Well, I for one am going to buy some if they let me. If the brightness of the Cyan and other colored 5-watts is any indication, a white 5-watt Luxeon will be awesome indeed.
Most here know my profession. When coupled with the fact I am on a permanent midnight shift assignment, telling you I use my flashlights a lot would be a laughable and gross understatement. In fact I would venture to guess I use my flashlights more than most any of you.
So in my opinion 500 hours of flashlight usage is a long time. And when you consider that Lumileds is going to make sure there is a safety margin in there and not rate their products right out to the edge of their actual expected durability, 500 rated hours will probably turn out to be an interminable period of longevity in the real world.
Besides, this rating is presumably when the 5WLS is driven at spec. I am thinking to underdrive them slightly anyway. If the results of my tinkering with 5WLS coloreds is any indication, a marginally underdriven white 5WLS should be brighter than almost any 1WLS mod to date. And I think it is safe to assume that underdriving would extend its lifespan further yet.
Lumileds appears to be building Luxeons for domestic and industrial applications. Those are the true primary markets, after all. As opposed to turning on a flashlight for a few minutes to check out something in the dark, home and business lighting applications involve turning the lights on and leaving them on for hours, even days, a performance threshold the white 5-watt Luxeon has apparently not yet been able to achieve.
So here, Lumileds has set its sights lower, going after the portable, intermittent light user.
Sign me up. Those who want the as yet non-existent "good" 5W white Luxeons are welcome to examine my beamshots and test results while they wait. And wait...
