Which charger would you buy?

[cammelspit]

looking to get a 4bay charger mainly for 18650s and was wondering which charger you all think is the better charger or maybe has the best feature set. xtar VP4,Efest Luc 4, or the Nitecore D4 Digicharger? If you have any other suggestions please let me know!

 

[wonner]

Nitecore D4 here because I've had good luck with their products.

 

[cammelspit]

Frankly, I was leaning that way but I thought I may as well ask the smart people here for their opinion. I also have a 2 year old with MANY battery operated toys and we go through AA NIMH batteries like candy so having another charger for those is a strong selling point.

 

[Rule62]

I have enough batteries in rotation that a 2 bay charger is fine for me. I use an XTar Vp1.

 

[wonner]

From what I have heard, all those chargers you listed are good one. I have used a LUC 4, it works just like you would expect. No experience with Xtar but people rate them well.

Ya, we use eneloops here and the Nitecore handles them well.

 

[yzer]

The Nitecore Intellicharger i4 has worked well for me for over a year. Given these can be bought on Amazon for well under $20 they are a good value. The Digicharger D4 looks to be a nice upgrade offering smarter selection of charging profiles for small batteries and will charge LiFePO4 batteries (which are not used for vaping). D4 also has a nice display to look at. Both i-4 and D4 will charge Ni-MH and Ni-Cd in addition to Li-ion and IMR.

 

[edyle]

If it were me, i'd get the 2 bay xtar and a 2 bay efest luc.

Actually, I'd prefer 1 bay chargers if available.

Right now I have 2 chargers; one is a 1 bay, and the other is a 2 bay.
I hardly ever charge 2 batteries in the 2bay - only when I had a pair gettin old and they needed charging more often did that happen.

 

[yzer]

Single bay chargers, two bay, four bay and six bay chargers are all a matter of individual choice for battery use. I use two 18500s a day, one 18650 a day, or four 18350s a day. Most of the time I'm using four 18500s in rotation. Four bay works fine for me. It means I don't need to charge batteries every single day.

I have a couple of single battery chargers but I use them only for travel.

 

[wonner]

One justification for a 4-bay Nitecore is if you will be charging AAA and AA eneloops, it is recommended to charge 4 of the same size at a time.

 

[Douroguy]

I am using the luc 4 as well

 

[EBates]

I have used and endorse the nitecore i4 and the efest luc, Both have worked well for me. I have not used the luc4 or d4 but would buy either if I need a new one.

 

[beckdg]

I have every single charger discussed in this thread so far except the d series (d2 & d4).

If you're looking for a 4 bay, I'd pick up the x - tar hands down.
My i2 and i4 never did charge to 4.2V and they started glitching after a few months. Not to mention the sliders that begin to stick eventually. The d series has improved on the sliders but it's doubtful they'll be any more accurate than the I series. I wasn't impressed enough to invest in one after trying a d4 at DC Vapefest.
Though the luc 4 bay would be my second choice there's simply no reason other than price to sacrifice accuracy for more current than the xtar. 2 amps will simply degrade the battery faster unnecessarily. Though still a great purchase for the moneh.

 

[ProjektMayhem]

I have a LUC charger. It's only 2 bay but it works like a charm for my 18650 batteries. I like that you can put all different battery sizes in them. Haven't had any problems at all with it. Supposedly it can bring batteries back from the dead but I don't have any over discharged batteries to test it out on. And you can charge at either .5A or 1A. 1A charging is pretty fast.

 

[Smann245]

Including charging termination voltages of a persons specific charger would be helpful. I have an xtar mp1s single bay I got from orbtronics for $10. Terminates at 4.22v. The two bay was $20. I'd rather have 2 singles for the same price as 1 double. If one breaks I still have one. Just a thought.
Oh, and 500ma max charge rate.

 

[cammelspit]

I have a Tenergy 2 bay right now but I am not the only one vaping in the house. We go through maybe 4 batteries a day so the little thing is constantly having batteries rotated through. I used my multi meter and the termination voltage is around 4.17-4.18, a little low but good enough for a B&M bought 20$ bull.... charger. We are both getting several new devices that should be arriving soon and with a 6 pack of brandy new IMRs I felt the need for a new charger both for the number of batteries charging at the same and and for the quality of a more optimized higher quality charger. This is the main reason I was looking into a 4bay and I am thankful for the input. I have decided on the Nitecore D4 but I may very well need to replace my 2 bay crap or maybe just have need of another charger and will probably go with a different brand just to get a feel for that too. I'm sure I wont be disappointed.

 

[Wolfenstark]

Eventually I plan on buying a Nitecore Intellicharger i4 V2 universal battery charger.
Did some reading and it seems like a good one to get.

 

[FloridaSam]

I have the Luc 4 and couldn't be happier.

 

[wonner]

One important difference between the LUC 4 and Nitecore D4 is that the LUC has a max charge rate of 2 Amps but the Nitecore max is 750 mA.

That could make the LUC a better option for those using 26650 batteries wanting to do fast charges at 2A.

 

[Davey59]

Eventually I plan on buying a Nitecore Intellicharger i4 V2 universal battery charger.
Did some reading and it seems like a good one to get.

It is, I bought one.

Part of my reasoning was one, I got it for about 17 bucks I know there are certainly better charger out there but it is a good charger and this gets me started for the least amount of money. Also, I well am aware I am going to need another because I would be up the proverbial creek if I just have one and it fails. So it buys a little time to asses what my needs are going to be.

 

[VaPreis]

I have a Nitecore I4, but if I had to replace it, it would be a Efest LUC 4 bay. I love how quickly it can charge and the voltage display.