Good 18650 battery recommendation for mech mod

[starsight71]

Hi all,

Can anybody recommend a good brand of battery for a mechanical mod?

I bought a 4-pack of cheap Ultrafire 4500 mAh batteries on eBay and as I should have expected, they don't seem to hold a charge very long. I suspect that the amp hour rating is grossly inflated. I know that you get what you pay for but I'm new to this and the temptation to save some cash was too great...

I'm using a Kraken rba with a single coil around 1.8-1.9 ohms and a Copper Vanilla 18650 mod. The voltage reads around 4.2 after charging so I think my charger is ok.

I'd love to hear what battery other vapers are happy with before I order new ones.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[Wolfenstark]

Samsung 25R
Heres a store that many people say is good.
Samsung INR18650-25R 2500mAh - RTD vapor

 

[starsight71]

Thanks Wolfenstark, that looks to be a good price. Are the Samsungs pretty decent? I'm really disappointed with the Ultrafires that I bought.

 

[Susan~S]

+1 on the Samsung 25R's for a great 20A battery. For a 30A battery I purchase Sony VTC4's.

Check out a couple of Baditude's blogs (one of our resident battery/safety experts) for more information on batteries.

BATTERIES

Battery Basics for Mods: IMR or Protected ICR?
* Another essential read to understand which batteries are safe to use in mechanical and regulated mods. Includes a frequently updated list of recommended safe-chemistry, high-drain batteries with their specifications.

Purple Efest Batteries not as Advertised
* A cautionary blog that reveals that the purple Efest batteries may not have the specifications advertised. Also includes a commentary on "continuous discharge ratings" vs "pulse discharge ratings" of battery specs.

BATTERIES - WHERE TO BUY

Only buy batteries from a reputable supplier (not ebay or Amazon) as there are many counterfeit batteries being sold. Here are several reputable battery suppliers in the US.

* RTD Vapor <= My go-to for most batteries
* Illumination Supply
* Lighthound
* Orbtronics
* Battery Junction**

Note: **Ships to Canada

 

[RipCigs]

I'm using Panasonic NCR-18650A. Really happy with them for now.

 

[MythDrago]

all I use anymore are sony vtc 4's rtd vapor has them in stock some times.

 

[kaahn]

Samsung 25R
Heres a store that many people say is good.
Samsung INR18650-25R 2500mAh - RTD vapor

Illumin has em for 6 bucks and if you buy 2 they send you a case with it.

 

[Jim Beam]

I've been using LG H2s, these seem ti be holding up nicely.
Havent tried thr LG H4 yet, but hear their good to go too.
Samsungs are decent.

Jim

 

[petrotech]

I've never had any problems with AW IMR. I know they're not the "top dog" anymore, but I still use them exclusively. RTD Vapor is where I get all my batteries too.

 

[sonicbomb]

Dispose of those Ultrafire batteries as soon as possible. I use VTC4s myself.

 

[Danyel Geelong]

If you dont plan to vape any lower than 1.8 ohms, then you will only be drawing at most about 2.5 amps. Since batteries with higher amp ratings trade off those amps for milli amp hours(mah), you may as well just go for higher mah batteries and this way you'll get longer vape times between charges. So long as the battery you buy is of a reputable brand (ie not elcheapo chinese generic brands), and has a higher than 2.5 amp continuous rating, and provided you dont decide to lower your ohms, you will be fine

 

[Brkdnc]

I use the LG HE2's and have been very pleased with them

 

[Semiretired]

BATTERIES - WHERE TO BUY

Only buy batteries from a reputable supplier (not ebay or Amazon) as there are many counterfeit batteries being sold. Here are several reputable battery suppliers in the US.

* RTD Vapor <= My go-to for most batteries
* Illumination Supply
* Lighthound
* Orbtronics
* Battery Junction**

All Excelllent Sources.

 

[Tom Forde]

Samsung 25R
Heres a store that many people say is good.
Samsung INR18650-25R 2500mAh - RTD vapor

Definitely the 25R's (light blue) & Sony VTC4's (green). Sony's are heavily faked so make sure you get them from one of the recommended suppliers. RTD is a trusted source.

 

[Paul Cottam]

I use Purple efest 35A

 

[Wolfenstark]

Thanks Wolfenstark, that looks to be a good price. Are the Samsungs pretty decent? I'm really disappointed with the Ultrafires that I bought.

You will mostly hear people recommend the samsung 25R or the sony vtc 4
I believe at a time sony vtc 5 were nearly everyones favourite but I don't myself know what happened but they disappeared and no store i could find had them. So I did some research and the Samsung 25R 18650 batteries were getting a lot of good reviews and comments so I went and bought some. They have been very good for me using in a reg mod and a mech mod.
Also get your self a good charger if you don't have one already I got a nitecore intelicharger iv like the batteries people will have their fav charger.

 

[Baditude]

Personally, I use:

AW 18490/18650 IMR batteries for my Provari running a Kayfun Lite Plus rebuildable tank atomizer with a 1.4 ohm coil.

Sony VTC4 or Samsung25R for my Silver Bullet mech running a Patriot RDA with 0.6 ohm dual coils.

 

[raqball]

I use the LG HE2's and have been very pleased with them

I've had good luck with the LG's as well..

 

[starsight71]

Thanks all for the excellent advice. I think I'll order a couple Samsungs and upgrade my charger while I'm at it.