Black diamond's got Cree's now! alright!!!
they do. the Icon and Spot, that is. this puts the Icon right up there w/the '08 Myo XP, '08 Primus PrimeLite Race (Rebel based) and a small number of other Rebel and Cree based HL's.
the Icon is SO MUCH brighter in '08 v. '07. also, GONE is that oh so teentsy weentsy spot that almost made the '07 and prev. original PTec Eos look like a flood light (ok, i'm exaggerating here, but it's just hyperbole for the sake of effect). now the central hotspot is much larger and there is plenty of spill, IMO, and the main beam is now VERY USEFUL.
the smaller 1W Spot has a beam that rivals pre-07 3W LEDs in terms of LUX and throw. it's overall field of illumination is wide enough (MUCH wider than the original 1W Luxeon based PTec Eos) to be easily useful for hiking at night.
the Cosmo now has 1x0.5W + 2x5mm instead of the '07 version's 4x5mm - it is a big improvment on the Cosmo. the 1x0.5W has much better throw than 4x5mm on HIGH. for task/proximity lighting, 2x5mm serves just fine. the only improvement i would have made is a way to allow BOTH 1x0.5W *AND* the 2x5mm to be ON at the same time, sorta' like the Mammut Lucido TX1 HL does.
this is the first time since the old BD SuperNova hybrid and the Spaceshot II hybrid that i have really liked any of BD's LED HL's more than PTec's current offerings [Note: i own every BD HL, sometimes two of them, since the first year the single-LED Gemini hybrid was released w/the exception of the Soliras and the 4x5mm Moonlight]. i really like all three of these HL's (though my excitement is much more subdued regarding the 0.5W Cosmo). the '08 Cree-based Icon excites me as much as the '08 Myo XP did some months earlier and the '08 Cree-based Spot is now my favorite 3xAAA HL (it's even better than the MUCH, MUCH improved, IMO, PT EosII - though the EosII is wonderful also). i must say that my first BD pre-Cree Spot (purchased perhaps the very first week after they were introduced in the good ol' USofA) was a great disappointment to me. after that first set of cells was burned through, i only used it once more time some months later to remind myself of why it was such a disppointment. the '08 Spot is fantastic by comparison.
for my personal tastes in HLs, i thought BD had lost their way. yes, i still purchased all of them, hoping to be wowed by them the way the SpaceShotII wowed me, but i was always disappointed except by the tiny BD 2x5mm kiddie's HL called the Wiz (my expectations were very low for this one, so it was a bit better than expected).
fr/my perspective BD is BACK!!!
the only thing which i'm NOT sure of at this point about these three new BD HL's is something that i've complained about b/f regarding BD's LED HL's, viz. their INFLATED burntimes. i've almost never been able to get close to the burntimes that BD claims. the jury is still out on this point.
also, the hard plastic may be subject to cracking/failure in rough use. this is just something that i suspect MAY happen; *NOT* something which has ever happened to any of my BD HLs.
obviously, i don't have a lot of time on either of these two new BD HLs yet, so something else may surface. furthermore, some of my excitement may be due to these new '08 versions being SO MUCH better than prev. model year's HLs, that it has taken me by surprise and some of this excitement may wear off. however, be that as it may, the '08 Icon and '08 Spot, IMO, are some of the VERY BEST HL offerings available anywhere at this time. factor in the price for these two (both together just under $100 w/o shipping) and purchasing both might be very tempting.
my two shekels. YMMV.
