[selfbuilt]

It’s not often that I get contacted by a Canadian company that manufactures flashlights and batteries (ok, until last month, never ).

Turns out, 4GREER (which apparently stands for “4 Genuine, Robust, Efficient, Excellence, Reliable” products) has been around for almost 2 years, making products aimed at law enforcement, military, medical, etc.

I will be getting to their flashlights later, but here is a quick mini-review of their high-capacity protected 18650 batteries (2400mAh rated).






Interesting logo – a stylized version of a snow owl from northern Canada.

I am not sure where the batteries are actually made, but 4GREER tells me they are Canadian designed and engineered for “high performance professional grade flashlights.”

Note that this mini-review will be done somewhat in the style of my Quick CR123A and AA Battery Shoot-out Comparison, and will include a number of protected 18650 cells in my possession. Most of the other batteries will likely be familiar to CPFers.

Also note that I am not going to be cutting up any batteries here – I’m simply going to compare the apparent capacities in my standard test bed.

To start, the batteries:



From left to right, the five protected 18650 types to be compared here are (with average weights and heights):

• AW 18650 (2200mAh) with button top – 45.9g, 67.2mm
• AW 18650 (2600mAh) flat top – 46.4g, 67.8mm
• Tenergy (2600mAh) button top – 45.8g, 67.2mm
• EagleTac (2400mAh) button top – 46.7g, 68.8mm
• 4GREER (2400mAh) button top - 48.6g, 69.2mm

Note that the rated capacities are directly from the manufacturer, as printed on the batteries. First note – as you go up in rated capacity, the cells tend to get longer and heavier. The 4GREER cells are the longest and heaviest of the bunch. Widths are approximately the same across all batteries.

My standard test bed for all Li-ion batteries is the original JetBeam IBS circuit. I possess the first-generation IBS circuit in all three body types (Jet-I, Jet-II and Jet-III), which allows me to similarly compare 14500, 16340 (RCR), 14670, 17670, and 18650. I like using this circuit for comparison testing because it is optimized for 3.7V Li-ion, heavily driven at max output, and runs fully-regulated.

To test batteries, I charge up each new battery I receive to 4.2V and then run on the appropriate IBS light at 100% until the protection circuit kicks in. This gives me an easy way to estimate the capacity of new cells as they arrive (as well as periodically monitor their health over time). FYI, in my standard reviews, I only use “typically” performing AW 18650 2200mAh button-top cells (i.e. cells that perform around the average of all samples I have bought).



First off, notice that there is generally good consistency among multiple samples from a given manufacturer (i.e. not too much variability). Also, cells with higher rated capacities typically do better, as you would expect.

Interestingly, despite their 2400mAh rated capacity, 3 of the 4 4GREER cells were indistinguishable from my higher-rated 2600mAh AW. Even the lowest performing cell exceeded my 2600mAh Tenergy (which performed around the level of my 2400mAh EagleTacs).

Again, I don’t know what the internal construction of the cells are like, but my four samples seem of consistent and good quality in their external presentation (i.e. no bulging contact surfaces, centered button tops, etc.).

Certainly the runtime results are impressive. These suggest that 4GREER cells may be a good option for those looking for high capacity with the button-top format.



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4GREER batteries provided by Kit-Tronics.com on behalf of 4GREER. EagleTac batteries provided by EagleTac. AW batteries purchased from AW. Tenergy battery purchased from a dealer.