I bought a bunch of battery station and surefire 123s about 4 years ago. All of the battery stations have drained considerably - many are dead or near dead. The surefires are still holding strong. They were stored identically. Does that make sense? I understand you get what you pay for, but I thought all lithiums were supposed to last 10 years.

10 years was my understanding too. Hmmm

Makes me glad I bought Surefires. I haven't checked them in two years or so. Maybe I should.

Energizer states 15 years, to 90% of rated charge.

Various threads on CandlePowerForums have discussed problems with older Battery Station cells, including catastrophic failures. I'm guessing they found a really from good price with a Chinese supplier (where most Lithium comes from) and learned the "If it seems too good to be true..." lesson.

PS. Some devices draw power even when off. Even flashlights can do this.

I buy my Lithium Batteries from The Source (formerly Radio Shack). For an extra couple of bucks they'll sell you an 'all perils' warranty on any house brand 'specialty' lithium battery like the 123. If the cell goes dead inside of 2 years they replace it no questions asked.

Obviously the warranty was concieved when devices which used 123 lithium cells only sipped the juice....not like today's 100 Lumen mega-LED flashlights. I get the equivalent of 2 batteries for the price of 1.

Ironically with the cheap prices of mail order these days, it's almost cheaper to buy via the internet as even the house brand cells at The Source are slightly overpriced.