As the days pass, a lot of batteries are being released by different manufacturers. It’s effect on the vaping community is a double-edged sword. The good part is, consumers have a lot of choices on which battery to use. Also it is an evidence that Vaping Industry is alive and doing well so vaporizers will not disappear in the market anytime soon. The bad part is, as different manufacturers release their own brand of batteries, the consumers are being left confused of what to choose. Some of the batteries are not performing as what is written in its wrapper (specs). Most of the new batteries are suspected to be re-wrapped. Mostly are over rated. It is actually causing a global confusion.
So we are going to pick our Top 4 Batteries. We are just going to pick 18650(18mm x 65mm) Cells because they were the most commonly used size. So let’s check Mooch’s Battery Chart.
These were Mooch’s recommended batteries. I think they were recommended because the rating on each battery on it’s wrap is accurate. Meaning, these batteries are the ones we can trust when it comes to our safety when using vape. Now we are going to pick the Top 4 and discuss its performance.
List of All Recommended 18650 Cells: (All ratings on wrap and Mooch’s ratings)
-Aspire 1800mah ICR*** 40A (25A) 1800mah - 40A wrap ratings 25A Mooch’s ratings.
-LG HB2 30A (30A) 1500mah - 30A wrap and Mooch’s ratings. (Accurate)
-LG HB4 30A (30A) 1500mah - 30A wrap and Mooch’s ratings. (Accurate)
-LG HB4 30A (30A) 1500mah newer/updated version - 30A wrap and Mooch’s ratings. (Accurate)
-LG HB6 30A (30A) 1500mah - 30A wrap and Mooch’s ratings. (Accurate)
-LG HB6 30A (30A) 1500mah newer/updated version - wrap and Mooch’s ratings. (Accurate)
-LG HD2 25A (25A) 2000mah - 25A wrap and Mooch’s ratings. (Accurate)
-LG HD2C 20A 2100mah - 20A 2100mah wrap (25A 2200mah Mooch’s ratings)
-LG HD4 - 25A 2100mah Mooch’s Ratings
-LG HE2 20A - 20A 2500mah wrap and Mooch’s ratings. (Accurate)
-LG HE4 20A 2500mah - 20A 2500mah wrap and Mooch’s ratings. (Accurate)
-LG HG2 20A 3000mah - 20A 3000mah wrap and Mooch’s ratings. (Accurate)
-Panasonic/Sanyo NCR 18650GA - 10A 3300mah wrap and Mooch’s ratings. (Accurate)
-Samsung 20R - 22A 2000mah wrap and Mooch’s ratings. (Accurate)
-Samsung 25R - 20A 2500mah wrap and Mooch’s ratings. (Accurate)
-Samsung 30Q - 15A 3000mah wrap ratings (20A 3000mah Mooch’s ratings)
-Sanyo UR18650NSX - 20A 2500mah wrap ratings (22A 2500mah Mooch’s ratings)
-Sony VTC 3 - 30A 1500mah wrap ratings (28A 1500mah Mooch’s ratings)
-Sony VTC 4 - 30A 2100mah wrap ratings (23A 2100mah Mooch’s ratings)
-Sony VTC 5 - 20A 2600mah wrap and Mooch’s ratings. (Accurate)
-Sony VTC 6 - 20A 3000mah wrap (19A 3000mah Mooch’s ratings)
Now that we listed all the 18650 (18mm x 65mm) recommended battery cells, we are going to pick the top 4. In picking the best batteries, there are things that we need to consider.
-High Capacity - it determines how long you can use your vape before you need to recharge your battery again. It is measured as Milliampere-hours (mah)
-Lowness of Temperature when operating - If you want to make sure that you are vaping safely and keeping your batteries’ life long, you want to operate the battery at the lowest temperature in your preference. It is either put your wattage in lower values or build your coils in higher resistance. But if this will keep you from your Vaping Nirvana, you can just look for batteries that has a fast cooling down time.
-High Current Rating - the main factor why battery overheats is that they cannot safely transmit the current because it is too high. Some say “you can ignore the rating because you are using regulated mod” That is wrong. Whether your mod is regulated or unregulated, they still deliver the current in your mod to produce the heat for the coils to burn the juice and produce a vapor. In this factor, we would think that the highest rating will be the safest battery of them all, and that is Correct. But you also need to consider the capacity of the battery. Always remember that there is no 18650 battery who has 3000mah capacity and has a rating over 20A. It’s either high capacity or high current rating. You’ll choose.
-High Voltage when vaping or some other call it “Hard Hitting” - this is for unregulated or mechanical mods. Hard hitter means batteries who can transmit more current to the coil so more vapor is produced. You don’t have to search too much for batteries who has high voltage. The batteries who have high capacity and current rating are usually the ones that produces high voltage.
With these factors being considered, we have to choose
2 batteries with Lower Current Ratings with High Capacity (will give you longer time before recharging them again).
1 Battery with Higher Current Ratings with Lower Capacity (hard hitter with decent capacity)
1 Battery with the Highest Current Ratings possible with Low Capacity (mainly for cloud chasing)
Looking at the Chart, for the 2 batteries with Lower Current Ratings with High Capacity
I chose LG HG2 3000mah and 20A ratings. It is the most popular battery in vaping. The performance is already proven and tested. Just make sure to buy an authentic one because a lot of clones are being released globally.
The second one is the Sony VTC 6 20A 3000mah wrap (19A 3000mah Mooch’s ratings). The specs are almost the same with LG HG 2 but the difference is Sony VTC6 has a faster cooling down time than LG HG2. This is the best High Capacity 18650 cell for me so far.
Now, let us choose a Higher Current Rating with a Decent Capacity.
Looking at the chart, the battery who has the highest current rating with a capacity that is 2000mah or above is the LG HD4 Battery which has 25A 2100mah but I am choosing Sony VTC4 over LG HD4 because Sony VTC4 has a faster cooling time than the LG HD4. Just be extremely careful in buying Sony VTC4 because like LG HG2, it has a lot of clones all over the world.
SONY VTC4 30A 2100mah wrap ratings (23A 2100mah Mooch’s Ratings)
Lastly, let’s choose the Strongest Battery when it comes to producing current. These batteries are usually used when people do cloud chasing. It has the capacity to run with high voltage, it can withstand low resistance coils but you will definitely be recharging them too soon.
So I chose the LG HB6 and it has 30A 1500mah. Among the LG HB family, it is the latest one. It has two versions though. Just pick the pink one because that is the most updated.
In vaping, battery is one of the most important factors that needs to be considered first in order for us to ensure safety. You may be swayed by the exaggerated ratings of the new batteries that are being released lately but when you are going to buy your own battery, ALWAYS keep this in mind.
- There is no 18650 with a factory/manufacturer rating over 30A.
- There is no 3000mAh 18650 that can have a rating over 20A.
- There is no 3100mAh-3600mAh 18650 that can have a rating over 10A.
- There is no 18650 available to vapers that can have a capacity rating over 3600mAh.
With those facts that we have, we can always say what is our best battery for our Vaporizers.