I understand you can discharge a battery completely with a resistor, just like any other capacitor. I also know there’s a battery controller in my device.
My actual question should’ve been ‘Do people really use lithium ion batteries in devices without battery managers?’ I absolutely would not.
Neywiny's comment upthread isn't that you should use these without a BMS, but that the review is relatively less useful because it's stopping testing at a relatively high voltage. E.g. if you search for "panasonic_ncr18650b.pdf" you'll find that Panasonic's own datasheets use a cutoff of 2.5v.
Some do. Anecdotally, some (uncommon, enthusiast-grade) flashlights I use don't have battery managers/over discharge protection, though most of mine do. If you can bear the responsibility of maintaining and storing the batteries properly, IMO there's no significant problems.
My actual question should’ve been ‘Do people really use lithium ion batteries in devices without battery managers?’ I absolutely would not.