Why bash the TR-001?

[glycerol]

Hi guys, recently I read a lot of negative post concerning the Trustfire TR-001 chargers. Well, I use two Trustfire TR-001 chargers for about an year now and they both perform great - don't overcharge when leftt overnight, all my IMRs and protecteds come out at 4.18 to 4.21 volts, they charge safely with 500mA per channel, can charge any battery known to me (no magnets or spacers required) and cost like 7 bucks each. So am I lucky or it's really a decent charger for a decent price? Please share your experiences with the TR-001

 

[Singaw]

Very, very slow to charge 18650's and the constant trickle charge once the battery is fully charged worries me. For a few more dollars you can get a sysmax/nitecore/jetbeam i4 v2 clone from fasttech or the real thing for about $30 and charge with confidence.

 

[artt]

I've been using the same TR-001 for almost 3 years with no troubles. I never leave the charger unattended for safety and remove charged batteries from the unit immediately. They do have a bad reputation but it has worked fine for me.

 

[Tinkiegrrl]

I don't trust myself to take batteries off the charger as soon as they're done. I'm always distracted by the kids, the husband, etc... So, I paid more for a charger that came highly recommended and it was worth it to me.

 

[CloudPusher]

I use the TR-002 and it charges pretty fast. Well faster than my last cheapo charger. Funny how the TR-001 charges 2 batteries and the TR-002 charges only one. I think they got it backwards, lol.

 

[Ryedan]

Hi guys, recently I read a lot of negative post concerning the Trustfire TR-001 chargers. Well, I use two Trustfire TR-001 chargers for about an year now and they both perform great - don't overcharge when leftt overnight, all my IMRs and protecteds come out at 4.18 to 4.21 volts, they charge safely with 500mA per channel, can charge any battery known to me (no magnets or spacers required) and cost like 7 bucks each. So am I lucky or it's really a decent charger for a decent price? Please share your experiences with the TR-001

It's not a charger I would buy. Here's a technical review of it by a guy who knows his stuff. I'm not comfortable with the fact that it never stops charging. Also a surprising number of people have ruined batteries with it. Not sure if they left them in overnight all the time or if the charger was doing something else bad.

I picked up a Xtar WP2 for around $20 a year and a half ago. Here's the review of that one. If you want to skip the charts, scroll to the bottom and read the conclusions.

Works for me

 

[Rickajho]

You got lucky - so far... Trustfire and Nitecore appear to have the worst quality control standards out there based on the number of complaints here alone. If/when they work right - great. When they don't - well they can arrive DOA in the box with soldered parts that fell off the boards in transit. Or Trustfire's can take 12+ hours to charge any decent capacity 18650 battery - if it ever completes the charge cycle at all. And you cannot trust - no pun intended - a Trustfire to perform consistently over time. If components go out of tolerance and the unit does start over charging batteries you have no way of knowing unless you monitor the voltage of the batteries coming off the charger. And that means buying a meter to accessorize the inexpensive charger And the costs start going up...

The way I look at it, it doesn't make any sense to buy an $8.00 to $12.00 charger and take a crap shoot on it working at all, or taking out both the charger and the batteries if it fails, when you can get a reliable charger with little to no failure complaints for only twenty bucks. Considering the entire vaping experience is based on properly charged batteries the last place you should cheap out on is the charger. Good luck.

 

[Submaniac]

I had a Trustfire charger, and I think it is garbage. It only lasted a few months before it stopped working. I won't buy any Trustfire products anymore.

 

[MasterofNone]

Nitecore chargers are great, and one of the most highly regarded chargers... So... What do you mean by lumping nitecore in with trust fire? Are you a xtar guy? Lol


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[WattWick]

Nitecore chargers are great, and one of the most highly regarded chargers... So... What do you mean by lumping nitecore in with trust fire? Are you a xtar guy? Lol


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Sort of wondered about that myself. One of the go-to sites for charger tests concludes that the Nitecore i4 a good charger.

A higher number of reported problems can also simply mean a higher number of users.

 

[MasterofNone]

I've had two chargers, both nitecore. The i2 and the i4. I4 going strong for over a year, the i2 got sold as a package with my 'vari. Reliably charges my batts to 4.17 every time


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[The Ministry]

My TR001 would be troublesome charging two batteries at the same time - both lights would go green but if you removed a battery, the other battery resumed charging (the full bays light went red again). I started testing the voltage after this and it would often do what it should do, and often they would come off fully charged (apparently) at less than 4 volts. I started just using it as a 1 battery charger and more often than not it would work fine.

It started making a strange buzzing noise and started getting rather warm in use, it was that point I ditched it.

Compared to an i4, it took ages to charge 18650 too.

Hey, I may have had a bad charger - I had nothing to compare it to as it was my first battery charger for the e-cig, and came bundled with my first Mod.

If your TR001 works, then there's nothing to diss about it really, just mine didn't fill me with confidence. I may have had a bad unit, it happens

 

[Baditude]

No issues with the Nitecore chargers here. I have used the Nitecore i4 and my daughter the i2 for several months and it charges our batteries as expected. Fully-charged batteries always at 4.2 volts measured on a Provari.

Personally, I would never use a cheap charger, especially one made by Trustfire. Statistically, most battery incidents happen while charging and many of those incidents were due to bad chargers. High quality batteries deserve at the very least a decent battery charger.

 

[Vaslovik]

When I bought my first mech I didn't know any better and I let them sell me the Trustfire charger, because it was the only one they had at the B&M and I wanted that mech in the worst way. To put it plain and simple the charger flat-out sucked. Even with the faster rate of charge it took far too long and with two batteries in it twice as long, which again, just plain sucked.

It wasn't long before I got a Nitecore i2, and that was good for a while, until it went goofy on me telling me the battery I'd just checked was at 3.6v was fully charged in seconds, which it wasn't of course, and so I could not trust that charger anymore. Now I have an Efest LUC V4 on the way.

 

[glycerol]

Even with the faster rate of charge it took far too long and with two batteries in it twice as long, which again, just plain sucked.

It wasn't long before I got a Nitecore i2, and that was good for a while, until it went goofy on me telling me the battery I'd just checked was at 3.6v was fully charged in seconds, which it wasn't of course, and so I could not trust that charger anymore.

Well, first of all there are no "faster" or "slower" charge rates, it's just. a 3v-3.6v switch where 3v stands for a different type of cells, so if it tells you your battery is ready, that means you've been charging your batteries at a rate designed for a totally different cell core where final requested voltage is lower - so YOU'RE doing it wrong, don't blame the charger lol.

And second, makes no difference if you charge one or two cells simultaneously - the charger supplies steady 500mA FOR EACH CHANNEL, unlike some other chargers (see CandleLight's test of the TR-001). Charging @ ~500mA MAX is THE standard charge rate, charging at 1A or 2A is proven to decrease the number of life cycles of your cell.

Good day.