This is not going to be a facts and figures based review as I’m not setup with the proper equipment. I will however give you my honest opinion of the two as I have been using them head to head for over a month now. When I purchased my RoughStack (see avatar), here on ECF I was given the advice to not skimp on the battery and go ahead and get the AWs at 1600mAh. I went ahead and did just that as it was a mere $2.50 bump per battery and I considered that a negligible price to pay to “get it right” the first time. As time went on I found myself annoyed at being restricted to two batteries as I would need to charge one every night or go back to my eGo’s while waiting the couple of hours for my batts to charge. I decided to go ahead and get another set so there would be no need for me to go without my RoughStack again. I decided to get a set of UltraFire 18650 3000mAh from Amazon. It was the same price as madvapes but free shipping and the free travel charger won out.
The initial use was fantastic and absolutely lived up to my expectations. Nowhere near the almost double capacity but noticeable none the less (50% increase if I had to estimate). A month later on the other hand and the story is very VERY different. The UltraFire’s still take a few hours more to charge but last about the same amount of time as the AW’s in practical every day usage. In other words the AW’s cost more to get into however The UltraFires cost more to charge. I have always personally been the type to put a little more money up front if it means more in long term savings and in this case that would be the AW’s. There was a similar break-in and reduction of use with the AWs but it was nowhere near as drastic.
Some additional information:
It seems as though the RoughStack was made with the UltraFire in mind as it is more accommodating to the 1/8 inch difference in size. As stated in my RoughStack review mine will occasionally not fire with the AW in it and I will need to either smack the bottom or slightly unscrew and then tighten the cap to get it to work again. In order to make the AW work a little better I have resorted to adding a penny at the bottom and have had no problems since starting this. The charger I use is an Ultrafire WF-139 which is nothing special by any means but it is admirable with its single charging channels and I see no need for an upgrade. The travel charger that comes with the Amazon kit is complete junk and I would only use it in case of an emergency but that was how I viewed it when I made the purchase. This was a cheap lesson learned and someone else may have a completely different experience for as we all know no two batts are ever exactly the same. Going forward I will be sticking with AWs even with the added annoyance of using the stupid penny.
Edit: one final point. These UltraFires are labeled as "Low Discharge Rate" and I'm not finding that to be the case at all. If left alone for more than a couple of days they seem to be at half power when used. If I'm misunderstanding the classification feel free to correct me.
Long and the short of it:
AW 1600 mAh 18650 > UltraFire 3000 mAh 18650
Cheers Mates ;^)
The initial use was fantastic and absolutely lived up to my expectations. Nowhere near the almost double capacity but noticeable none the less (50% increase if I had to estimate). A month later on the other hand and the story is very VERY different. The UltraFire’s still take a few hours more to charge but last about the same amount of time as the AW’s in practical every day usage. In other words the AW’s cost more to get into however The UltraFires cost more to charge. I have always personally been the type to put a little more money up front if it means more in long term savings and in this case that would be the AW’s. There was a similar break-in and reduction of use with the AWs but it was nowhere near as drastic.
Some additional information:
It seems as though the RoughStack was made with the UltraFire in mind as it is more accommodating to the 1/8 inch difference in size. As stated in my RoughStack review mine will occasionally not fire with the AW in it and I will need to either smack the bottom or slightly unscrew and then tighten the cap to get it to work again. In order to make the AW work a little better I have resorted to adding a penny at the bottom and have had no problems since starting this. The charger I use is an Ultrafire WF-139 which is nothing special by any means but it is admirable with its single charging channels and I see no need for an upgrade. The travel charger that comes with the Amazon kit is complete junk and I would only use it in case of an emergency but that was how I viewed it when I made the purchase. This was a cheap lesson learned and someone else may have a completely different experience for as we all know no two batts are ever exactly the same. Going forward I will be sticking with AWs even with the added annoyance of using the stupid penny.
Edit: one final point. These UltraFires are labeled as "Low Discharge Rate" and I'm not finding that to be the case at all. If left alone for more than a couple of days they seem to be at half power when used. If I'm misunderstanding the classification feel free to correct me.
Long and the short of it:
AW 1600 mAh 18650 > UltraFire 3000 mAh 18650
Cheers Mates ;^)
Last edited:
