123A cell batteries are all the rage for high output lights. The 123A cell uses a lithium chemistry to allow rapid delivery of high currents to devices, with the added bonus that the lithium chemistry is also fairly resistant to cold temperatures. In essence, they are a big step-up over alkaline chemistry batteries, but the big thing holding them back is cost, cost, cost.

AmondoTech is out to change that with their line of "Titanium" brand 123A cells. Up until now if you wanted to buy 123A cells at retail outlets you could expect to pay $5 each! To get any kind of a price break you have to purchase 123A cells via the internet. Online, prices have dropped and you can purchase good quality cells for about $1.50 each. "Titanium" cells are some of the first to drop below that level. At only $1.00 each, they are approaching the cost of premium AA alkaline cells in retail stores. This begs the question "Sure they're less expensive, but how do they stack up to the competition?" Let's find out!

As you can see in this picture, they stack pretty well! (OK, OK, bad pun...) "Titanium" cells are the first that I have seen that are available individually or in two or three packs that are pre-shrinkwrapped. No more fumbling around with two or three separate cells when you need a quick change in your light. Dump out the old cells and slide in a new battery stick.

AmondoTech communicated the following advantages regarding their pre-wrapped cell sticks (edited slightly for clarity):

1) The double and triple format CR123A batteries will prevent new and old batteries from being mixed up in flashlights. Using mixed quality CR123A batteries in the same flashlight is a problem that causes CR123A batteries to become over-discharged and can lead to CR123A battery explosions. For instance, putting one brand new CR123A and one almost empty CR123A battery into a 5 Watt flashlight causes the almost empty CR123A to be over discharged while the new CR123A battery is perfectly fine. The over-discharged battery can fail violently. This is a problem that has been been reported by a number of users. To prevent battery mixing, we offer double and triple format CR123A to solve the problem.

2) The double and triple format CR123As are produced in the same production lot and internal resistance is matched. This further ensures the same quality of CR123A batteries is used in the flashlight.

3) Since they are already packed in double and triple format, consumers can easily change batteries in their flashlights very rapidly.

It should also be noted that Titanium cells advertise the use of polymer based PTC (positive temperature coefficient) protection in each cell. A PTC system reacts to excessive current draw. The conductive polymer in the heart of the system increases in resistance when heated due to an overload condition and resistance drops back to normal when the overload is removed. Apparently this system helps prevent incidents which could damage the cells and cause violent failures due to short circuits.

Accessories: In addition to the "sticks" option, you can also get a rather nice slim case for carrying around 12 individual cells. Each case is NOT watertight, but it does latch shut and has a rubber (not foam) insert which holds each cells in place inside the case. The rubber molded insert adds a fair amount of weight to the case but does an exceptional job of holding the cells. The website only displays blue cases, but I received both a blue and a white. The latch sits flush with the side of the case, thereby minimizing the chance of it accidentally opening.

Comparisons: Let's get to the nitty-gritty, shall we? How do they compare? Output is more-or-less the same as with other cells by my comparisons. Some cells in the batch seem to perform a bit better, some a bit worse, but this is not all that unusual.

Since output seems to be around the same as other cells, I decided to focus on the runtimes. Let's see how they do! To complete the testing I selected a few lights that have been run with different batteries and added a comparison graph to the original runtime posted with the review for that light. In all cases I also completed a runtime with another inexpensive brand - BatteryStation 123A cells. This should show how well the "Titanium" brand compares with another lower-priced cell.

The original cell used for the light runtime is always the RED line on the graph. BatteryStation cells are shown with a BLUE line, and the "Titanium" cells are shown with a GREEN line.

First we have the Peak LED Solutions Carribean flashlight. It was originally tested with a Sanyo/GE cell. Personally I have always found these to be pretty good performers. Since the Carribean uses a regulator, differences in capacity are highlighted here. Basically we see from the graph that the BatteryStation cells performed quite well, with a slightly earlier dropoff. The "Titanium" cells cut out slightly earlier. The "Titanium" cells performed admirably, and I really don't think you would notice the difference in practical use.

