Fake Cree T6?

[ruf997tt]

I know there are probably plenty of fake/counterfeit flashlights out there but has anyone come across fake Cree XM-L T6 LEDs in flashlights?

 

[Bullzeyebill]

Welcome to CPF. :) What do you consider a fake Cree XM-L LED? What prompted you to start this thread?

Bill

 

[ruf997tt]

I just bought a couple of flashlights from HK that are 'branded' UltraFire with Cree XM-L T6 (no model designation) but now I suspect they might be counterfeits as I don't see a model match on any site selling UltraFire. These lights were rated 1300lm using an 18650.

My concern is not so much the flashlight shell but whether I am getting a real Cree XM-L T6 led in it. These lights were ~$10.

I've bought a lot of stuff from HK sellers over the years and some of it is trash and some of it is good. I'm hoping the latter is true in this case.

 

[neutralwhite]

my friend has a flashlight from there. paid like $30USD, and claims its a cree t6 LED, same as my PD32UE's one, but it looks no where near mine at all. it has all lines showing up on the LED when on, on a wall. all purple and all mad colours...

I just bought a couple of flashlights from HK that are 'branded' UltraFire with Cree XM-L T6 (no model designation) but now I suspect they might be counterfeits as I don't see a model match on any site selling UltraFire. These lights were rated 1300lm using an 18650.

My concern is not so much the flashlight shell but whether I am getting a real Cree XM-L T6 led in it. These lights were ~$10.

I've bought a lot of stuff from HK sellers over the years and some of it is trash and some of it is good. I'm hoping the latter is true in this case.

 

[StandardBattery]

This thread needs :kewlpics:

 

[firelord777]

This thread needs :kewlpics:

+1

 

[neutralwhite]

+ 1 as well then.

+1

 

[LEDburn]

+ 1 as well then.

You're the one with the friend who has a supposedly suspect sample, why don't you try get a picture or two?
If the difference is so dramatic like you claim, even a camera phone pic should do..

 

[tobrien]

if there's money to be made off of someone else's work I bet there are fake Cree LEDs out there. I have no idea though, but I'd bet there are a few, perhaps they're just rejected units though?

 

[subwoofer]

I would not think the LED would be fake, the emitters themselves are not expensive. The hosts for the emitter, yes, there are plenty of fakes, or at least clones of better known lights.

 

[rdrfronty]

Generally the Cree LED's are legit in those lights. The cost of them in bulk to the builders are cheap enough that it would be pointless to obtain fake ones. And the quality of those LED's are usually just as good as $200-$1000 lights. BUT the problem is usually the way the LED is used. A lot of those cheap lights have very poor drivers, heatsinking, etc. that can cause great loss in output and performance. But there are quite a few budget lights that are well worth the money. I have no issue owning my $12 Ultrafire C8, that I have sitting on a shelf beside my $395 Olight SR90. Those budget lights are nice to have around for "beaters" for working on a car, loaning to a neighbor, whatever. And at $12, my C8 will out perform just about any light owned by 99% of the population.

 

[yellow]

respected maker/seller and for a reasonable price:
--> will have what stated

exteme budget "offers" that have millions of models with "bin-1" and suddenly - when Cree announces a new bin will be offered soon - ONLY have models with that bin:
--> I would not bet on that ...


but except for a possibly unsuitable tint, none of us would be able to notice the difference; even measuring it might be very difficult

 

[aau007]

It is also possible that those are rejects (tint issue) or 2nd quality (lower lumens than specs).

Hong Kong does not make any of those cheap lights, they all come from China. Wan Chai and Mong Kok are more expensive than Ap Liu Street and ALS is slightly more expensive than ShenZhen. After these different layers of markups, you can't seriously expect the XML to have come from the premium bin.

 

[Illum]

They could be genuine CREE emitter dies stuffed in a third party package, IIRC SSC was the first one that did that, beginning with the Seoul P4, then P7

 

[AmperSand]

Probably all the lines in the die and the mad colours are because it's a cheap zoom model with an aspheric lens, the output on a wall will look world's apart.

 

[Bullzeyebill]

See history. Cree has a plant in China.

Bill

 

[ruf997tt]

As a follow-up, I have received the light I questioned and it certainly puts out a lot of light. It is one of those zoomable lights and you can see the 3 connections to the LED and a few lines in the tightest beam shot against the wall and it is square but as you zoom out just a little bit the beam gets round and everything seems normal.

For $10 I am extremely pleased. It sure beats a 2D EverReady for every day, around the house use.

 

[Kokopelli]

All of the lights I had with an XML or T6 tag on their sales came up with genuine XML emitters. I have been one of the close followers of Cree's XML emitter family and at those times there were T5 and T6 bins sold everywhere. Now there are T6, U2 and U3 bins sold. T5 is almost gone, and since T6 is the current old bin it has a very good price per emitter value already. Only thing is you can still get a T6 emitter even if it is written U2 on the labels. But it isn't much of a problem I think.

However, there are reports of people getting Samsung emitters in their "supposed to be Cree (XP-G/XM-L)" lights too. Still, even in those cheaper lights with a price tag lower than $10, I've always found a real Cree XM-L.

 

[zerko]

hi, received some led's I ordeder from aliexpress and they are sold as CREE XM-L T6.

tested them, at 3.7 they sink only 340ma, which is 1/10 of the spec!

so it looks like there are fake led's on the market or there are low quality ones that were "thrown" away on the production cycle, or?

 

[yellow]

why anyone always thinks something must be "fake"?
:thinking:

as long as You dont give PICTURES noone can type anything, but this will still most likely be original Cree emitters, why not?