Hi guys,
Sheesh, I go away for not even one day and all these responses, great! On the subject of Bin Coding and brightness and whiteness, please gather 'round and let me tell you a little story:
I was the first to publicly disclose which Luxeon Bin Code ratings were going into my mods. That unfortunately kinda put some strain on ElektroLumens and others, even my good buddy Lambda, because now they could not sell and distribute mods using Luxeons straight off the reel (many were greenish and dim, reflecting Lumileds' abhorrent QC problems).
And as I got into more and more mods using more and more reels of emitters, I came to the realization anyway that "all that glitters is not gold", not label-wise, anyway. I learned not to be so hung up on the label numbers because Lumileds' own in-house system of checks and balances is absolutely terrible, even to this day. For example, in the 1W batwings I have received reels of Q4H that were not nearly as bright nor as white as the current reel of P4Js I am using. The 1W reel I have now is a real treasure, and really should have been binned a step or two higher. Conversely, I have received reels of even lower-binned Luxeons in which there were some emitters that could have been as high as R-rated! It is common knowledge among the more prolific modders that Lumileds indeed sells "mixed bags" of Luxeons, all on the same reel with one label.
The reel I have now is probably the most consistent I have seen from Lumileds in a long time. Every single one has tested at "threshold" or better (my own relative-measurement gate through which a Luxeon must pass in order to be used in the LGI; my reputation as a modder depends on this). This keeps my costs down, as in the past I had to sell off cheaply or destroy in leading edge experiments, those emitters that did not make it.
Hopefully what I just shared with you will make you realize that the Bin Code labeling is just that -- a gimmicky and sticky piece of paper slapped on by a human at a factory. Once that label is affixed there are no cross-checks, and that is why, to this very day, I still test Every Single Luxeon before use.
Of course, all the other (pre bin-disclosure) modders probably now hate me...
With that said, let me go into 5W Luxeons:
The 1W is a "more mature" product. The 5W is still really brand-new and Lumileds has still not yet even got a real firm handle on the 1Ws as far as consistency. The 5W HD Luxeons I have now were sold to me as W-binned emitters, but the W only indicates brightness and then only driven at spec at that. Overdriving them erases that label and starts up a whole new ball game; and as most here know, overdriving is what I have always preferred to do. The second number, the "2", SHOULD have been slightly greenish-white anyway, with the "3" indicating a whiter beam and the "4" and "5" going into blue-white and violet-ish. But due to the luck-of-the-draw Lumileds QC as described above, the last batch of 5W HDs I received were indeed very, very white, and probably should have been binned W3 or even better.
Actually only two or three out of all the dozens of SNIIs ever built have broken the 7,000 lux barrier (that 6,850 one of mine did also, with the addition of a UCL lens), but what most people do not understand is that the unaided human eye will never discern the up-to-2,000 lux difference between a 7000 lux light and one that makes "only" 5000 lux. What the eye REALLY picks up on is the color, although that is usually only obvious when a whiter light is turned on next to it, side by side.
So to answer the obvious question, no, these lights will not be 7,000 lux lights (wish I had never gotten a light meter as people tend to get hung up on numbers, which is why statisticians can actually make a living), but you would never be able to tell unless you went out and bought a light meter. They will be blazingly bright and light up things at distances from which many incendescent lights cannot. And they will still appear very white when compared to incandescent flashlights.
And finally, due to the beamshaping characteristics of the 5W HD and Mag reflector combination, lighting things up at distance will be amazing. From the 7000+ down to the 5000 lights (and all the ones in between), the throw will be virtually the same, regardless of the lux readings.
Also, swapping out these Luxeons for whiter ones is only a half-hour job if and when I am able to get some. This would be at my cost plus shipping, so depending upon what I have to pay for the next Luxeons (usually $25 up to $30 for select examples), figure about $30-$35 for a Luxeon swap shipped back to you. In the meantime you still have a very bright 5W mod to lord over all your Flashoholic friends...
But the final sinker in this whole dissertation is that these Space Needle II "2nds" are now all spoken for. Seems there were enough of us who were less concerned with absolute color and the numbers game with respect to the falsely-hallowed "Bin Code" sticker, and they immediately e-mailed and grabbed all of the upcoming SNII 2nds that I will be able to build anyway.
But thanks for your support and attention to this thread; hopefully we have all been provided a different and more knowledgeable (from my actual hands-on experience) perspective from which to gauge our future purchasing decisions.
As always, I humbly remain
