for the love of god! someone please just tell me what batteries to buy! haha

[Thatki]

im ordering an astro telescoping mechanical mod and i have zero knowledge on batteries. ive been reading for an hour and still have no clue what im looking for. i think i want 18650 and i want the mah to be high. this is my first mechanical mod and ill be using it with a kayfun lite. there are so many batteries and so many brand names that all sound the same. its confusing. i will be running coils around 1.2-1.3 ohms and want the batteries to last as long as possible. links if you could would be amazing. jesus christ this is confusing. hahah

oh.. maybe some decent 18500s also in case i want to make it smaller for work and whatever. no idea. im open to any suggestions.

 

[DetraMental]

I always use IMR 18650 flat top batteries. They seem to work best. RTDVapor is a good place to look for batteries.

 

[JmanEspresso]

If you want to make life simple, and just own like one battery type, that can be used in any of your mods, and go real low subohm as well... pick one of these:

AW IMR 18650 1600mah version
Efest 18650 1600mah 30amp
Sony VTC4 or VTC5

The Sonys have high MAH, but beware of that.. You're really only concerned with how long the battery will stay above 3.7v, because thats about where you will want to change the battery. Higher mah batteries dont always give you longer vape time on mechanical mods.

The Aw IMR 18650 1600mah version, is a superb battery, and stays above 3.7v longer than many other batteries out there. And, its got a 24amp limit, so you can run plenty low subohm if you want too.


Any of the batteries listed will allow you to just use them and not have to think about it. They can be used in mechs or regulated PVs, they have high amp draws, and they're all quality made.


Buy from reputable vendors.
RTD Vapor
ElectronicStix(Ive bought my AW IMRs from them)
MyVaporStore(I bought my Sonys and my Efests from them)

 

[CreepyLady]

+1 on everything JmanEspresso says here! And + infinity on AW IMR 1600 batteries - tops performance wise in a mech

 

[69CamaroSS]

I've had great success with any "high drain" batts from Orbtronic which I chose to go with after watching pbusardo test/review them on YouTube. Check them out here:
Batteries-Chargers-Flashlights-Only The Best

 

[AndriaD]

The most important thing is not the mAh; it is the HIGH DRAIN... Also, they *MUST* be "IMR" type batteries. And don't buy any kind of battery or charger that has "fire" anywhere in the name, unless that is the outcome you want.

I got the Efest IMR batteries; the 18650s are 2250 mAh, and the 18350s are 800 mAh -- and both say HIGH DRAIN -- you need that most of all.

Amazon has great prices on the Efest batteries.

Andria

 

[Thatki]

holy crap. thanks everyone. haha this stuff isnt easy for noobs to understand at all. this helps a ton.

 

[CreepyLady]

Here is the best resource ever for all things battery http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...tery-basics-mods-imr-protected-icr-page2.html simple and covers all of the bases (Baditude rocks )

Also - avoid buying batteries from amazon or ebay. They are both loaded with counterfeit options and that matters A LOT especially with a mech mod. You no longer have any built in protection - its all on you. Use reputable vendors like those listed above like RTD.

 

[TheBeardedMann]

Sony VTC5. Done.

 

[GreMos90]

Efest (purple) IMR 18650 3.7v 2500mah 35A... High mah, great amperage, and great chemistry. IMO it's the best there is!

 

[TrolleyVW]

What makes AW batteries have such a huge following "for performance" when every type of battery I have used (efest, sony, orbtronic, mnke, and AW) works the same? I have never noticed my device "hit harder" with a different battery...

To me, using low sub ohm, any high drain battery is ok to me. That's:
Efest 18650 1600 mah 30 amp
AW 18650 1600 mah 24 amp
AW 18490 800 mah 16.4 amp
Sony 18650 VTC 3,4,5 (1600, 2100, 2600 mah)
Orbtronic 2000? Mah 24 amp

 

[time2quit]

Just to keep things simple...go with the AW IMR. You can't go wrong. They are tried and true. Like an above post stated, rtdvapor is a very legit company to go through. I'm also happy with the ones I purchased on eBay.

