Nitecore F1 Charger / Battery Pack Review

heiden.jeffrey

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Apr 8, 2016
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Nitecore F1 Charger Review




Looking for portable power has never been easier when your traveling or on the go. If your like me and love flashlights you will have a surplus of extra 18650 batteries laying around from old lights or extra batteries that you aren't using anymore. Now you can use them in the Nitecore F1 Charger and power pack. No more leaving your phone or device plugged in sitting on the front seat when your camping or away from power. This USB charger rocks!!




Pros:
Small and lightweight
Compatible with multiple batteries
Indicator light for Voltage and % of battery left


Cons:
1000mA MAX Output (slower to charge my phone) This still charges my High capacity device (Galaxy Note 5) perfectly fine. It will just be a little slower then my standard charge


I used this charger with 2 different types of batteries that I had from my lights. One of the batteries was a 3400mah button top battery from Nitecore and the other was a LG flat top battery that was around 2200mah. The 90% charging efficiency worked very well when charging the large battery on my Galaxy Note 5 with the 3400mah Nitecore Battery. Given that my phone has a 3200mah battery, it allowed me to get almost a full charge. Its recommended to use a very short USB cable with this so you're not loosing power through a 3 or 6 foot usb cable. Luckily I had a very short micro USB 1 ft. cable that works for charging and powering the F1 pack.


Micro USB Plug (Used to charge the Batteries)



Usb Plug (Used to power any USB device)



Batteries Supported (Li-ion battery and IMR batteries only)
26650 – 18650 – 18490 – 17670 – 17500 – 17335 – 16340 – 14500 – 10440

Using the F1 to charge my phone (Very nice because my phone goes through batteries quickly)



Easy to use and charge any USB device (GoPro, Phone, Tablet)




The F1 charger includes these neat rubber band straps so that when your in the field your battery will not fall out. When charging the battery on a desk or table you do not need to use these rubber band straps the spring is powerful enough to hold the batteries in place.




Lights to indicate how much power is left in the battery and charging status



Also lights will blink and indicate battery voltage when placing a battery in the charger
 

mcnair55

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 27, 2009
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4,448
Location
North Wales UK
For info in the UK you can pick power banks in plenty of petrol stations for a £5 and many cars have a usb socket.
 

neil944

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Jun 6, 2016
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Corpus Christi, TX
Got mine in today. I was looking for a bare bones, usb charger to run off 18650 and this thing delivers.
My only complaint is that I wish it had more indicator lights, to get a bit finer reading on remaining power. Rather than three lights that break it up into thirds, four lights for 25% each would have been better.
Heck 10 lights along the side for 10% each would be perfect!

Maybe in V2.0...
 

neil944

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Jun 6, 2016
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Corpus Christi, TX
Also, one thing I did notice is when charging the battery using USB from computer, the output going to my phone (iPhone 6s, plugged into the bottom output port) only read .01 A only my little usb meter. After unplugging from the computer and running the phone only off 18650 (no simultaneous charging), the power output bumped up to .95A
 

heiden.jeffrey

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Apr 8, 2016
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When you first put the battery in the charger the lights will blink to indicate the voltage of the battery. 4.2 is full and 3.4 ish is staring to die.



Also, one thing I did notice is when charging the battery using USB from computer, the output going to my phone (iPhone 6s, plugged into the bottom output port) only read .01 A only my little usb meter. After unplugging from the computer and running the phone only off 18650 (no simultaneous charging), the power output bumped up to .95A
 

FLASHLIGHTMAN

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Mar 4, 2002
Messages
125
Location
Iowa
I got mine today ! Pretty neat little item that could come in pretty handy.
It does seem to be a little slow at charging though.
 

epv

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Joined
Jan 29, 2017
Messages
3
Just dumping this somewhere for reference. Just got one of these, it works pretty well as a battery bank, very stable 5.02v output at 1A, but it shuts down output a bit early for me - under constant 700mA load, it disconnected at 3.6V, getting slightly under 2000 mAH from a 2600mAH rated cell. Still pretty useful and very compact, and the blinky voltmeter function is nice.
 

ma tumba

Flashlight Enthusiast
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Oct 7, 2013
Messages
1,344
Location
Russia
I wonder if an f1 could be hacked so its powerbank feature could be used with an imr 18350 battery?
 

NiteRunR

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Oct 1, 2009
Messages
10
I bought an F1 to recharge my phone/gps while hiking in the backcountry. It arrived with a defective micro USB connection -it did not work. It seems that the product has been discontinued. This is the second Nitecore product to have this defect. (An HC60 headlamp micro USB charging port became intermittent after about a year.)

Can anyone suggest a light weight 18650-based battery bank? Using an 18650 allows me to swap batteries with my headlamp.
 

oKtosiTe

Enlightened
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Jan 7, 2012
Messages
974
Location
Sweden
Can anyone suggest a light weight 18650-based battery bank? Using an 18650 allows me to swap batteries with my headlamp.

I love my Xtar PB2 (button-top unprotected 18650) and PB2S (21700 and protected 18650, etc.). Not nearly as compact, but with more reliable and practical USB-C and more carry-friendly with the magnetic cover.
 
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