Fake AW IMR 18650's

[Mudflap]

If you don't know already, the manufacturer that provides The LavaTube and batteries for Volcano E-cigs, misled Volcano E-cigs about the batteries they provided. They were told that they were AW brand flat top IMR 18650 batteries, but AW notified Volcano E-cigs that AW doesn't produce a flat top IMR 18650, so the batteries they were advertising and selling as AW brand, were in fact, fakes.

Volcano E-cigs is attempting to rectify this issue and whether or not you agree with how they are doing this is irrelevant to the discussion I am starting right here.

I'm posting here to advise everyone to NOT buy AW IMR 18650's from the classifieds section of this or any e-cig related forum. I suspect some LavaTube kit purchasers will try to off load their fake AW IMR 18650 by reselling them.

As far as I know, no one is yet sure who makes the batteries sold by Volcano as AW, or whether or not they are LiMN or Li-ion batteries. If they are Li-ion batteries, it is unknown if they are protected or not. I'm sure this information will be discovered soon enough, but whatever.

Buy your genuine AW IMR 18650 batteries from a vendor or from AW themselves.

P.S. - Don't bother ranting about Volcano here. You can do that elsewhere if you feel the need. They were scammed on purpose but did not intentionally scam their customers, so I wish them luck getting this debacle behind them.

P.P.S. - My advice is just that. Advice. Make your own INFORMED decisions.

 

[misplacedsooner]

great info mud!! im glad you posted this as i was gonna try to trade a couple of my aw imr 18650s...now i know to put a pic with it if i do,lol.

 

[nerak]

Thank you Tripp, important information that needs to be known!!!!

 

[mlinky]

Holy cow. Thanks for the heads up Tripp.

 

[Mudflap]

Looks like the fake AW batteries may actually be unprotected Li-ion.

Thank you to David of Super T Manufacturing for conducting tests and sharing the results. His post is here.

 

[Big Hitter]

Thats just plain crappy to copy stuff like that.

Thanks for the info Sir !!

 

[amarti]

I made the mistake and looked at "red" and "IMR" and "Wow, so cheap" and have here now a three double sets of 18350, 18490 and 18650s. They were NOT advertised as "AW" batteries. They have far less "power" than the AW batteries.

Andreas

 

[Beans]

I jumped to conclusions....Sorry

 

[Mudflap]

Just so you know I bought one of the fakes a month back from a reputable vendor (not volcano) I'm just finding out about it now and am pretty mad, I think I paid 19 bucks for it. I'm curious what the census is.......Do vendors KNOW what their buying or do they get duped too?

To the best of my knowledge, Volcano E-cigs was duped by their supplier. I don't know about other vendors.

Was the battery you bought advertised as an AW branded battery or just IMR?

 

[Beans]

EDIT

I was wrong, AW makes a black flat to battery. I jumped to conclusions

 

[atom48]

Good information. Thank you, Mudflap.

 

[olwildbill]

Thanks for the Heads Up Tripp and since your working Christmas just keep researching for us.

 

[washvap]

Read about this in the General Discussions forum but, thanks for putting this up here. It'll save a lot of frustration and headaches for people knowing about the fakes out there.

 

[MojiTTo]

Thanks man
It is very good when you know why beware.

 

[s3anvap3s]

Thanks for the advice. Its a shame that it was needed...but thanks very much!

 

[Mr. White]

I was following that drama. It's one thing to get duped by a counterfeit. It's another to sell something as legit that the original manufacturer has never made--namely a red flat top 18650.

 

[rawrscary]

Where can we buy AW batteries directly? I can't find a site for them.

 

[unsure]

Where can we buy AW batteries directly? I can't find a site for them.

AW Batteries

 

[nerak]

Here is the thread for the direct sales:
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/e-cigarette-suppliers-forum/155889-new-aw-battery-importers-exporters-america-shipping-worldwide.html

 

[Mudflap]

Where can we buy AW batteries directly? I can't find a site for them.

You don't have to buy them directly from China, but if you want to, the information is here.