couple bucks or getting free shipping.

 

[FigNewton]

FYI, I got mine from RTD Vapor and they have been fantastic!

 

[*deleon517*]

also just a heads up on aw imr's their newer batteries will have a hologram aw on them rather then the plain aw sticker. im not sure if its part of the shrink wrap or if they are still using a sticker. this changed was announced this month, but haven't seen any yet. fluidvaper or rtd will probably be the first to have those since they stock batteries in huge quantities