LiitoKala Lii-500 vs Lii-402: is the 500 worth twice the price of the 402?

HKJ did a review of the Lii-202 (http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?425279-Test-review-of-Charger-LiitoKala-Lii-202) and even though I probably shouldn't, I'm assuming that the Lii-402 is nearly identical, only with 4 bays instead of 2. HKJ also did a review of the Lii-500 (http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...-Review-of-Charger-LiitoKala-Engineer-Lii-500). The 500 is twice as much as the 402.

What I'm trying to figure out if there's any value for me - a generic rechargeable battery user with a mix of traditional NiMH, LSD NiMH, and a few lithium batteries - in the Lii-500 over the Lii-402. The review of the 202 (and so probably the 402) indicates that it charges IFR/LiFePO4 batteries, whereas the the 500 does not. They both have a 5V/1A USB output ("power bank" functionality), but the 402 uses a microUSB cable as its input instead of the barrel of the 500. I prefer the microUSB/USB charger since I have a ton of decent cables and chargers already.

So what does the 500 do that the 402 doesn't? Does that make it worth twice as much? Would your average Joe User care about or even notice that extra functionality?

Thanks!

I have two of the Liitokala 100s and two of the Liitokala 202s.

The Liitokala 402 is a USB 5v 4 bay non analyzing multi-chemistry/multi-voltage charger that appears to be two 202s, or four 100s in one box.

They are very flexible chargers and will charge up everything that we care to use, but they won't tell you the health of your cells/batteries, if that matters to you?

For $8 for the 402, it's not much of a gamble, IMO.

The Lii 500 Engineer is a 12vdc charger and is well regarded.

Chris

The Lii-500 is a multi chemistry analysing charger and well worth the money. It is made to a price point though!

Yeah, after reading up a bit more, I decided to just get both. The 402 was something like $6.50 and the 500 was about $14.50, directly from LiitoKala via AliExpress during their sale on Saturday. I can't really complain about $21 for both, and that gives me 8 bays to replace/supplement my aging La Crosse BC700 (which always did it's job, I guess, but is generally less impressive and cost more at the time than these two together).

Can't wait for them to arrive in 3-4 weeks :laughing:

Thanks for the advice!

rczrider said:

Yeah, after reading up a bit more, I decided to just get both. The 402 was something like $6.50 and the 500 was about $14.50, directly from LiitoKala via AliExpress during their sale on Saturday. I can't really complain about $21 for both, and that gives me 8 bays to replace/supplement my aging La Crosse BC700 (which always did it's job, I guess, but is generally less impressive and cost more at the time than these two together).

Can't wait for them to arrive in 3-4 weeks :laughing:

Thanks for the advice!

Click to expand...

$14.50 for a Lii 500 Engineer?

These are salad days for sure.

Good job and keep us posted.

I'd like to fiddle with a Lii 500, but I have a lot of chargers here already; however, ~$15 is pretty reasonable.

Chris

ChrisGarrett said:

$14.50 for a Lii 500 Engineer?

These are salad days for sure.

Good job and keep us posted.

I'd like to fiddle with a Lii 500, but I have a lot of chargers here already; however, ~$15 is pretty reasonable.

Chris

Click to expand...

Yep. More precisely, I paid $14.77 with free shipping from LiitoKala's official AliExpress store: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Lii...8500-16340-17500-25500-10440/32664514654.html

I buy most of my stuff directly from AE these days. Places like GearBest are sometimes cheaper, but more often than not I can get the same thing from AE for less. The cheaper price was for AE's 11/11 "global shopping day" or whatever.

ChrisGarrett said:

$14.50 for a Lii 500 Engineer?

These are salad days for sure.

Good job and keep us posted.

I'd like to fiddle with a Lii 500, but I have a lot of chargers here already; however, ~$15 is pretty reasonable.

Chris

Click to expand...

Yep, it was actually $14.77 with free shipping during the 11/11 "global shopping day" (or whatever) on Saturday, from the official LiitoKala AliExpress store: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Lii...8500-16340-17500-25500-10440/32664514654.html

It's the slow shipping, though, so it'll probably be at least 3 weeks before it arrives, and likely closer to 4.