 

[AndriaD]

I'm very happy with the Efests I got on Amazon, and also eBay. All of them work exactly as they should, recharge as they should, and give a lot more power than any built-in battery I've used; even the 800 mah 18350s seem a lot more powerful than the 800 mAh vv3s; they probably last about the same, but I seem to get a lot more oomph from the 18350s than the vv3's built-in.

With eBay, there might be some concern about legitimacy, depending on the seller. I look for sellers with 100% or very near it approval ratings. With Amazon, I don't worry; they sell quality merchandise from quality vendors. I've bought a digital camera, my husband a weed eater, and all sorts of vaping paraphernalia, at Amazon, and haven't been displeased with any of it.

Andria

 

[Coldrake]

Here's another link you really should read. Deeper Understanding of Mod Batteries - Part I

 

[beckdg]

there's a serious lack of focus on available technical battery information on this site IMHO.

what i look for from a high power battery is basically 2 things. 1) load handling characteristics. 2) voltage staying power under load.

from what i can discern from available battery tests and graphs, there are 4 batteries that stand out of the pack.

the first two pretty much stand alone. the sony vtc5 and the samsung 20R.

then the next two are a little closer to the pack. the sony vtc4 and AW 1600mah IMR.

the deal with the AW battery is andrew picks each cell specifically and knows they meet specs because they're tested. that's why they have such a good rep... there's literally almost no chance of having a bad apple out of a batch.

the sony vtc5's show tremendously favorable results on a graph, but during a continuous 20A discharge, they can heat up over 20°C above their rated teperature limit. so they're fantastic for our purposes, but during a short situation, they can become a hot plate in a pocket real quick.

the 30A/35A Efests tend to test horribly and graphs i've seen suggest they should have been rated more like 20 amp cells.

another thing to consider is that capacity (mah) and amp ratings are nothing but proprietary numbers. it's how the battery handles the pressure that makes it a good battery, not the numbers printed on the label.

 

[Baditude]

Not all batteries are created equal when produced in a factory. Some manufacturers, specifically those in Japan, are known to make better batteries with the newest technology - Panasonic, Sony, Samsung, et al.

Andrew Wan is a distributor in Hong Kong who purchases large lots of batteries from the above Japanese manufacturers. He and his staff put these batteries through a series of tests. The highest rated ones get chosen to be sold as authentic AW batteries, get the shiney red wrapper, and get the oval hologram AW sticker. You can be assured that an AW battery will be consistantly a high performing quality battery and be worth the couple more dollars you spend for that peace of mind.

Not to belittle Efest, they make a decent battery. However, in my research on batteries it seems apparent to me that the company overstates their battery specifications to be competitive with the big boy companies. Exaggerated specifications tend to be proven to be true with subsequent bench tests by independent testers. My personal experience with Efest batteries has been a disappointment when compared side by side with AW. That's my .

The adage, "Never trust a battery with fire in the name" rings true. Trustfire, Surefire, and Ultrafire batteries are second tier name brands. Use these for flashlights, not for mods.

Do not purchase or use non-name brand, generic batteries. These are unknown batteries made by an unknown manufacturer of unknown quality. These are likely to be the rewrapped rejects of other companies, or worse - rewrapped used batteries harvested from old laptop computers. It's not worth the risk using these batteries when used in a mod which is literally inches from your face when used.

There's much more to consider when choosing a battery than just the one with the highest mAh rating. http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/batteries-chargers/555999-3400-mah-18650-panasonic-orbtronic-good.html First consider the application the battery will be used; then decide what amp limit you need, and then the mAh rating. ICR batteries (protected Li-Ion) should be considered obsolete in this day of modern battery technology. Their chemistry is not as safe as IMR batteries. They had their day in the sun when they were the best available at the time, but with the advent of IMR (Li-Mn) and IMR/hybrid batteries that time has passed. IMR and IMR/hybrid batteries are safer chemistry and the only type that we should be using in both mechanical and regulated mods.

Rechargeable Batteries


There is a large list of recommended high-drain, safe-chemistry IMR batteries in the below link:

Battery Basics for Mods: IMR or Protected ICR?

To learn the difference between IMR and ICR batteries, and what the numbers/letters mean on battery models, follow this link:

Deeper Understanding of Mod Batteries, pt I and II.