Smart batteries: RA vs Aaton vs Audioroot

[jcb]

Regarding Audioroot, I asked them about the difference between their 2 lines of batteries and got this answer from Antoine Malnati : LI (49 and 98) batteries are assembled in the USA, LI NEO (48 and 96) are assembled in China.

 

[igomarsound]

6 hours ago, RadoStefanov said:

If you dont want to start a discussion dont say anything.  Holding my libs closed. 🙂

There is no USA brands. There is an USA brand. Inspired energy. The original maker.

Audio root even with tariff and vat are more expansive than the IE.

Bruh, chill. and don't come tell me what I can say or nah.

 

Who do you think you are to talk like this ? Chill, I got every rights to tell my EUROPEAN NON AMERICAN POV, and if that bothers you, i'm sorry, live with it, 

 

I was speaking to my spanish colleague who you were advising to buy an american brand. Not a good choice from our perspective. it is for you, not us. 

I was talking about the trade war that is occuring right now. It's not a call for boycott it's just stating FACTS. 

read the room FFS,

 

[RadoStefanov]

1 hour ago, igomarsound said:

Bruh, chill. and don't come tell me what I can say or nah.

 

Who do you think you are to talk like this ? Chill, I got every rights to tell my EUROPEAN NON AMERICAN POV, and if that bothers you, i'm sorry, live with it, 

 

I was speaking to my spanish colleague who you were advising to buy an american brand. Not a good choice from our perspective. it is for you, not us. 

I was talking about the trade war that is occuring right now. It's not a call for boycott it's just stating FACTS. 

read the room FFS,

 

 

You must not know what a smiley face means. 

 

In Switzerland, the official languages are **German, French, Italian, and Romansh**, so the term for a **smiley face** varies depending on the region:

### **1. Swiss German (most widely spoken)**
- **Smiley Face** → **"Smiley"** (often used as is) or **"Gschichtli-Gsicht"** (colloquial, meaning "little story face")  
- **Emoji** → **"Emoji"** or **"Lächler"** (from "lächeln" – to smile)  

### **2. French (spoken in Romandy – western Switzerland)**
- **Smiley Face** → **"Smiley"** or **"Fou rire"** (literally "laughing face")  
- **Emoji** → **"Émoji"** or **"Frimeur"** (smirking face)  

### **3. Italian (spoken in Ticino – southern Switzerland)**
- **Smiley Face** → **"Faccina sorridente"** (literally "little smiling face")  
- **Emoji** → **"Emoji"** or **"Faccina"**  

### **4. Romansh (spoken in parts of Grisons)**
- **Smiley Face** → **"Fatscha ridenta"** (smiling face)  

### **Common Usage**
- Many Swiss people just use **"Smiley"** or **"Emoji"** regardless of the language.  
- In Swiss German, you might hear playful terms like **"Lächli"** (little smile) or **"Grinsefüesli"** (grinning little face).  

Would you like help with a specific Swiss language or dialect? 😊

1 hour ago, igomarsound said:

Bruh, chill. and don't come tell me what I can say or nah.

 

Who do you think you are to talk like this ? Chill, I got every rights to tell my EUROPEAN NON AMERICAN POV, and if that bothers you, i'm sorry, live with it, 

 

I was speaking to my spanish colleague who you were advising to buy an american brand. Not a good choice from our perspective. it is for you, not us. 

I was talking about the trade war that is occuring right now. It's not a call for boycott it's just stating FACTS. 

read the room FFS,

 

 

[igomarsound]

I don't care about your AI copy pasta you're just rude and i dont want to share emojis with someone who basically says STFU. we got something here we call decency and you should look at it while you're chatting with your bot.

i would very much have a convo with you in rumantsh, yeah, that would be very intriguing. even better let's talk in yenniche. magliar tes perdavants
 

Edited April 5 by igomarsound
the guy does not use wikipedia he uses AI. even lowering the level.

[RadoStefanov]

I did not say STFU. 
But now I am saying I have no interest talking to you anymore. 
you went crazy over a joke  . 
Read  back and see who is rude. 
there is a special place in this forum for political BS. 
this is a gear discussion. 

[igomarsound]

Let's agree to disagree.

We're not buddies and my honest opinion is that you don't get to talk to people you don't know the way you did (AKA with "jokes" who says, basically, STFU, that's the way i read it. period. and then with f'in  AI answer BS explaining to me what an emoji means in my languages ?? WTF man).

Over the years reading your statements, here and there, I noticed that your tone can get very passive agressive and contemptuous , you do you , but I personnaly draw a limit at this "joke". maybe i'm a fragile snowflake maybe it's a cultural thing. Just cut the crap with me, i wont let you talk to me the way you did without reaction. I owe you respect and the same goes with you. talk the way you do, expect answers. Period.

 

but agreed on one point. I won't discuss about this with you anymore, it's a sterile and infinite loop we're getting into and i'm not here to discuss "political BS" either. I got reddit for this. 

Back to the topic, shall we ?

 

@arturowhere did you sourced the battery on your picture ? Very interested to know how you get it to europe and how much you paid for it. 

[Masaki Hatsui]

 

1. Tariffs aside, with the current restrictions on the transport of lithium-ion batteries, it has become all but impossible to order US batteries form EU or from any other continent.

2. Panasonic is a Japanese brand formerly known as Matsushita or the ‘National’ brand. As we all know, it has become a global holding company. As regards lithium manufacturing, it is in fact Panasonic Energy that owns several factories around the world. Panasonic supplies its lithium batteries to Tesla, manufactured in Nevada. They also have factories in China, and I wonder if they even have a factory in Japan today.

