XTARUniversal Battery Charger VC2SL LCD Display Speedy Smart Charger for Rechargeable Batteries Ni-MH Ni-Cd AA AAA Li-ion IMR

I'm no stranger to rechargeable batteries, but am a relative newcomer to lithium rechargeables. This charger fixes my complaints I've had with the VC2 and VC4.Notably, this charger:*Can charge both Li-ion & NiMH batteries*Uses a standard micro USB input*Can function as a pass-through, so you can charge your phone AND batteries using just one USB port*Pass-through does NOT run power through the batteries, saving wear & tear on the batteries & electronics*Can function as a power bank with one or two Li-ion batteries (it won't do this with NiMH batteries)*Has the Red/Green Charge/Done lights so you can see from across the room if the batteries are ready*Display has bright, crisp graphics*Display dims automatically after a few seconds*Display can be really dimmed down by holding down the button for a few seconds*Display shows Voltage/Cumulative mAH/Charging current selected / actual charging current / internal resistance.*Display will show battery voltage without being plugged into power*Slightly smaller than the VC2*Can charge at 2A for 1 cell, 1A when charging 2 cells. BUT it adaptively adjusts charging rate due to internal resistance and voltage. You can charge at 500mA by plugging in a load into the pass-through USB port first, then putting your batteries in. In my limited testing, once the batteries start to charge, you can remove the USB load and it'll continue charging at 500mA.Flaws:*While it can function as a pass-through/power bank, there's a delay between disconnecting/losing power and the battery bank coming on, so forget using this as a mini-UPS for a RaspPi or similar function.*No travel pouch included. It fits fine in the pouch for my VC2, so that's what I'm carrying it around in now.

I had my last XTAR battery charger over 6 years which is a 4 slot charger and still works but I wanted something with a smaller form factor so I ordered this 2 bay charger. I just got it today and so far so good it is charging my 18650's just as it should although I wish I was able to adjust the charging current down to 0.5 amps from 1 amp charging like my 4 bay XTAR charger allows me to do but it's not a huge deal though. The VC2SL has a nice easy to read digital screen and also has a function to check the Internal Resistance of the batteries. I would recommend this charger!

The whole reason I bought this charger was to charge my 18650 batteries that I use for my headlamp. I want those batteries to last a good long time, and to be reliable when I go caving, so I bought a charger that would be able to treat those batteries nicely, and let me know if they are going bad. It does this very well, and the display is fairly useful, but unfortunately as other reviews have stated, the voltometer function is false. It always reads max cutoff voltage, not the current battery voltage. My biggest issue is that you cannot manually adjust the speed at which it charges the battery. If you plug one in, it will start pumping 2 amps right in there, max speed. With two in, it goes down to 1 amp each. But for maximum battery health, .5 amps is best, yet you cannot make it charge at that rate.

The XTAR VC2S is a bit smaller than the competition. All charging functions worked as expected. The power bank will drain both battery positions whereas others only worked with one slot.So, pretty happy with the XTAR VC2S which worked perfectly.I also checked out the Fenix ARE-D1. Losing the second slot makes it much smaller. All of it's functions worked smoothly as both a charger and power bank. I typically keep one battery in my Zebra light and one in the charger. If I use the light during the day I just switch batteries when I get home at night.These chargers are easy to work with as they use existing USB power sources which these days are everywhere.The older technology charges usually required a separate power supply. The chargers where the power supply was built in are often large and require a AC power cord.

Works great. Looks good. I use the usb out for my wireless phone charger. 4 stars for ease of use because if I put my phone on the charging pad before I put the batteries in the charger, it will only charge one battery. Just lift the phone off the pad for a few seconds and the 2nd battery begins charging. Then the phone goes back on the pad and all is well. Super minor, but it could be confusing. For the $ and functionality, would definitely buy again.