I was peruseing the net one day and i came apon site that was selling a pack of 2(18650) 3600mAh batterys and a charger that was able to chare cr123a's for... wait for it... $9. I also bought 2(cr123a) my grand total was $14.11 with free shipping. All i am saying is dont get boged down with one perticullar site, or set of sites. If i were to by that same set up elsewhere i would have paid at least three times that. IDK if its kosher for me as a memeber of this forum to put the website but just look around.
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Whilst I like many 'love a bargain' my only concern is that you often get what you pay for. If I'm spending the money I save on analogues on kit thats fine with me. I'm fortunate to be in a position to not have to worry too much in this respect. I have to admit that I'm not a trailblazer when it comes to products and prefer to research and gain opinions before making purchases. It would therefore be great to hear back from you when your kit turns up to see how you get on with it.
Hi apollyon and welcome to the forum.
It's fine to post websites around here. If you have a good deal to share, then by all means, do so. We have a whole section dedicated to ECF approved vendors here Forum Suppliers and here E Cigarette Suppliers Forum
If you like low low prices, check out these threads - http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...iscussion/146219-coupon-code-master-list.html and http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/pay-forward-pif/85781-deals-steals.html
IMO You get what you pay for. Being frugal is good, but getting cheap wares is a tricky business, especially when it comes to batteries. You get what you pay for, and if I am getting something like batteries, I want to know that I am getting a quality product first and foremost. There is only so low a price can get before quality starts to suffer.
You may want to read this - http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...9007-warning-rechargeable-batteries-mods.html
It's fine to post websites around here. If you have a good deal to share, then by all means, do so. We have a whole section dedicated to ECF approved vendors here Forum Suppliers and here E Cigarette Suppliers Forum
If you like low low prices, check out these threads - http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...iscussion/146219-coupon-code-master-list.html and http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/pay-forward-pif/85781-deals-steals.html
IMO You get what you pay for. Being frugal is good, but getting cheap wares is a tricky business, especially when it comes to batteries. You get what you pay for, and if I am getting something like batteries, I want to know that I am getting a quality product first and foremost. There is only so low a price can get before quality starts to suffer.
You may want to read this - http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...9007-warning-rechargeable-batteries-mods.html
When it comes to li-ion batteries and chargers, it is wise to spend a little extra to get real name brands and reliable hardware. You are putting yourself at unnecessary risk by buying cheap components like that.
I'd be willing to bet that for that price, those are unprotected batteries. I wouldn't use them.
we've been using unprotected batteries in devices that range from hanging on our hip to hanging in our ear canal ??
why the big deal about protected batts all of a sudden ??? if these are any good at all,i'd buy and use
Because, in reality, we are using these batteries for purposes other than for which they were intended.
I would be a bit wary about buying cheap batteries .
Often the result is not as expected and the quality suffers.
I used to shop for bargain batteries when I started vaping. The results where not as promissed.
Now I stick to brands , models and suppliers that I am happy with even if it costs little more.
be carefull !
Often the result is not as expected and the quality suffers.
I used to shop for bargain batteries when I started vaping. The results where not as promissed.
Now I stick to brands , models and suppliers that I am happy with even if it costs little more.
be carefull !
Be careful with the "cheap" chargers. I have gone that route, ONCE. The charger didn't last two days and it is possible that the cheap versions don't have the same overcharging protection on them. For $12 you can get a quality charger that will accept all battery sizes and will last a long time.
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Rules, you got it right. In normal use of batteries, there is a linear draw of power from the battery over a period of time. Maybe the draw gets higher because of any action you make, like a radio transceiver, pushing the microphone button. But, well within the parameters of the battery. In PV's, you are using a battery outside the normal parameters of the battery. Say you have a 650mah eGo battery, for example. You have a battery that can output 650ma for an hour. When you put a 1.7 ohm carto on this battery you are drawing for at least 2000ma (over three times the ma rating!) for those few seconds. In normal use on other devices, you usually don't stress the battery that much. In the case where you are using a device constantly in stress mode, I prefer to have it protected as much as possible. I'll spend a little extra for something that is safer, especially something I stick in my face.
Ripped off?
Ripped off could mean getting a counterfeit product, like a double wrapped fake battery,
or being charged for a primo product when it's really bargain basement stuff.
