Wouldn’t you think that they would have fixed all of the safty issues before they sold them to the public… or did they care… 
I agree, but I think the only reason that they are sold to the public is that the risk is no different than filling up your car with gasoline. When used properly, the benefits are great, but when left unattended or handled incorrectly they pose a sizable risk.
I consider gasoline much more dangerous as lipos as well. They are both something that contains a lot of energy and should be delt with carefully. For those of you who have never seen a lipo explode before. Heres a vid
helihobby.com/videos/LithiumBattery.wmv
After viewing the video of the exploding LiPo battery, I’m now less than thrilled about using them. I was considering using LiPo batteries to reduce my robot’s weight. Having to remove a battery pack from the robot for recharging is a hassle. I can recharge my NiMh while still in the robot with no fear of fires or explosions (or at least with a significant reduction of such). I guess I wait until the LiPo technology improves.
-Dobermann
granted that an exploding battery is certainly of concern, i have used them for just about a year now and have had no trouble. it is important to keep a better eye on them and i also have installed a temp sensor to help monitor them. i believe the benefits far out weigh the draw backs
Three safety rules I recommend for Lithium batteries:
- Do not build your own battery charger unless you know a fair bit about electronics and battery technology. If you must build your own charger, use one of the chips that is designed specifically for Lithiums.
- Always have a fuse inline with each battery. An unintended short causes Li batts to get very hot, etc. Do not use a single fuse for multiple batteries in parallel, because a shorted cell can effectively short out a good cell, resulting in Bad Things.
- Don’t use the cheapest battery you can find.
I plan to break rule 1, but that’s because every day I work with batteries, chargers, and the PIC firmware to make them go. I will use a dedicated charger chip. I’m mostly the SW guy, but I get to hang around with the guy who designs the battery packs and the charger circuitry 
.
Pete
I wouldn’t base your decision on that film alone, the battery pack was willfully exploded. Do a google search on Lithium Manganese batteries like I said in my earlier post. Apparently, they don’t have the minute risk of explosion that LiPo’s do.