Wiggle
Flashlight Enthusiast
I like the option to not use an integrated overdischarge protection in a light. I understand the purpose especially with unprotected cells, but I'd prefer just a warning (like a set of blinks every minute) because in an emergency I would rather be able to choke every joule of energy out of a cell even if the cells lifetime is reduced as a result. Damaging a $10 14500 li-ion is not a big deal if it gets you out of a dicey situation. Just preference.
I also question if occasional "bottoming out" of the li-ion down to the protection circuit is a significant problem. Take for example subwoofer's moonlight test he did with the Predator, he completely drained the cells at an extremely low current. This guarantees the most possible energy is extracted from the cell when the protection finally triggers. In his test his cells seemed to suffer no loss in capacity.
This is a worse case than under high load because if a protection circuit is triggered during high output operation it was likely due, at least in part, to voltage sag and the cell will rebound quickly to a higher resting voltage.
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