Best 18650 Battery 2015 April 14 2015, 9 Comments
What is the best 18650 battery in 2015? It's a question we get asked a lot, but like all things the key is: it all depends.
Manufacturers
Let's lay out the major 18650 battery manufacturers. There is Panasonic, Samsung, and LG. Sony cells have fallen in production, as they focus more on li-po - soft cells for use in mobile and tablet.
Panasonic provide some of the best cells for electric vehicles. LG, Samsung, and Panasonic all produce 18650 batteries for laptops. LG and Samsung produce more high-drain cells. But after all is said and done, all three of these manufacturers have very similar battery lines.
Application
You should consider whether your application calls for high-drain, or high capacity batteries. These two specifications are always at odds. The higher the capacity, the lower the amp drain. The higher A rating, the lower mAh rating.
Electric cars depend on long drive distances and prefer high-capacity cells. Whereas vapes, mods, and power-tools depend on high-drain batteries with a high A rating.
Currently, the highest-drain 18650 in production is rated at 30A. But almost all production is focused lower at 20A.
The highest capacity 18650 batteries fall short of 4000mAh, and the ones readily in production are closer to 3500mAh.
Recommendation
For vapes and mods we recommend the Samsung 25R.
For general electric vehicles we recommend the Panasonic BE.
Laptops, high-performance electric vehicles, flashlights, power-tools, etc. all have special needs and there is no exclusive answer to which battery is best. It all depends on your application.
I hope this helps! If you have any questions feel free to send us a message. We are happy to help you choose the best 18650 battery in 2015.
Comments
Tally on September 22 2017 at 02:19PM
Someone should spend a bit of money and time, and order one or two fake cells from eBay and then put an awful negative comment for the sellers bringing his rating down. They will quickly take notice and stop buying the fakes.
shervinshibani on September 26 2016 at 03:48AM
hi
i just looking for highest quality and capacity of 18650 battry for my new nitecore tm26gt flash light
its needed 4 batteries. the nitcore nl189 which is 3400 mah is recomended but the price is much more than other company
can you please give me advise is it good? or i can take from other company by lower price and even may be high efficiant also
Phoenix on May 10 2016 at 12:51AM
The best 18650 battery at 2015, in most using circumstances, is the LG MJ1. It has a high capacity at 3500mah(ah forget those fakes like ultrafire), while capable of a CONTIOUSLY DRAIN at 10A!
In capacity-prioritized circumstances like powerbanks(handheld/desktop/EV power source), it is almost NO.1. No bargins, but pure awesome.
In discharge-prioritized circumstances it depends. If the drainage is less than 10A the LG MJ1 is still capable. If the discharge level is really high, multiple cells can be used (providing that there is enough space). A battery pack with 8 LG MJ1s are capable of a discharge of AT LEAST 200 watts. Enough to power a DTR notebook like the Clevo P157SMA, or 2 light notebooks.
The only condition that it is NOT capable is that the drainage per cell is really high, like 20A or 30A. For 20A the LG HG2 fits, and for 30A, the only battery which is capable is the LG HB6. However, these conditions are really rare and shouldn’t be considered as NORMAL.
Dan Allen on January 05 2016 at 12:17PM
I am looking at 18650 batteries on ebay that are listed with 5800mAh capacity.
OE 3.7V 5800mAh 18650 Li-ion Rechargeable Battery for UltraFire Flashlight
How certain can I be that these batteries are what they say?
I see that the article says the highest capacity cell are 3500mAh. How can you be certain of that?
I believe the batteries being offered are fake, but the seller on ebay has a 99% approval rating. I want to report them for offering a phoney product.
Any information you an provide will be much appreciated.
Jayden on December 03 2015 at 10:07PM
Is the LG HG2 18650 3000mAh 20Amp superior than the Samsung INR18650-25R 2500mAh 20Amp in terms of safety and usage in regulated mods and vaping?
Steve Kolarich on September 11 2015 at 10:35PM
I neede 18650 brtys. Do vU have?
Dave Norwood on August 09 2015 at 03:13AM
Interested in your recommendations for vaping batteries. With new regulated devices being constantly raised to HIGHER wattage. Its now recommended to go with 30-35 amp discharge rates(pulse/continuios).
Thanks Dave Norwood norwooddj@comcast.net
JJ on July 17 2015 at 07:25PM
Do you sell or can you source Sony 18650HC? This should be a great battery for special situations (has extensive space flight heritage).
Stephen Philp on May 26 2015 at 08:58PM
I have just recently aquired 4 Samsung ICR 18650 30B batteries to power my Bicycle Light, is this a good choice and are they PCB protected? Thanks for any help