The Shorai's are less expensive.
While I can appreciate your "low-price" view point... I think you are a bit mis-informed Krieg...I am a battery manufacture and just so you understand "low-price" is not everything, though it is definately an incentive for some consumers. The fact is Shorai builds the batteries in China and uses a vastly less expensive cell than we do.. my company is
Antigravity Batteries . Additionally the labor is much cheaper...I also understand you saying that you don't like a shrinkwrapped battery thinking this leads to breaking... In fact it doesn't though a plastic case is more protection and looks nicer.. so for the average rider that is appealing... Also FYI the Shorai is not out of stock due to demand... they are out of stock because they had a few problems and pulled the batteries... they have had some problems...
I will try to give you guys a break down of batteries honestly... There are two forms of battery cells....Shorai offer a Prismatic cell which is the square cell wrapped in foil and incased in the plastic case, and we offer the A123 Systems 26650 Cylindric Cells which are incased in a metal cylinder then shrink wrapped. Though both these chemistries are Lifepo4, their characteristics are quite different. The Prismatic Cell offers a longer amp hour rating while the Cylindric form offer much more power in Cold Cranking Amps... So for example we make a battery that is 1" wide x 4" long x 3.25" tall.... that is HALF the size of the smallest Shorai yet puts out 120 Cold Cranking Amps...So that tiny battery makes more power than of Shorais smaller batteries yet is half the size....Then if you go up to our 16-cell battery it is almsot 2" smaller than the Shorai yet puts out 480 Cold Cranking Amps a FULL 200 CCA more than Shorais largest battery yet in a much smaller package and starts 2200cc (140 Cubic Inch), 220 horsepower high compression Drag bikes. So consumers should weigh what they are looking for in performance and riding style. What do you want Cranking Amps in the smallest package possible using a know performing cell , or longer Amp Hours in a nicer package...Its the Consumer choice which is great.
IF you've read Shorai claimes in thier FAQ about their LFX technology as having pedigree and used in submarines and stuff... try calling them and asking them who manufacture is... they do not have a pedigree... there is no such thing as a Shorai cell or the company Shorai offering a cell to the big companies of the world. But if you Google A123 Systems you will see they have contracts with Toyota, Ford, GM... have been used in Hybrid buses and vehicles all over the world... It has been tested by NASA, had had hundreds of independant lab tests and proven it worth in industry across the world. So when you talk of a cell with Pedigree and power and reliability the A123 cell is supreme. It is a technology developed at MIT and licensed from there
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A123_Systems
This was just to point out that some of us making batteries are using a more expensive cell and building in the USA and that is why the price is higher.... Not because we are just jacking up the cost... Antigravity is more expensive than MOTY, but we feel we go beyond what the others are doing and doing a better build with multiple spot weld points, silconing all the tabs.. brass terminals, an thicker battery tabs to get the most power and longevity out of the battery. So we are more than MOTY and less than Full Spectrum... Full Spectrum also uses A123 Systems stuff.
Now as far as other shrink wrapped batteries or manufactures batteries breaking keep in mind a couple things. Many of the manufactures that were making thes batteries were buying used batteries and building these packs... there was no really good source for the true A123 Systems cells. So many were getting by with farming them from drill packs or ordering them off the internet and building packes...crappy packs for sure so I can understand that frustration. But don't believe that a shrinked wrap battery is going to fail... we in fact are being used by the Factory Support KTM team in the AMA SX series J-start/JDR Motorsports... we do not sponsor them... They chose to use us after extensive testing... Why? Because we offer the smallest battery they could use that delivered the best performance. So if it can handle SX I'm not to worried about it breaking... Also we are in this months Transworld MX and you will see we offer a foam case for the battery...
Anyway I really didn't want to spam... just wanted to explain the difference so people could understand... My goal is just to inform people so they can make a choice.
If anyone has any questions I will answer regardless of what battery you choose.