I live reading mooch es blog, his testing methodology is good and he conveys info without being judgemental.
The cells I feel safe using are all from major oems. Branded cells may be good, bit even with a brand that may use say, a Samsung 25R with their own wrap on it, they may at any time decide to change the cell they use.
For me and the way I Vape (both single cell mech, series mech and series regulated :
Up to 20A (130W in series regulated, 0.2 ohms single/parallel, or in series at no lower than 0.4 ohms) :
- Samsung 25R
- LG HE2/HE4
- LG HG2 (3000mah great in regulated mods)
For up to 160W or only slightly below 0.2 I use the LG HD2 which is 25A and 2000mAh.
On very low builds down to about 0.14 (or a little lower, for me, occasionally) I use LG HB6. HB2 and HB4 will also work equally as well. Very low capacity at 1500mah but a true 30A. VTC4/5 can handle the stress of 30A but their capacity is too high to be able to stay cool enough. The HB6 series being only 1500mah means they're dead before their temperature goes too high. They're also very low internal resistance. This also means they don't get as hot.
I don't mind Sony cells, just that in my opinion they were a bit over hyped. Great cells. Just don't trust that I'm always going to get a genuine one. There are vendors at trust, but they're in and out of stock and in the UK they're expensive too.