Vendors that lie, or sell a counterfeit 'by accident' should be put on notice.
An example would be an selling an unprotected cell as protected.
It's so easy to fool the typical consumer. How many times have you seen posts
"how do you tell if a cell is protected?"
What about relabeling? Is it a marketing practice? Fine. But to hide a lie?
Vendors that mark up cheap stuff to guide customers to a slightly higher priced item.
An example for this is the Red and Black "Big Red" Ultrafire 3000mah 18650.
I've seen this cell offered for as high as $13.99 EACH. Why?
My guess is to make the next higher priced cell look like a bargain.
Many folks think the Big Red is a crap battery. It is. It is not 3000mah, has a higher internal resistance than better cells, and as a result of a protection circuit designed to trip at a low (matches cell capability) 2.5 amps trips out when used for severe applications. High powered flashlights or high powered vaping needs a better cell.
For less demanding applications, like 2 amps in a 3.7 volt e-cig mod, it's a pretty good bargain at $4 (or less).
Ripped off can also be poorly designed products that end up being marketed through "reputable vendors".
I'm not talking about products that aren't 'top of the line' but things that have design deficiencies that would be easy to correct. One of the cheaper chargers is the single slot one with the boat shaped end. The pointy end is the negative end. Sort of counter intuitive but the biggest problems with most of this type is the sliding negative contact has SHARP EDGES that damage the thin plastic wrappers on cells. The sliding contact barely fits the longer cells like the 14650 and 18650.
Cheap might be fine, but self distructive is not.
A ripoff may also be propagated by HYPE. Don't believe everything you read (especially anything written by that Rocket guy). I key on words like 'Best' when reading vendor ads. You think maybe a vendor just might be a little biased?
Duh.
Ripped off? It's a 'buyer beware' world and you don't always 'get what you pay for'.
Ripped off could mean getting a counterfeit product, like a double wrapped fake battery,
or being charged for a primo product when it's really bargain basement stuff.
Vendors that lie, or sell a counterfeit 'by accident' should be put on notice.
An example would be an selling an unprotected cell as protected.
It's so easy to fool the typical consumer. How many times have you seen posts
"how do you tell if a cell is protected?"
What about relabeling? Is it a marketing practice? Fine. But to hide a lie?
Vendors that mark up cheap stuff to guide customers to a slightly higher priced item.
An example for this is the Red and Black "Big Red" Ultrafire 3000mah 18650.
I've seen this cell offered for as high as $13.99 EACH. Why?
My guess is to make the next higher priced cell look like a bargain.
Many folks think the Big Red is a crap battery. It is. It is not 3000mah, has a higher internal resistance than better cells, and as a result of a protection circuit designed to trip at a low (matches cell capability) 2.5 amps trips out when used for severe applications. High powered flashlights or high powered vaping needs a better cell.
For less demanding applications, like 2 amps in a 3.7 volt e-cig mod, it's a pretty good bargain at $4 (or less).
Ripped off can also be poorly designed products that end up being marketed through "reputable vendors".
I'm not talking about products that aren't 'top of the line' but things that have design deficiencies that would be easy to correct. One of the cheaper chargers is the single slot one with the boat shaped end. The pointy end is the negative end. Sort of counter intuitive but the biggest problems with most of this type is the sliding negative contact has SHARP EDGES that damage the thin plastic wrappers on cells. The sliding contact barely fits the longer cells like the 14650 and 18650.
Cheap might be fine, but self distructive is not.
A ripoff may also be propagated by HYPE. Don't believe everything you read (especially anything written by that Rocket guy). I key on words like 'Best' when reading vendor ads. You think maybe a vendor just might be a little biased?
Duh.
Ripped off? It's a 'buyer beware' world and you don't always 'get what you pay for'.
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I'm sorry but cheaping out on batteries is a good way to blow a hole in your face eventually.
Be cheap on atomizers/cartos/juice if you want, but please for the love of god get high quality batteries.
You're basically sticking a chemical bomb in your mouth.
Be cheap on atomizers/cartos/juice if you want, but please for the love of god get high quality batteries.
You're basically sticking a chemical bomb in your mouth.
Even if you buy the most expensive battery in the world, from the most expensive supplier in the world, and put it in the most expensive mod you can find, you are saving a ton of money over smoking analogs, in the long run. Why risk an accident?
