-
Having trouble using the site?
Contact support
Night Vision Best Performing CR123A Batteries
- Thread starter Drew890
- Start date
I use energizer lithium’s. Last long, have good power, and no corrosion issues. So no complaints.
SF / Panasonic (identical, since Panasonic makes SF batteries) and Energizer Lithiums are basically perform the same. I don’t know who makes the Streamlight batteries, but they’re probably the same to all practical extent.
There are 2-3 good rechargables that perform 50-70% as well which can save serious coin over the long haul.
Arms Unlimited had a special on 400 SF 123A’s for roughly the same shipped price per battery that I bought my 2,000 brand new Energizer 123A’s for.
There are 2-3 good rechargables that perform 50-70% as well which can save serious coin over the long haul.
Arms Unlimited had a special on 400 SF 123A’s for roughly the same shipped price per battery that I bought my 2,000 brand new Energizer 123A’s for.
SF and energizer and run them in everything
and change them out routinly. Changed them every night overseas. Never had a failure. Kills me when guys buy a 6K piece of gear and complain about replacing a 1.50 battery. Do it before that 350 lb hog runs over you!!
and change them out routinly. Changed them every night overseas. Never had a failure. Kills me when guys buy a 6K piece of gear and complain about replacing a 1.50 battery. Do it before that 350 lb hog runs over you!!
They are all pretty much the same. Being primarily made of lithium, they have similar construction. Buy whatever cheaper.
Care to Elaborate.
Have some advanced knowledge on lithium battery production to bring to the table?
No advanced knowledge of battery design or materials, just a general experiential knowledge that all batteries in general - and CR123s in particular - have not functioned equally for me.
If it is a $20 flashlight you got on Amazon, rock on; if it is a $10,000 thermal, no chance in hell I am putting a no-name battery in mine.
This applies to rechargeable too - maybe more so.
To each, his own.
I am not trying to start a shitstorm, quite the contrary; Surefires have been great for me and they tend to be on the lower end of the bulk $ scale. I've had a few energizers (on the higher end of the $ scale) be off right out of the packaging. I put everything on a tester before it goes in a device.
For those that recall the Kestrel issue many years ago with Duracell batteries, we tend to lean sorta "battery-snob"-ish, I guess you could say. People often consult price when buying wine, and it doesn't always work well; the same is true of batteries.
I like a thread with an abundance of anecdotes; it ain't data, but it is useful nonetheless - assuming a certain level of intelligence and integrity.
That last part can indeed bite you!
If it is a $20 flashlight you got on Amazon, rock on; if it is a $10,000 thermal, no chance in hell I am putting a no-name battery in mine.
This applies to rechargeable too - maybe more so.
To each, his own.
I am not trying to start a shitstorm, quite the contrary; Surefires have been great for me and they tend to be on the lower end of the bulk $ scale. I've had a few energizers (on the higher end of the $ scale) be off right out of the packaging. I put everything on a tester before it goes in a device.
For those that recall the Kestrel issue many years ago with Duracell batteries, we tend to lean sorta "battery-snob"-ish, I guess you could say. People often consult price when buying wine, and it doesn't always work well; the same is true of batteries.
I like a thread with an abundance of anecdotes; it ain't data, but it is useful nonetheless - assuming a certain level of intelligence and integrity.
That last part can indeed bite you!
Energizer test better, they have something called ultimate lithiumin AA and AAA battery. I know this mainly from GPS use, you can run them for days hard. The same brand has other grade of [edit-also lithium] battery that fails alot sooner in a similar field use/test. So the idea they are all interchangeble is a myht (IMHO), and emprically not a good starting point. For CR123 in particular, I don't have experience with hard use applications. I use energizers and they seem to do well enough. If the Horta says he testem them out and they are as good as it gets, I wouldn't doubt that based on what I've seen in other applications from the same brand...
Last edited:
Here is where you fail:
We are talking about CR123, not AA or AAA.
With CR123, they are almost ALL lithium.
Comparing AA or AAA Lithium to cheap NICAD or Alkaline is not the argument.
Since almost all CR123 are Lithium, and the number #1 battery failure by FAR is leakage/corrosion/explosions................
Lithium Batteries due to their nasty ass chemical makeup, ALL have much more robust construction making battery leakage and therefore electronic destruction very very unlikely...........
Means just about all CR123 batteries will perform the same. They will have the same or similar chemical makeup, they will have robust containers, they should not leak and the same voltage. There may be slight differences but will be insignificant.
In our labs and testing equipment we have run everything from the SF/Pan, Stream, Dura, Eng, Sony, and a bunch of cheaper offshore variants, there is little to no difference in quality.
So until a SME or Battery Engineer can come in an shed more technical reasons why one is better than the other, There is no practical difference.
Last edited:
You are confused and mixing up the issue.
Kestrels issue was using NON Lithium batteries in a non sealed batterybox on a electronic device that continually draws current, resulting in corrosion and leakage if they aren't pulled after use (which also results in memory loss).
They started supplying their devices with LITHIUM batteries after hundreds of devices were destroyed due to them supplying a $600 meter with a .25 battery instead of a .50 one. They also did not stand behind the product and lots of people were out the money or given half off retail of a new kestrel(which wasn't much less than buying one on the market). Also, you notice on the device you can select lithium or Alkaline so the device knows which kind is in it. I remember this becuase I was one of the unlucky few with a destroyed 4500NVAB due to corrosion.
So once again, the subject is CR123, Not AA, Not AAA, Not D Cell, Not a group 27 Deep cell. CR123.
Nope, I used the Kestrel as an example of battery-snobbery - though that isn't the best term, maybe battery steadfastness.
I am not mixing up CR123 with AA or AAA, nor am I conflating them. I have extensive experience with CR123s and have found that certain brands consistently perform the task but for a shorter duration. Additionally, I have found that some rechargeable do indeed have enough fluctuation to make them not work well in devices with high sensitivity to voltage precision.
I am not questioning your knowledge or experience, just telling you I have had a different experience. You are welcome to continue to tell me I am wrong, I am perfectly fine with that.
I am not mixing up CR123 with AA or AAA, nor am I conflating them. I have extensive experience with CR123s and have found that certain brands consistently perform the task but for a shorter duration. Additionally, I have found that some rechargeable do indeed have enough fluctuation to make them not work well in devices with high sensitivity to voltage precision.
I am not questioning your knowledge or experience, just telling you I have had a different experience. You are welcome to continue to tell me I am wrong, I am perfectly fine with that.
LMAO...energizer makes more than 1 grade of lithium battery...I know, I've tested them in the field A/B...only lithium vs lithium because nothing else ever goes into nav gear when you are in alpine or very remote backcountry.
Although I travel with Cr123 devices one the same trips, those devices only see intermittent use. So I don't have the same kind of granular, hour-by-hour under hard use data, so I refrain from pretending that the results carry over.
This is why my earlier post was caveated to describe "testing is possible" (because it works on AAA etc) but also says "I haven't done it with Cr123" although LaHorta apparently has.
My point was don't dismiss his field use tests out of hand...its a bad starting point.
Last edited:
All this time overseas and I never knew why-except there were a lot of guys more knowledgable than me.
but I did learn one new thing today that I did not know before. Surefire and Panasonic are made by the same mfgr, and each have 1550 something. So for my battery info I will contact Horta and optics will still be Wig.
but I did learn one new thing today that I did not know before. Surefire and Panasonic are made by the same mfgr, and each have 1550 something. So for my battery info I will contact Horta and optics will still be Wig.
