Nitecore – The Intellicharger i1 Review
Nitecore has been our choice for battery chargers for more than 3 years. It is the reason we don’t bother to review other chargers any longer. We trust Nitecore chargers, and you should as well.
Many of you have no doubt experienced the failure of a battery charger made by other companies. Not all of you, but many. I know I have. The lesser quality battery charger is chugging along fine for a month, two months, 3 months, or even longer, and then one day it just stops. Just like that. Dead as a door nail.
For no apparent reason whatsoever the batteries placed in the charger doesn’t register with the charger. If you have but
one charger you would now be stuck with charging your battery through the USB port, if you’re lucky.
As someone that uses many 18650 batteries for more than 4 years I can tell you that I have never experienced this failure with a Nitecore charger. I have two in my Boston apartment (a dual i2 and a 4-port D4), and two in my Florida apartment (D2 and D4), and they just work. That’s the way its supposed to be, a battery charger should just work, and work safely. And that is what Nitecore chargers do.
Also like many of you, I have a 4-port charger and a dual port charger. Others at Spinfuel have 4-port and 2-port chargers, and even a single battery charger by Nitecore (the UM10). Before the i1 by Nitecore I never saw the need for a single port battery charger. After all, why charge one battery when you can charge 2 or even 4? But now, after learning about the i1, I grabbed one for myself. I understood. And that being the case, I highly recommend the Nitecore i1, especially when the price to pick one up is between $10 and $14 dollars, depending on where you buy one.
Below I’ll discuss why I recommend the Nitecore i1 and why you just might want to buy one too.
Nitecore Intellicharger i1 (The New 2015 Version) – A One Slot Battery Charger
The Nitecore i1 is an all-new and highly advanced smart charger. Using it is as simple as inserting the battery, having the i1 detect the battery size, type, and current charge level, and then proceed to safely charge it, and shut down the charge current to the battery once it has been fully charged.
The Nitecore i1 is compatible with IMR, Li-ion, Ni-MH, NiCd batteries. For our purposes the IMR and Li-on are the most important types of batteries because our devices (vaping instruments and TV remotes, flashlights, and a million others) use these two types. A LiPo (lithium polymer) battery is a totally different animal and as of now not a battery that is easily removed from a vaping instrument and recharged out of the device itself.
Battery Types:
Despite the fact that I purchased the Nitecore i1 for my vaping batteries, it can properly and safely charge many types and sizes of batteries.
For Li-ion Batteries the i1 can safely charge the following: 26650, 22650, 18650, 17670, 18490, 17500, 18350, 16340(RCR123), 14500, and 10440. You probably recognize the 18650, 18490 and 18350 as the batteries used in today’s vaping devices.
For The Ni-MH/ Ni-Cd Type Batteries the Nitecore i1 can safely charge AA, AAA, AAAA, and C types. (Sorry, no D batteries). I know there is no need to say this, but the A, AA, AAA, and AAAA and C batteries need to be the rechargeable type.
The Intellicharger i1 is truly the most universal, automatic smart-charger on the market, and is compatible with the batteries we all use in our daily lives. While the Nitecore i1 has a single port, there are other Nitecore chargers that have many of the the same abilities (but not all) and offer more charging slots.
The Nitecore i1 can identify instantly a Li-ion, Ni-MH and Ni-Cd rechargeable battery and then apply the appropriate charging mode (Constant Charge Current (CC), Constant Charge Voltage (CV) and Trickle Charge).
The ports/slots on many Nitecore chargers have microcomputer-controls that monitors and charges batteries independently. The Nitecore i1 does as well, and offers yellow and blue power/charging status indicator lights that visibly indicate battery status and charging process in an instant.
Nitecore i1-Specific Vaping Features
The i1 includes an eGo port for charging eGo-type batteries. It also sports a USB port for charging devices through USB cables. In fact, you can charge an eGo battery AND use the USB port to charge, say, your eVic-VTC Mini, and the i1 will prioritize the charging so that the eGo battery will charge up faster, allowing you to use that slot for an 18650/18350/18490, while continuing the current to the USB device.
Let’s Talk Features:
– Capable of charging 1 battery at a time
– Charges batteries TWICE as fast as the i2 charger!
– Onboard eGo battery port!
– Onboard USB Charge port!
– battery slot monitors and charges independently
– Compatible with and identifies Li-ion (26650, 22650, 18650, 17670, 18490, 17500, 18350, 16340(RCR123), 14500, 10440), Ni-MH and Ni-Cd (AA, AAA, AAAA, C) rechargeable batteries
– Optimized charging design for IMR batteries
– Features three charging modes (CC, CV and Trickle Charge)
– Automatically detects battery status and selects the appropriate voltage and charge mode
– 2 Color LED displays charging progress for each battery
– Automatically stops charging when complete
– Features over-charge prevention to protect batteries
– Made from durable ABS (fire retardant / flame resistant)
– Features reverse polarity protection
– Designed for optimal heat dissipation
– Certified by RoHS, CE, FCC, CEC and KC
– Insured worldwide by Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd.
Keep In Mind
I picked up the Nitecore i1 because I needed a small 1-slot battery charger for travel purposes and because I trust the Nitecore brand, so it was a no-brainer. However, seeing the large red oval on the box with the words “Made For Vapers” pretty much cinched the deal for me. The eGo port and USB port point to this claim by Nitecore that the i1 is indeed made for vapers.
Safe is Safer
It is never wise for a reviewer to say something stupid, so I won’t tell you that I feel 100% confident about leaving batteries in my Nitecore chargers overnight or several hours past the fully charged indicators coming on. I am not recommending that kind of practice either, but if I was being completely honest, which is something I always am, I 
wouldn’t worry about leaving batteries in a Nitecore charger on the off-chance that an emergency came up and I had no choice but to leave the batteries in the charger. For instance, if I was charging up a battery and fell asleep, when I woke up I wouldn’t jump up and run over to the charger to make sure it wasn’t about to burst into flames. I wouldn’t intentionally practice that type of risky behavior, nor would I be overly nervous about it if it happened.
The Nitecore i1 is a brand new charger, and it was designed and constructed with Vapers in mind. Flame retardant materials, intelligent electronics, and worldwide INSURANCE means that Nitecore not only wants to build the best battery chargers, but it shows that they already have. Take a look at the charger you have now if its not a Nitecore… see anything about Insurance? Of course not.
What Sold The Nitecore i1
While I admit a bias toward the Nitecore brand, there was another reason why I snapped one up without too much thinking. The USB port, which will allow me to keep the i1 plugged in on my desk, nightstand, or anywhere else, and use it to charge an 18650 battery in the slot while using the USB port to charge my ProVari™ Radius at the same time was all I needed to know that this was my next charger.
I want to see the eGo charge port feature extend across the entire line of Nitecore “I” series of chargers, as well as the USB port, and as soon as that happens I’ll replace my 2-port and 4-port Nitecore’s with the newer versions. While I wait for that, I’ll make good use from 1-port i1. You should too.
While I love my new i-series Nitecore, I would also like to point out that my Nitecore D4, with its LCD display, is still my favorite Nitecore charger. You can read more about the D4 here in the J.C. Martin review.
Julia Hartley-Barnes