It's like buying a $5000 bicycle, and securing it with a $2 lock.
It's like buying a $5000 bicycle, and securing it with a $2 lock.
I agree.
Buy a pair of AW cells, a Pila charger, and a Darwin and a $40 lock.
(maybe a compatibility issue here
).
Buy a pair of AW cells, a Pila charger, and a Darwin and a $40 lock.
(maybe a compatibility issue here
).
Have you noticed the exploding mod incidents that have happened in the last month? Both of them as far as anybody has been able to say so far most likely involved stacked batteries and I'm pretty sure they said CR123A's. Though I don't know if that's what you were planning to do with yours or not.
I am all for saving $$$ when I can, but rechargeable Lithium Ion batteries and the chargers you charge them with are 2 departments you most definitely do not want "cheapest price I can find" to be what guides your purchase. It really needs to be SAFETY. I spent the majority of a weekend studying battery chemistry, reading technical data and performance reviews of various protected and LiMn cells, researching brand reputation (QC, longevity, safety, performance) -- and yes, price shopping, to make sure I was making the smartest decision about which type and brand of 18650 cells to buy for their intended use. But ultimately, the SAFEST decision.
Why? Because I didn't want to become the next person you read about on the forums or see on the news having "an incident" because I was trying to save $2 on a battery or doing something that isn't safe with high quality batteries.
Once I decided on the brand and model I was comfortable with, I also wanted to make sure that's what I actually got. Imitation AW IMR's have been discovered at least once in the wild, and even sold "unknowingly" by a big-name e-cig brand that has droves of fanboys singing their praises here and elsewhere - so yeah, you DO need to pay attention to where you're getting your stuff from. And so do the vendors....
That's why you need to be able to trust the brand and the vendor selling it, and this is one of the most important reasons for the ECF forums.
I also read an interesting series of user reviews posted in comments at DealExtreme or whatever the name of that website is about one model of one of the "*fire" brands of battery cells. A lot of people were trying to buy them because the first batch(es) of them tested very well by people who did technical reviews on them -- this is how *I* ended up looking at them on DealExtreme. I'm really glad I read the reviews/comments. Many of the first pages of reviews suggested very happy customers, but then suddenly something changed and it was obvious that subsequent batch(es) of those "same" batteries were not the same. Everyone reporting was having problems with them or seeing very big differences in how they tested on a meter or performed compared to the previous ones.
Here's something to think about:
Wouldn't it be something if a manufacturer had deliberately put its best products out there in the first production runs so they could get nice reviews and end up with hordes of fanboys doing their sales work for them, and then once everybody who has read those glowing reviews starts trying to buy them, they deliberately switched up and made the subsequent production runs with little or no QC or testing at all, or use cheaper contract manufacturers or lower-grade materials, just to save $$$ and increase their profit margins?
I'm not saying this is what happened, but it's plausible. Manufacturers of all kinds of products send their very best out for review all the time. The stakes are a little higher for us, though, as the end users. When your discount toaster "lets the precious blue smoke out" and trips the circuit breaker, probably the worst that happens is you reset the breaker and you take the toaster back to Walmart. What are the consequences for that battery manufacturer if somebody's face gets blown off because one of their batteries shorted out internally and went nuclear? They are thousands of miles away and you'll probably never trace it back to the origin, much less find the people who made the call to cut corners. Their product is inches away from your brain and/or other vital organs.
You may think I wasted my time doing all that reading and that I'm dumb for buying a known brand from a known vendor. You're entitled to your opinion, same as me.
Ask yourself this:
How many of the people in this scene who have had things go BOOM on them with their e-cig mods do you think knew it was going to happen to them?
How can you be so sure about those "who cares?" brand batteries and chargers?
Being careless and "bottom line" driven with the batteries and chargers you buy and recommend that OTHER PEOPLE buy for their e-cigs is reckless and irresponsible. But it's YOUR face, dude. I'm not particularly fond of mine but I WOULD like to keep it intact.
apollyon. Interesting name, considering the discussion....
Peace out
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I love a bargain I always shop around I look for the best price on cartos, attys, nic base, pg and vg and it always amazes me when people don't shop around but I will not cheap out on batteries I always buy AW's I don't care if they are a few dollars more
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