so I mentioned way earlier i was suing a nitecore I4, but it broke when I left a battery in backwards, only 2 slots were working. I have 7 sets of LG HG2s and 2 sets of 25Rs SO 2 slots was not cutting it for me.
I just replaced it with the efest LUC v6.
Ive only had it a few days but it seems to be a better charger then the nitecore I4.
I have a couple mods that actually display the voltage of the batteries. I had noticed that all my batteries at full charge in these mods read as 4.1V when fully charged on the I4. Since the I4 has no digital display I thought it was just sag or my mods were inaccurate.
I took a pair of fully charged batteries from my I4 and put them in the efest. The efest's digital display also read them at being 4.1V and then charged them further to the full 4.2. Then when these batteries were in the mods that display battery voltage, they read at 4.2V.
So the I4 never fully charged my batteries.
another nice thing about this charger is it has an actual power cord. it does not use a usb cable to power it like many of the Xtar chargers. Using a USB cable means making sure whatever you plug it into supplys the correct amps to the charger to get full use of its charging capabilities. ie if you only have a .5 amp wall adapter you are not going to be charging very fast if at all. It also came with a car cigarette lighter adapter as well.
the 2 amp charging that has been mentioned for this is only on slots 3 and 4. According to the manual and everything I have read in the battery forum here says that 2 amp charging is for 26650 batteries and not 18650s. While you can charge 18650s at 2amps it supposedly reduces the life span of 18650s. I am not a battery expert so I do not know this to be 100% true, but I have read this various times on this forum and a few other places.
Also when you switch to 2 amp charging the other 4 slots do not charge. SO to charge multiple batteries you are limited to .68amps but that is almost double the .375 my I4 was doing
The batteries are easier to install and remove form the efest. The spring loaded tabs are much smoother then my I4.
According to the manual it automatically enters a special charging mode for over discharged batteries that are below 2.9V to try and ressurect them which is a feature not mentioned on most websites that sell this charger.
While it doesnt have some of the analytical features of more expensive chargers I feel $27 for this versus the $17ish for an I4, $22 for a nitecore D4, $30 for the xtar VC4 or $40 for the Xtar VP4 the efest is well worth it since you get
1. 2 more slots over the other mentioned chargers
2. a digital display that shows actual voltage versus the I4
3. it actually charges batteries to the full 4.2V instead of 4.1V on my I4
4. An actual power supply unlike the Xtars
Now provided it actually holds up as long or longer as the other chargers I mentioned, Then IMHO this is probably the best value in low end chargers on the market at this time
The only qualm I have is the bottom is very smooth. so it slides around my desk easily. It should have some rubber feet on it to stop it from sliding. Otherwise I am very happy with my new charger
Also it is important to not this charger does not charge the rechargable AAA/AA C and D batteries which some o f the other chargers I mentioned do. So if you need a charger for multiple battery chemistries this is not for you