I haven't personally owned a light with a Cree, but would like to. In reviews I've seen here, it looks like flashlights with a cree is designed for "throw" rather than a flood beam. Is this because of its design? Or are there actually Cree lights that have a flood beam?
Cree--Throwers or floods?
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LukeA
Flashlight Enthusiast
If you were to take a Cree XR-E and an SSC P4 and put them in identical reflectors, the XR-E would have less hotspot and brighter spill than the P4. The P4 would, by extension, have a brighter hotspot and dimmer spill.
Fallingwater
Flashlight Enthusiast
The SSC is a different emitter using the same die. Much like cars with the same engine but everything else different. 
There are Cree flooders. The Zebralight is unreflectored and has no hotspot whatsoever, for example.
There are Cree flooders. The Zebralight is unreflectored and has no hotspot whatsoever, for example.
Gunner12
Flashaholic
How much throw or flood depends on the reflector.
Usually a deeper and wider reflector would have more throw.
The Zebralight is a great example of a floody Cree light.
Usually a deeper and wider reflector would have more throw.
The Zebralight is a great example of a floody Cree light.
A Cree with the optimal deep reflector will throw further then the SSC with it's optimal setup.
If you go with an aspherical lens and a Cree it will defintely kill an SSC in the throw department. I've have used some Seoul LEDs in situations that would require less modification and room compared to a Cree. The Seoul is almost a drop in replacement for a Luxeon LED, just a little height adjustment to the Seoul and you can use the same reflector.
If you go with an aspherical lens and a Cree it will defintely kill an SSC in the throw department. I've have used some Seoul LEDs in situations that would require less modification and room compared to a Cree. The Seoul is almost a drop in replacement for a Luxeon LED, just a little height adjustment to the Seoul and you can use the same reflector.
It really depends on the reflector or optic you're using with CreeXREs. Since the light dispersal pattern of a Cree is not hemisperical like Luxeon, SSC or Edison Opto LEDs, it needs a deep reflector to properly capture and/or reflect the light. Crees can be pretty floody when used with small and texured reflectors or wide-beam optics. Although with that said, I have seen SSCP4s throw really far with a deep reflector too.
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Cree isnt hemispherical in emittion?
Crenshaw
What he means is the viewing agle of the Cree is narrower compared to a Seoul or Luxeon LED. Hence the need for the deep reflector for the Cree.
TorchBoy
Flashlight Enthusiast
Apostrophes aside, why would that be?
Hermi-what? :thinking: Lambertian, perhaps?
Approximately 70 degrees.
TorchBoy
Flashlight Enthusiast
That's sort of a cop-out if they use the same dies. Any other reasons?
Haha, just noticed and corrected that... As corrected, I mean hemispherical or lambertian as such that the light dispersed somewhere around/about 120+ degrees. But to be honest, I'm not sure what degree the dispersion pattern is for Luxeons, SSCP4s and Edison Optos are. I remember reading that SSP4s emit a 130 degree dispersion (compared to the 70 degrees that a CreeXRE does).
It's obvious when you look at the physical design of a Cree and conclude why it has a narrower dispersal pattern when compared with the physical design of a Luxeon or SSC LED. People here have said all along that if Cree had made their emitter more like a Luxeon, that doing flashlight mods/upgrades with existing reflectors would've been much easier.
Generally speaking, I have found that SSCP4s exhibit a floodier output than CreeXREs. My guess is that the dispersal pattern of an SSCP4 has alot more of the light firing out of the lower side of its dome than the upper part of it and therefore hitting more of the inner part of the reflector. Whereas, I believe that since the CreeXRE has a narrower output, its dispersal pattern has alot of the light hitting the outer portion of the reflector. I think that why Cree lights always have such a well defined hotspot and why you need a deep reflector to get most out of them. I maybe be a bit off on things there, but I base what I just said from my observations of using these LEDs in my various flashlights.
IMO, the Cree has a better package. No positive slug, better heat transfer, and it does not have that dust attracting dome.
Having used both LEDs in mods, I find myself using the Cree LEDs more often then the SSC. The Seoul I am sure will be a competetive LED in the market, just not the leader.
Honestly, this whole flood/throw thing was probably due to people originally using the X-REs in modded Luxeon lights. and since the dispersion pattern is different people assumed that X-REs were more for flood. but its obvious that ,after a year and a quarter, the original assumption was wrong.
flood/throw had zero to do with the LED and all to do with the Optic/reflector geometry. so just go look thru all of the reviews and find the "light" with the beam you want, and ignore whether it is a CREE or SSC or Rebel, they are all pretty equivalent when you are not going for a "premium" bin. Albeit they also have different tints, but throw is really LED independent.
in the short term the CREE X-REs are probably the best, as Lumileds just did a recall on the newest Rebels, and Seoul has not really challenged the Q5/R2 bin CREEs. and that leaves CREE as the last man standing until the other players step back up. this last part is all IMO.
-ex
I came to the light...
Flashlight Enthusiast
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A good reflector will easily make up for any miniscule difference between the natural beam patterns. I think some people may think of CREEs as more of throwers because of their ring, which is annoying if you want a very smooth beam (which is more noticeable in flooders than in throwers).
TorchBoy
Flashlight Enthusiast
The only ring I can think of is the one in the LED itself. :shrug:
carrot
Flashaholic
Funnily enough if you'd asked this question a year ago people would have said the Crees are floody. Really depends on what kind of hardware you've got attached to it but generally you need a deeper reflector for a Cree than you would have for a Luxeon to get the same kind of beam output. Or so I recall.
