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Please note this is not a name and shame thread, there is a reasonable chance the supplier is dropshipping and therefore isn't aware that the item was counterfeit. Although I still feel it is my duty to state from where I purchased the counterfeit charger to prevent others from making the same mistake. I am in the process of receiving a full refund for this item, so props to GearBest. Their full response is at the bottom of this post.

So I ordered another nitecore I2 charger from GearBest which I received 7/6/16. As the item had come from China the first thing I did was check the authenticity on the nitecore website, and it turns out the charger is counterfeit.

To be fair to GB I should also point out that I also received 2 other items in the same order, a 100% authentic moonshot RTA and an also 100% authentic wismec releux rx200, only the charger was problematic.

Ok, so back to the point, a few things to note about the fake charger:-
It gets extremely hot compared to the genuine nitecore, hot enough to feel like it's burning your fingers.
On the first charge (yes, I did test it) the batteries had to be removed mid cycle as their temperature had risen well above what I would consider safe, even for this type of charger (which tends to run hot, but never heats the batteries).
There was a strong, very noticeable smell of burning electronics emanating from the device. While this did also happen with the genuine charger, with the counterfeit the smell was significantly stronger (filled the whole room).
After a complete cycle (which took exactly the amount of time as the genuine charger on Sony VTC5's) the battery tested to 4.17 ~ 4.18 volts. As these are married batteries an undercharge of .03 volts is not acceptable. The 'test' battery was topped up to 4.2v on the genuine nitecore.

To help people identify counterfeit chargers from the same batch I have uploaded images of the fake charger next to my genuine (puchased from amazon, validated by nitecore) charger for comparison.

I was amazed at just how good the fake is, likelihood is without the code I wouldn't even have noticed any difference.







Searching the fake code (right) brought me to a statement from nitecore (https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=574359929398014&id=530034443830563)

"Finanlly, after validating the scratch code 8462 5484 0107 8217 on our validation page(http://charger.nitecore.com/validation), it showed that the first-time validation happened in last year and not operated by our sales! That means it is a counterfeit charger!!!"

"In this case, we think many counterfeit chagers are using this falk vidation code( 8462 5484 0107 8217)!" (sic)

Turns out this is the exact code on my box (pictured above).





















Tapering (above) is noticeably different by comparison.







Fake charger really overdoes it on the nitecore branded capacitors, containing way more than the genuine charger!!. lol





Yesterday I ordered one from myepack and received it this morning. Tested genuine, lesson learned. And as for the fake, in the trash it goes.

Vendor response: 06/09/2016 04:42:21 CST


Vendor response: 06/10/2016 12:07:52 CST


Lets see what happens.

I think I'll have to add that one to my wishlist. If I get any more vapemail this month I think I'll be looking for a new place to live 

Ok. Will put something together with pictures later on today. I agree that there's a reasonable chance GB aren't even aware of the issue.

That is a really good looking RDA, shame I can't find a clone .

Me too!

Just a quick heads up folks ordered a nitecore I2 from gearbest, arrived today but does not validate as authentic on the nitecore website. Therefore I can only assume it's a fake.

Everything else in the order including the shipping time were spot on.