I'm now looking for good 26650s for a mech mod. I need 20a batteries. I've heard mnke 3500s are good all around. I imagine a ton of mah can be had with 26650s compared to 18650s.
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Good 26650s
- Thread starter VapingN252
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Note: Edited this post after doing testing later in the thread...
26650's really aren't that much better than 18650s, surprisingly, but they are somewhat better. The Efest 4200mAh is the best we've seen. Our testing showed the MNKEs to not be as good but they're decent. I'm sure there are other brands too that rewrap the same cells that Efest uses but I'm not sure which they are since we obviously don't carry them.
Note that the Efest 3500mAh is bad. At one time they were good (we tested them about a year ago and they were great at very high amps), but I guess at some point in the last year they changed the cell under the wrapper.
And the Efest 5200mAh is OK for low current but at 20A the 4200mAh is definitely the best one.
26650's really aren't that much better than 18650s, surprisingly, but they are somewhat better. The Efest 4200mAh is the best we've seen. Our testing showed the MNKEs to not be as good but they're decent. I'm sure there are other brands too that rewrap the same cells that Efest uses but I'm not sure which they are since we obviously don't carry them.
Note that the Efest 3500mAh is bad. At one time they were good (we tested them about a year ago and they were great at very high amps), but I guess at some point in the last year they changed the cell under the wrapper.
And the Efest 5200mAh is OK for low current but at 20A the 4200mAh is definitely the best one.
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Cool. I was looking for you but didn't know how to do that paging thing
I'm ordering two 26650s 4200 mah. The other ones are a mega deal but so are these.
Mooch says about the efest 3500 26650: "In my opinion, when compared to its ratings, this is a terrible performing battery. This is a 10A+ continuous discharge current (CDR) cell with very low capacity for its rating"
He also says about the MNKE 3500 26650 "In my opinion, this is a 25A+ continuous discharge current (CDR) cell with good capacity for its rating. It really shines at around 20A"
I wouldn't trust anything efest says, especially when they don't manufacture their own batteries
He also says about the MNKE 3500 26650 "In my opinion, this is a 25A+ continuous discharge current (CDR) cell with good capacity for its rating. It really shines at around 20A"
I wouldn't trust anything efest says, especially when they don't manufacture their own batteries
Definitely agree on trusting Efest's discharge ratings, although they seem to pretty consistently be good ratings if you just multiply them by half
. My comments above aren't based on their ratings, they're based on the test results we got ourselves. Mooch must have gotten a defective one, I'll put on my list to retest them to be sure something hasn't changed and get in touch with him. These 26650s from them really are quite good, although in general the 4200mAh is the best one for most people.
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I just ran a 20A continuous run on the Efest 4200mAh and you can see in the attached pic it's pretty awesome. It hits 4400mAh even with 20A and only peaks out at about 50 degrees C, so it's definitely got more headroom to go up in amps to higher than 20. Highly doubtful it can actually do the 40A continuous/60A pulse that it says on the label but it's definitely higher than 20A for sure.
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Well I take it back...I just tested some of the 3500mAh Efest 26650's......and they're crap, just like you said. I get similar results to Mooch. They must have changed them since we did our first tests on them a year ago, without changing the wrapper. That's one of the really annoying things about Efest is sometimes they change what cell is under the wrapper without telling anyone (even if I specifically ask they generally don't tell me). Very frustrating.
But, the Efest 4200mAh as shown above is awesome so I can still highly recommend that one as the best 26650 at 20A.
But, the Efest 4200mAh as shown above is awesome so I can still highly recommend that one as the best 26650 at 20A.
It must be frustrating. But I must say, efest being a chinese company who doesn't actually manufacture anything, it doesn't surprise me one bit. If they can find a cheaper way to do something and make a couple extra cents per item, they will, specs be damned. It may not matter so much in the flashlight industry, but in the vape industry, seriously over rating a battery can injure someone. If they gave a shit about you, me, or anyone else, or they wouldn't do it. They see us as gullible suckers that are too stupid to know the difference.
I actually don't get the sense that they have this attitude. I mean of course they're not going to tell me if they do but I genuinely get the feeling that they just don't understand how to rate these things, and are doing what everyone else is doing. I.e. if they can get it to pass the bare minimum of testing at that amp rating without exploding, then it's a valid rating. I think also they don't have much testing expertise, so they believe the specs they are given, and based on how endemic this too high rating thing is in China I think it's the actual cell manufacturer or trading company selling the cells that gives them such crazy ratings, that they then believe. So it's not Efest rating them that high, it's whoever they're buying from.
Whereas Samsung, LG, etc....they rate the batteries very differently. They rate them so that they'll still operate at a very high level of performance without long term cell degradation, which also means a huge margin of safety.
It is annoying but the only way I can get these alternate form factors like 26650, etc, is to deal with a Chinese company like Efest. Efest is one of the better ones so they're who I picked.
Reporting back on these batteries. They are awesome. I really believe I could vape for 3 or 4 days with these. Great recommendation
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