TOPIC: Does Etsy Warrior level come with batteries?

I was looking at the Bastion on Etsy and noticed the Champion and Hero levels mentioned batteries but the Warrior did not. Does it come with batteries.

Also, I know Saber Forge uses Panasonic ones, I have two Trustfire 18650's,will they work with the 12W+ module?

It does. Only initiate tier (not available on etsy) doesn't come with a battery.
I don't see why not as long as it fits in the battery sled.

Ok, thanks. I had heard that the 12W+ might trip the protection circuit of some batteries.

Are your Trustfires nipple tipped, or flat topped?

Nipple

The battery carrier SF uses requires relatively long button-top cells. In general, this means only protected cells and only with a relatively narrow button top.

For anyone not familiar, 18650 means 18mm wide and 65.0mm long. Plus any attachments like a protection circuit and/or button top. You'll probably need something about 69mm long in order to work in the provided carrier, or possibly add your own spacer to make a shorter cell fit. The button top is about 4mm across.

I have dozens of other 18650 cells of a variety of flavors, and the only one which fits SF's battery carrier is the one which came with my saber. My others are all too short or have a positive terminal which is too wide (but I normally use unprotected high-amp cells, which aren't as appropriate in a saber).

Personally, I wouldn't trust TrustFire cells, though they do at least tend to be a little bit better than most UltraFire clones. I'd suggest getting a good brand like Panasonic, Sanyo, Samsung, LG, Sony, or Efest. The ones SF uses are Panasonic NCR18650B protected button-top, which are probably the most appropriate for saber use.

About *Fire brand batteries... they frequently are rewrapped cells from old devices or sometimes are even a smaller cell wrapped in a larger body with some padding. Some are actually lithium-cobalt, a cheaper but much more dangerous type of cell. All of the above typically only have 10% to 50% of the capacity they claim, and don't tend to have working protection circuits or safety vents. There are a few exceptions here and there, like the WindyFire 14500s which are pretty good, and the TrustFire ones are often at least relatively honest about their specs, but in general anything ending in "fire" is likely to actually end in a fire.

Here are a couple UltraFire 18650s taken apart to reveal something smaller hidden inside:



There are also a bunch of battery brands which are literally just some other brand with an extra wrapper around it, and you're usually better off getting the original instead of a rewrapped one.

How is this Legal???

SuUpberSith wrote: Hah. China is an interesting place.

But seriously, culture and business practices and values there are very different than in the US. Instead of striving to make the best-quality product, the idea is to make the cheapest product you can get people to buy. Start with something popular, then make it cheaper so you can get a better margin or undercut the competition. If you sell the entire first batch, find new ways to make it cheaper for the second batch. Each batch must be cheaper than the one before it. If customers aren't complaining, you know you haven't done your job well enough and need to keep making it cheaper. If/when it stops selling, find a new hot item to clone.

For a western company wanting to get things produced in China, quality control is very important and extensive testing must be done on each batch to ensure it hasn't degraded. Even if the company you hired behaves according to western values, their suppliers might not.

UltraFire is a generic label that many companies use when they don't have an established brand of their own. It's inspired by the US company SureFire, who used to have the best "tactical" flashlights back in incandescent days. Since then it has become sort of a running joke with UltraFire, UniqueFire, TrustFire, AngelFire, AuroraFire, VenusFire, UranusFire (ahem), FandyFire, MarsFire, PrairieFire, SupFire, ThorFire, VulcanFire, WindyFire, TopFire, KinFire, UinFire, HolyFire, AloneFire, CrazyFire, and ... well, I've only listed a small selection here. There are many more. It's basically a mark of cheapness.

Going along with a "fire" name, the published specs are usually entirely fictional, exaggerated by a factor of anywhere from 2X to 10X, or sometimes made up entirely with no relation to the actual product.

Another common behavior is for companies to re-brand these "fire" lights and mark up the price dramatically for sale to western audiences. For example, ShadowHawk and EcoGear and Outlite and EliteMax and the "G700 Military" light. They'll often sell a $5 item for $50 or more on stores like Amazon.

The quality ones have mostly switched to different names, like SupFire became SupBeam and then AceBeam, and their products are actually pretty nice.

But this is all a long tangent. Point is, SF's battery carrier needs an unusually long 69mm cell with a 4mm button top, and it's strongly recommended to get a quality cell like the Panasonic NCR18650B.