Originally Posted by
turbowop
If charged to a given MAH at 2c, that battery will have the same runtime as a battery charged to the same MAH at 5c, or any other charge rate. Mah is Mah.
And all this hoopla over reduced service life when charging at higher rates has yet to be proven, IMO. There may be studies and theory, but in practice in the field I don't believe it. Any pack I own that allows for charging at greater than 1c gets at least a 2c charge. IR in every one of those packs is still low and they all still balance quickly and evenly, and they all are well over a year old now.
If you believe the little number on your charger's LCD, great. If you charge @ 5c you will shorten the cycle life of the pack. Like you pointed out, "there have been studies". What else is there to do to prove it?
To the OP, it's not that big a deal. Most racers don't keep their batteries until their last usable cycle, nor do they keep count of how many cycles they've charged anyway. If your race program moves so fast that shorter charging time is really important to you then it's fine to charge @ 2c. Even if it cost you 10% of your cycle life, you'd never miss it.