3. Grace Battery, also known as Tefoo Battery, is based in Shenzhen, China. Interestingly, they use Panasonic cells (I personally imagined Chinese batteries inside), but probably made in their Chinese factory (? who knows). It's difficult to know today where the cells are made (and if there's difference in quality)

4. For information I have used several RRC batteries which have been working perfectly since 2017. Their 2054 (48.96Wh) is (or was) made in China. It actually says "Designed in Germany. Assembled in China". The factory is Nexcon Electronics Co. Ltd. in Nanjing. On the other hand, the 2054-2 pack (99.4Wh) is ‘Designed in Germany, assembled in Taiwan. Assembled in Taiwan’ - No information on the factory is given.

5. I don't know if I'd advise dismantling a lithium battery. It's very dangerous, with the risk of fire or explosion. In fact, the quality of a battery depends not just on the cell, but on the whole circuit inside.

 

 

[RadoStefanov]

 One very important thing we have to take in to the equation is: 

25% tariff does not not make the product 25% more expansive.
This myth is idiotic especially when it comes to foreign raw goods assembled in the United States. 

Unless the corporation excuses 25% price gauge with the tariffs.But 
the truth is that the price is only what the customer it is willing to pay. 

[The Documentary Sound Guy]

You are talking about tariffs on inputs.  That isn't what that is being discussed here.  The cost of buying batteries manufactured in the USA in places that aren't the USA has literally just gone up by the amount of the retaliatory tariff that our home countries have responded with.  The only wrinkle is that the increase in price is being collected by our governments, not the manufacturer.  But if the tariff is 25%, that's a straight 25% price increase from the perspective of a non-US buyer.

 

Which is why we are looking for non-US sources for our batteries, because Chinese batteries, for instance, *haven't* just gone up 25%.  Before you get pissed at us for not wanting to buy US goods, ask yourself why we would be willing to pay 25% more for US-made batteries when we can get them cheaper from non-US sources?  As you say, the price is what the customer is willing to pay, and as foreign customers, we aren't willing to pay 25% more when we have other options.

 

I won't say there isn't also an element of national ill-will based on the way the tariffs are being imposed, but first and foremost we are voting with our wallets.

 

 

 

 

[RadoStefanov]

34 minutes ago, The Documentary Sound Guy said:

You are talking about tariffs on inputs.  That isn't what that is being discussed here.  The cost of buying batteries manufactured in the USA in places that aren't the USA has literally just gone up by the amount of the retaliatory tariff that our home countries have responded with.  The only wrinkle is that the increase in price is being collected by our governments, not the manufacturer.  But if the tariff is 25%, that's a straight 25% price increase from the perspective of a non-US buyer.

 

Which is why we are looking for non-US sources for our batteries, because Chinese batteries, for instance, *haven't* just gone up 25%.  Before you get pissed at us for not wanting to buy US goods, ask yourself why we would be willing to pay 25% more for US-made batteries when we can get them cheaper from non-US sources?  As you say, the price is what the customer is willing to pay, and as foreign customers, we aren't willing to pay 25% more when we have other options.

 

I won't say there isn't also an element of national ill-will based on the way the tariffs are being imposed, but first and foremost we are voting with our wallets.

 

 

 

 

Few things:

25% tariff is on distributor cost is  not 25% final customer price increase. 
a 165 euro battery might just cost 80 euros for the distributor. 
that equals $20 tariff 

final price 185 euro. 
tariff price increase in that case is 12.5 %. 

if this is going on: "The cost of buying batteries manufactured in the USA in places that aren't the USA has literally just gone up by the amount of the retaliatory tariff" you are being price gouged. Stop buying from those people. They are crooks. 

[The Documentary Sound Guy]

2 hours ago, RadoStefanov said:

if this is going on: "The cost of buying batteries manufactured in the USA in places that aren't the USA has literally just gone up by the amount of the retaliatory tariff" you are being price gouged. Stop buying from those people. They are crooks. 

 

On the contrary, I was previously buying online from US distributors & US stores.  Much online commerce works this way now; the distinction between a retailer and a distributor has become quite blurred.

 

You are right that it could makes my local retail more viable compared to ordering direct.  But for something like Inspired Energy, there is no Canadian distributor.  My only option is to buy directly, and that means I have to import at the full retail price, and pay tariffs on that price.  Maybe in the long run, the tariffs will mean Canadian distributors become more viable again, and the US prices will get closer to parity to non-US sources.  But they'll never be equal.  And I can't see it being especially good business for a distributor to bring in US goods even at a wholesale price if they have to pay a 25% tariff.  They'll just source an equivalent elsewhere.

[RadoStefanov]

10 minutes ago, The Documentary Sound Guy said:

 

On the contrary, I was previously buying online from US distributors & US stores.  Much online commerce works this way now; the distinction between a retailer and a distributor has become quite blurred.

 

You are right that it could makes my local retail more viable compared to ordering direct.  But for something like Inspired Energy, there is no Canadian distributor.  My only option is to buy directly, and that means I have to import at the full retail price, and pay tariffs on that price.  Maybe in the long run, the tariffs will mean Canadian distributors become more viable again, and the US prices will get closer to parity to non-US sources.  But they'll never be equal.  And I can't see it being especially good business for a distributor to bring in US goods even at a wholesale price if they have to pay a 25% tariff.  They'll just source an equivalent elsewhere.

Well that is different. You are buying USA retail msrp. What country are you in? They don't have reps?