Everlast Batteries 123A (as good as surfire or panasonic)?

gazaati

BANNED
Joined
Apr 7, 2008
Messages
412
I know nothing about batteries. I need some for my newly acquired fenix t10.

These seem to be relatively affordable in bulk. I am thinking buying 40 or so.

Question is, do they have decent power capacity? Like the surfire or panasonic for example?

capacity lifetime????????
 
When you buy those batteries make sure they are a major brand ! Off name batteries have been known to explode occassionally...Direct form surefire are one of the better deals.Battery Station is another source.I don't know about Everlast
 
Titanium brand 123a cells are comparable to Surefires IMO. A dollar each online. I've never tried Everlast batts though so I can't give you my opinion on them.
 
When you buy those batteries make sure they are a major brand ! Off name batteries have been known to explode occassionally...Direct form surefire are one of the better deals.Battery Station is another source.I don't know about Everlast

Thanks for the prompt reply mete.

Its a known brand but am not sure when it comes to lithium.

Also they r from knife works, So I guess they wont sell a brand that
is not good.
 
123 Battery Shoot Out thread @ CPF

More info than you thought you could ever find on 123 cells :D

I plugged the numbers from that thread into a spreadsheet a while back and then added a column based on online prices that I could find for a few of the popular cells. I then looked at the ratio of energy capacity to what the cells cost... based on all that I buy the Titanium cells these days.

I usually just buy a bunch whenever I order something else from BatteryJunction. The thing I also like about the Titanium cells is that you can get them in pairs (which I always do). This reduces the danger of me loading a 2x123 light with cells of differing remaining capacity / age. By getting shrink-wrapped pairs, I know that every time I load a light fresh it is with matched cells from the same manufacturing lot.

Of course, these days I try to run most of my lights on rechargeables of one kind or another, so my hoarding of primaries is pretty much to feed lights in emergency kits or other high-priority lights that need to have shelf life and won't be used often.
 
BTW, before the lithium batteries became popular I became confused by the battery ads !! It took me a while to figure it out but there are actually 4 different tests ; high drain, low drain, continuous use , intermitant use. If a companies battery was #1 in any of the tests they could claim " We're #1" !! Which of course means that 4 companies could claim they are #1 .
Batteries undergo continual improvement .The AA rechargeable started out at 900 mAh and now are up to 2700. But undestand that the higher the mAh rating the higher the self discharge rate !
As far as individual batteries they all different .That's why my good charger analyses each battery and charges each according to their need.
 
I wish that I read this ahead of time. But still I got a good deal on Rayovac ones from LApolicegear.com .

What kills me is how much some places (like Walmart and Target) charge for them.
 
Direct form surefire are one of the better deals
Most Surefire dealers price comparably to surefire direct- about $2 each.

I used to be on the Surefire only bandwagon, but not so much anymore. I have used off-brand US made without problems, as well as Chinese made Tenergy brand (from Battery Junction). I do, however, take the precaution of unscrewing the contact when not in use (on a surefire, that means putting it on lock-out for me).
 
Be careful about buying 123's. When used in pairs and sets (ie. more than one at a time) you should especially avoid using Chinese-made lithium cells. They can reverse polarity and explode violently due to insufficient safety mechanisms inside the cells! This is called thermal runaway and can ruin a good light and the chemicals emitted can harm your health. Any lithium cell is potentially dangerous but the Chinese ones have proven problematic in real usage.

I can only recommend American or Japanese-made cells, such as Energizer, Duracell, Surefire, Streamlight, Panasonic (be careful of counterfeits). If you are curious to know more you should head over to CandlePowerForums and do some searches.
 
Check out the CPF Specials page on batterystation.com... USA made 123A's for under $1.50 each.
 
I like the Surefire batteries. You can get a 2-pack at Lowe's for about 5 bucks. Energizers can cost 5 or 6 bucks apiece, depending on where you get them.
 
Last edited:
If you are going to use lights with multiple 123's a good investment is a ZTS battery tester. Very easy to use and works for other battery types as wellGet one from lighthound.com for $30, great service and addictive selection of stuff. I test every 123 cell I use. If the battery measures less than 100% capacity (and this can happen with all brands) when new it goes to a separate box for single cell lights only.

Bill
 
Last edited:
1. Everlast 123's are lousy cells (in my testing, they were last in capacity and runtime)

2. Don't buy Chinese or overseas made cells, unless they're Japanese Sanyos or Panasonics

3. Only buy USA made cells, and since there's only one lithium factory in the U.S. all private labeled cells come from there and they're all pretty much equal in performance (I.E. Surefire, Streamlight, Ray O Vac, Energizer, etc).

-dan
 
. I have used off-brand US made without problems, as well as Chinese made Tenergy brand (from Battery Junction).

I bought 10 or so Tenergy CR123s last year. I was far from impressed. The run times leave much to be desired.So far my lights have digested:
Surefire
Streamlight
Ray O Vac
Tenergy

I wasn't really impressed with the run time that Surefire batts gave. But I did only use one set purchased locally. So far the Ray O Vacs are working well for me.
 
I use only Panasonic CR123A batteries in my lights that I use for "emergencies." For utility lights, I'll use whatever I can get for a good deal, but that also has a decent reputaton on www.candlepowerforums.com. Right now I'm using the last of my Battery Station supply.
 
Back
Top