When we put the "Titanium" cells in a Surefire L4, which uses a different type of regulator circuit, we find that the "Titanium" brand actually outperforms the originally tested Surefire cells (also $1.25 each) as well as the BatteryStation cells. However, it appears that there really is very little differnce between the $1.25 cells and the $1.00 "Titanium" cells.

Next we see a little bit of a problem. The "Titanium" cells did not perform very well in the Essential Gear 3W Luxeon light, dropping out of regulation in 1/2 the time of the premium Duracell batteries ($10.00 a pair) and about 2/3 of the time of the BatteryStation cells. I'm not sure what is going on here, but I ran the test twice with the "Titanium" cells and found the same performance both times.

Next we have a comparison in a non-regulated light, the Streamlight Scorpion. Since there was no original runtime completed, I simply did the runtime test with "Titanium" brand cells and BatteryStation cells. The result? Darn near identical performance.

By special request the Inova T3 runtime has been added. Note that the Titanium and Energizer batteries have darn near identical runtime characteristics. Batterystation cells were not tested for this special request graph.

Here's another special request: Surefire A2. Here the cells performed better than the original Surefire brand cells by a few minutes.

Conclusions: Although only limited testing has been done, I think it's fairly safe to say that in most cases the "Titanium" brand cells will perform admirably in your 123A lights. They don't have the performance of premium cells, but you're not paying a premium price either. Relative to the bargain priced cells (Surefire and BatteryStation) they appear to hold their own fairly well. Be aware that they may perform better in some lights than in others. I'd recommend keeping an open mind and trying out a few out in your lights without setting any internal expectations about performance. If you don't really notice any serious change in the performance, take advantage of their lower cost and get more!

Battery Trivia: 123A cells get their name from the old A cells. Yes, there were A cells, but they were, for the most part, phased out and are not made as alkaline cells currently. B cells are also gone, but we still have C, D, AA and AAA cells. Four F cells are (or were) used to make 6 Volt lantern batteries. They are tied together in series and wraped in a square package.

Back to the 123A cells. The name comes from their size. You see, they are 2/3 the length of an A cell, so each cell is ONE(1), TWO(2)-THIRDS(3) of an A cell. Hence 123A! This is also why a 223A camera battery pack is named the way it is - you see, there are TWO(2), TWO(2)-THIRDS(3) A cells inside the plastic case that holds them together. Yes, there sometimes is method to the madness of battery naming conventions!

UPDATES: There have been some questions about the fact that Titanium cells went through an update in their design earlier this year (BEFORE October 2005). Yes, they were reformulated to provide better performance, the diameter of the cells was reduced, the label was changed and PTC protection was apparantly added. For those of you interested, here is a comparison shot between the new (current) cells and the older design. By the way, the older design did NOT fit in the Surefire A2, but the new design DOES.

Amondotech assures me and their buyers that ONLY THE NEW CELLS ARE SHIPPING. You will NOT receive the older version from Amondotech.com. In fact, I sincerely doubt that you'll find them anywhere, currently. Therefore this information is provided for reference only.

I will also mention that I have received VERY good reports on the use of these cells from our readers. So far, everyone seems to be very satisfied with the performance and value.

UPDATE JULY 2006:

There has been a lot of concern over burst cell accidents that can (rarely) occur when using 123A cells, especially when using inexpensive cells made in the Far East. It seems that these manufacturers have had some quality control issues which resulted in a person using two or more cells in the same light that had different initial charge states. Some had the expected full charge, and some did not. As a result, one battery was trying to charge the other while in use, and occasionally one of them burst violently due to the stress.

I just received 80 brand new Titanium 123A cells and after testing every single one with my ZTS Mini-MBT meter, I found that they all had an initial charge state of 100%. This means that Titanium must be doing something to help ensure the quality of the product, which is GREAT news for everyone since they are some of the least expensive 123A's on the market. With all of them having a similar initial state-of-charge, the chances of having a burst cell accident should be significantly reduced.

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