Excellent charger and brand. I use a smaller, older version of it for 4 charging ports and max. 18650 size daily for a long time. Going through many of 18650 batteries for e-vaporizer, flashlights and many other devices. Very convenient and easy to see the status and capacity. Most of my batteries are recovered from the old laptops are still having plenty of usable life in them, and it's easy to sort through and pick the ones that still good.
G'day Mark, nice one mate, the unit and the review. I've seen quite a few XTAR products over here, but to be honest, I wasn't sure about their "desirability". A good warranty is a great sign to start with and a demo certainly helps with credibility too. I prefer Klarus Li-ion jobs, I found just by experience they offer the best bang for buck, though noth'n wrong with Thrunite and Fenix branded ones either. (or the non-proprietary O-light versions for that matter). ....... same factory ......... who knows ; ) Then I bought a similarly featured unit to this, (a 4 bay Nitecore UMS-4), and yep the measurements "hold up" to the specs, as do Duracell and Energizer NiMh AAs, (95% of the time anyway). I believe Eneloop are better again, but not sure the price justifies the difference. In any case, yep totally concur, stick with the big brands, chances are the cheapies will be false economy. One feature I really like with this unit, is it shows data on all bays simultaneously, with mine it cycles through either automatically or manually. Incidentally, bay 5 wasn't showing any data, was that because the battery was so poor it didn't register, or just not seated properly ? Cheers Duke. P.S. Any reason you couldn't pack that proprietary Thrunite job out with something metallic to make contact ?
Hi Duke. Thanks for sharing you experience again. Yes, I did not see that the battery in bay 5 was not displaying until editing. I tested it again and believe the battery was not seated properly. Probably from moving the device around to show it on camera. Thanks for commenting
Hey Mark, I enjoy your stuff. I'm especially interested in wood gasifier stoves. Goshawk is now selling an updated version of the pioneer. Any chance you could review it?
Mark, At this time is there a significant difference between the Xtar Vc8s and vc8s plus chargers/testers? All I see is a difference in the size, the price, and the power input. Thank you for your information. Gregory.
I found that the flashlight brand of battery the flashlight comes with it, have more capacity than economy priced batteries. Still economy batteries are better than having no extra ones. The weight of the battery is a tell, most that weigh less also have less capacity. Some multi chargers also charge from a car outlet. If you have numerous size batteries having a charger like this is worth having. 👍
8:00 The measured capacity of a cell is also very much depending on discharge current and internal resistance. But of course the cheap "9999 mAh" Wish 18650 cells are far from reality 😄
I have fond that battery claimed capacity bears the same relationship as car claimed milage is to actual milage
LOL..good point. Thanks for commenting
A very versatile charging station there Mark. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for commenting Steve
Excellent charger and brand. I use a smaller, older version of it for 4 charging ports and max. 18650 size daily for a long time. Going through many of 18650 batteries for e-vaporizer, flashlights and many other devices. Very convenient and easy to see the status and capacity. Most of my batteries are recovered from the old laptops are still having plenty of usable life in them, and it's easy to sort through and pick the ones that still good.
Testing recovered batteries as you do is a great place to use this device. Thanks for commenting
Great Review Shared Here Mark ! Quite The Unit ! Thanks For Sharing This ! ATB T God Bless
Thanks for commenting Terry
interesting that I can not seem to find any comments asking why port 5 was not displaying info for the battery that was in there?
The battery was not in full connection. Thanks for commenting
G'day Mark, nice one mate, the unit and the review. I've seen quite a few XTAR products over here, but to be honest, I wasn't sure about their "desirability". A good warranty is a great sign to start with and a demo certainly helps with credibility too.
I prefer Klarus Li-ion jobs, I found just by experience they offer the best bang for buck, though noth'n wrong with Thrunite and Fenix branded ones either. (or the non-proprietary O-light versions for that matter). ....... same factory ......... who knows ; )
Then I bought a similarly featured unit to this, (a 4 bay Nitecore UMS-4), and yep the measurements "hold up" to the specs, as do Duracell and Energizer NiMh AAs, (95% of the time anyway). I believe Eneloop are better again, but not sure the price justifies the difference. In any case, yep totally concur, stick with the big brands, chances are the cheapies will be false economy.
One feature I really like with this unit, is it shows data on all bays simultaneously, with mine it cycles through either automatically or manually.
Incidentally, bay 5 wasn't showing any data, was that because the battery was so poor it didn't register, or just not seated properly ?
Cheers Duke.
P.S. Any reason you couldn't pack that proprietary Thrunite job out with something metallic to make contact ?
Hi Duke. Thanks for sharing you experience again. Yes, I did not see that the battery in bay 5 was not displaying until editing. I tested it again and believe the battery was not seated properly. Probably from moving the device around to show it on camera. Thanks for commenting
Hey Mark, I enjoy your stuff. I'm especially interested in wood gasifier stoves. Goshawk is now selling an updated version of the pioneer. Any chance you could review it?
I will see if I can get the newer Goshawk to review. Thanks for commenting
Mark,
At this time is there a significant difference between the Xtar Vc8s and vc8s plus chargers/testers? All I see is a difference in the size, the price, and the power input. Thank you for your information. Gregory.
Sorry, I don't have the VC8S Plus to compare. Thanks for commenting
👌Thanks !!
Most welcome
I found that the flashlight brand of battery the flashlight comes with it, have more capacity than economy priced batteries. Still economy batteries are better than having no extra ones. The weight of the battery is a tell, most that weigh less also have less capacity. Some multi chargers also charge from a car outlet. If you have numerous size batteries having a charger like this is worth having. 👍
Good point. I had not made that connection between weight and capacity for batteries. Thanks for commenting
Good review Mark , thanks for sharing YAH bless !
Most welcome. Thanks for commenting
8:00 The measured capacity of a cell is also very much depending on discharge current and internal resistance. But of course the cheap "9999 mAh" Wish 18650 cells are far from reality 😄
Thanks for commenting
Hello Mark
Thanks for commenting
So expensive compared to Liitokala …
Thanks for commenting