I guess the thread is dead....so.
Rich, sorry about the tangent, but I'm wondering did those puffy cell(s) happen even treating those batteries nicely or did you maybe discharge them too far a few times, store them in too low a charge state or some other thing? They seem to be so stable, which maybe speaks well of the cell quality. I've got a couple 1 cycle batteries made in 2015 that I've had stored at 50% charge all that time with no maintenance other than checking them now and then (neither was ever lit up!), one of which I decided to charge up and fly last week in 25 deg wx between the snow flakes, and the thing lasts about like it is new, allowing for the cold. I'm pretty impressed with them compared to batteries I've flown in other quads. Anyway, just wondering.
Not dis'ing on the Solo batteries, I flew my original set of four for over 2 years...$600 worth. So yeah, Solo batteries have worked well in my setup. My old white bird's smart batteries would die in a year,
one of the reasons I leaped over to 3DR.
I've always been a 25% landing and never below 20% on purpose. I
did store this set at that drained level and then recharged the night before flights. I typically fly in warm/hot weather. The occasional cold weather at no lower than 30's and always kept them warmed prior to usage.
Back in late 2015 the recommendation was to break-in the LiPo batteries properly. The method was to fly gently down to 50% for the first few flights. Two of the four were treated that way prior to knowing the recommendation. The other two I ran hard straight out of the box, they are the ones that puffed and died early on. From my experiences the two broken-in properly had a longer life and more flight time in general.
I've gotten 6 from the BH bargain days, still new. I imagine they will perform well, but not like 2019 new. Performing a proper break-in, in my opinion, is key to maximize battery life and performance. I'm fairly certain 50% storage charge is important to battery life. Not sure if depleting to 5-10% to land is an issue, but it is not something I'm comfortable with to gain a minute of flight time.
Cold temps are brutal on older batteries, not sure of the long term effect would be otherwise from new. If I had snow around, I'd sacrifice all my batteries to capture those moments. As it is for me, it's just really f'ing cold and dreary most of the winter.
Just my experiences and by no means an expert on the subject. Always glad to hear of others experiences.