Should I wait for a Cree light that doesn't have rings?

I am looking for that first Cree light but have been unable to decide. I was thinking about the Lumapower D-Mini (with OP reflector). Is the Raw Aluminum weaker than the anodized black, and will it rust faster. I was very dissapointed that the new Fenix Cree lights do not have textured reflectors. I have personally seen a P1D CE, and hate the beam. Is there a Cree light with a beam as smooth as my HDS. The Lumapower lights with Orange Peel reflectors look promising. I had been holding out for a Cree light, and now because of the infamous rings, I am holding out even longer. Hopefully the Lumileds new claim of 115 lumens per watt will be true. There really is nothing like the great beam you can get from a luxeon. Please help me decide on what light to purchase.

Well you're going to be waiting quite a while for the Lumileds to surface and then probably a little while after that before somebody like Fenix incorporates in into their flashlights. Quite honestly I can't understand why the rings bother people so much, but I guess it's a matter of preference. Unless you're mainly a "white wall hunter", having rings really doesn't affect usage in my opinion...but hey, that's just the way I see it anyways...

The L1D-Ce doesn't have that bad of a ring compared to the P1D-Ce, and you really don't notice it in actual use. It's not as bad as say the artifacts from a incandescent maglite or something...

I've not found it to be a distraction yet in actual use. The extra light is very welcome!

You could do something like a modded light, I heard a Q3 with the stock reflector has a very smooth floody beam with the XRE.

A diffuser lens would probably give you the smoothest beam, an orange peel reflector should also do the trick. Either one of those will cost you throw. I don't see what the big deal about the rings is. I have plenty of other white wall perfect beams and I almost always choose my favorite, my long throwing, long running, super spilling, snow white beam Fenix-P1D CE.

The point is not whether the rings should or should not be a distraction. The point is there shouldn't be any rings to debate about.

The Cree P4 drop in for SureFire available from Lighthound works pretty well. I didn't notice any rings. The LED assy is a little long though so you can't screw te bezel on past about 80%...but for another $50 I would prefer a KL5 and think it would have as much or more throw.

No rings on my McGizmos or A19 XR-E lights.

There are monster rings on my McG XR-Es

I guess that is a feature of CREE LED that it produces rings... SSC doesn't .

I know most people are saying they can't notice the rings in actual use, but I can, otherwise I would not have started this thread. Between the P1D CE and HDS XRGT24, I reach for the HDS everytime. But, by no means am I saying the P1D CE is bad, it is a really GREAT light. I don't know what it is but the rings bother me. I was really looking forward to the L2D CE, ashame there is not a textured reflector.

Look at this thread starting at post #46. Some people are able to remove the rings by re-focusing the head.
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=151817&page=2

Lumenation said:

I know most people are saying they can't notice the rings in actual use, but I can, otherwise I would not have started this thread. Between the P1D CE and HDS XRGT24, I reach for the HDS everytime. But, by no means am I saying the P1D CE is bad, it is a really GREAT light. I don't know what it is but the rings bother me. I was really looking forward to the L2D CE, ashame there is not a textured reflector.

Click to expand...

I felt the same way... I waited and hoped for Fenix to introduce the OP reflector, but after reading the posts, I'm glad I waited. I ended up buying the Lumapower M1, It's on the way. The beauty of the Mini-D and M1 is they can be ordered with either an OP or Smooth. I decided on the smooth reflector, if it's too ringy, I'll order up the OP and have both... Fenix should have made an OP option at the very least... Looks like my $$ will go to Lumapower until Fenix fixes the problem, or at least comes up with an optional OP for purchase... I'm bummed too, I was looking forward to that perfect little light...
Heli

You can remove the donut from the L1D but not the rings. The beam is much much better after refocusing. The rings don't bother me personally, and FWIW I like the L1D CE more than the P1D CE for alot of reasons.

Well, the Elektrolumens Lucidus XR-2 uses the Cree Optics, and i am very impressed with that optic, no square beam or noticeable rings at all as common with optics...

LightScene said:

Look at this thread starting at post #46. Some people are able to remove the rings by re-focusing the head.
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=151817&page=2

Click to expand...

Some people are also losing insane amounts of throw by refocusing.

I just tried it with my L1DCE, and was able to change it from significantly brighter than the JetBeam to equal or less than the JetBeam, with a mere quarter turn of the front of the head.

I put it back.

So what you're saying is that if we clean up the threads on the reflector part of the head so it turns easily we'd have an easy way to adjust the light from flood to throw?

No, you don't need to wait for a Cree light that doesn't have rings. Batteryjunction.com has both the LumaPower M1 and D-Mini. They both have optional orange peel reflectors. The orange peel reflectors will cost you some throw, but some people think that is worth it. http://www.batteryjunction.com/lululudlpm1f.html

dammitjim said:

So what you're saying is that if we clean up the threads on the reflector part of the head so it turns easily we'd have an easy way to adjust the light from flood to throw?

Click to expand...

:thinking:





:rock:


"It's not a bug... It's a Feature!"

Yeah, I think you're probably right. I don't know how much light you really lose by doing that, and what complications you might run into since twisting the head is an integral part of using the light, and you might end up twisting the wrong thing while using it, but if you try that be sure to let us know how it works out!

No, don't wait for a ringless Cree-light because it seems nearly impossible
to achieve that.

Just get a Seoul-P4-Ubin light instead. Brighter than the Cree-XRE's which
are currently available and smooth, ringless beam.

So why don't we see more Seoul led flashlights? Is it because the Cree is made in the USA. What light with a Cree has the cleanest beam?