As to the battery, I did not realize that a protected 18350 was available for this mod but I have been using AW IMR batts in my Reos and very pleased with the strong consistent hit so based in that I selected the IMR.
Ah, you're right. I was seeing 18350 and reading 18500 for some reason. My fault. There's my rectal cranial inversion for the day.
There do exist protected 18350 cells, but I think the IMR is a good choice. Seems like David posted a graph showing the difference in voltage drain under load between the protected and the IMR. I'll have to see if I can find it....
Update: It appears that he's posted graphs for
18650 and
18500, but not 18350. The shape of the curves is similar enough between those graphs that one might reasonably infer how IMR 18350 cells compare to P18350 cells. I think you'll get a hotter vape with IMR batteries but potentially more time between chargings with protected. Like David has said, it's all personal preference.
What is my preference?
I started on my P+ 18500 using IMR batteries. I'm now using protected batteries. After seeing David's graph for the 18490 / 18500 cells, I expected to be able to vape longer between charges on my protected batteries. In practice, though, I start to feel the voltage drain at about the same time every day as I did with the IMR cells. Sure, I
could vape on the diminishing battery all day and still get decent performance. But around noon to 1:00 every day I start to miss the throat hit I get with a freshly charged cell, so I change them out. I don't have a meter with me, but I'm guessing that at that point my cells dip down to about 3.7 volts. You'll see according to David's graphs that that occurs at roughly the same time regardless of which type of battery you use.
So with that in mind, I'm considering going back to the IMR's. Having said that, though, sometimes fully-charged IMR's seem a little too hot, depending on the juice I'm vaping, the condition / gunkiness of my atty at the moment, and whether or not I've got a Mickey D's Sweet Tea to sip on.
Are IMR's better? It depends on your juice, your atomizer, and what you consider to be a spent battery.