Why is there not a U.S. retail distributor for Cree LEDs?

LEDBE
G

Greg G

Enlightened
Joined
Oct 17, 2007
Messages
772
Trying to buy Cree LED's, if you're a little guy like me, is a joke. I have 4 lights in que and no emitters, nor any idea of when I'll have them.

I'm tired of placing orders and PAYING UP FRONT from dealers from the other side of the globe that turn their back on me after they get their money, and I never have a clue when I will receive my order.

Why isn't Cree concerned about having a professional retail vendor in the U.S.?

What would it take?
 
I have an order with Cutter that was placed and paid for on 2/27. Economy Air shipping. Today is 3/20 and I don't even have a tracking numebr yet.

I know it's not intentional. I guess they are just busy people. So busy in fact that there needs to be a retail distributor in the U.S. to handle U.S. customers.
 
Greg
Your order was despatched on the 11th of Mar, we were out of WD tint when you order first arrived

Greg G said:
I have an order with Cutter that was placed and paid for on 2/27. Economy Air shipping. Today is 3/20 and I don't even have a tracking numebr yet.

I know it's not intentional. I guess they are just busy people. So busy in fact that there needs to be a retail distributor in the U.S. to handle U.S. customers.
Click to expand...
 
Thank you for the 411. I would like to have known this when the order was placed though. Maybe an e-mail after you received the order?

It would help everyone here out if the website showed the status of the particular bins you carry. It showed the bin I chose to be "in stock". I would have ordered something else. If you didn't have anything I could use I could have kept my money in my Paypal account and not in yours, until the time came you had the product and were ready to ship. :grin2:

It's all water under the bridge. :kiss:

I wish someone that communicated well and shipped on time would carry Cree's. :D
 
I agree, we need a U.S. distributor. As a full time college student saving for a wedding there are many times (like right now!) that I simply cannot justify the astronomical shipping rates for a couple of emitters even though I have projects waiting. :sigh:
 
DX for free shipping. Just need to learn to plan ahead and have some patience.
 
That is odd - seems their Corporate headquarters in Durham, North Carolina would be a good place to have an outlet. Perhaps an email or call to them might get them thinking about a U.S. distributor if they don't already have one (maybe somehow one exists just off our radar). Cree email:

[email protected]

or call +1-919-287-7888.

or [email protected]
 
We modders in the U.S. really do need a source for these LED's.

This thread isn't an indictment against Cutter, I have gotten good service from them. Welight was helpful with providing info on my last order by answering PM's and doing whatever he could on his end. He told me the truth about when it was shipped, etc. It's the shipping that takes a very long time. My last order form Cutter took 3 weeks to get to me.

The shipping aspect definitely hinders the experience.
 
Greg G said:
We modders in the U.S. really do need a source for these LED's.
Click to expand...

I agree wholeheartedly. I just ordered 25 R2s from Cutter and I imagine it will be 2-3 weeks before I see them. I know its not their fault though. I will say they seem to have a proper inventory system setup on their website now as it showed when they were out of stock of the R2s.

I imagine we could be getting cheaper emitters from a retailer here in US through cheaper shipping. Price is a bigger factor to me than shipping time.
 
Well it appears we DO HAVE U.S. Distributors. Here is a response (fast) from Cree and it seems they are quite aware of CPF! :

Hi!

We at Cree do have distributors here in the US. All of our distributors can be found on our web site at: http://www.cree.com/products/xlamp_dist.asp and you can use the interactive map to locate the distributor that serves your area. In North America, we have two distributors, Arrow Electronics and ETG. For the flashlight folks on CPF, I would recommend that you contact ETG. Their web site is www.etgtech.com, and they have a $50 minimum order policy. But unlike Arrow, they can sell you small volumes of our XLamp LEDs, they can mount them for you on star boards, and they can even offer you other value-added assemblies.

ETG is located in Los Angeles, and they have been a distributor of the Cree XLamp since 2004! I hope this information is helpful to you.

Thanks,

Ron Hall
Sales Manager
Cree, Inc.
4600 Silicon Dr.
Durham, NC 27703
(919) 313-5681 - Direct
(919) 313-5558 - Fax
E-mail: [email protected]

Learn more about our complete line of LED lamps on our web site at http://www.cree.com/products/ledlamps.asp
 
I have been to ETG's website before and I just went there again. The only thing is I can't figure out how the hell to order anything from them or even see their prices. For all of their products they only seem to have data sheets.
Maybe I'm missing something but it must be really good for them when people can't even use their website.
 
saabluster said:
Price is a bigger factor to me than shipping time.
Click to expand...

For me the shipping time is more important. For instance, I'm building a penta Cree light. Well, last night, being the idiot amateur I am, I ripped the domes off 3 R2's thinking I could assemble the head without centering rings on the reflectors. I learned a costly lesson in my carelessness and confidence.

Now I've got to take them all off and put the Q5 WH's I just got in from Cutter. I'll do an R2 penta on another light when I can find replacements for the emitters I destroyed. But it will take time to get more R2's.
 
Greg G said:
For me the shipping time is more important. For instance, I'm building a penta Cree light. Well, last night, being the idiot amateur I am, I ripped the domes off 3 R2's thinking I could assemble the head without centering rings on the reflectors. I learned a costly lesson in my carelessness and confidence.

Now I've got to take them all off and put the Q5 WH's I just got in from Cutter. I'll do an R2 penta on another light when I can find replacements for the emitters I destroyed. But it will take time to get more R2's.
Click to expand...
Whatever you do don't throw those R2s away. If you can get the gel out around from the die just right you will end up with a flashlight that can throw real far. The dome magnifies the die and reduces throw. You can expect some tint shift as well but that's not necessarily a bad thing. If you don't want to attempt it I will take them off your hands.
 
ETG took my order Friday. They were friendly, and very interested in selling me some LED's. :naughty:

Thanks! :twothumbs
 
now you guys know what its like for just about everyone else!! At least cutter ship internationally , half the US distributors arent interested in the rest of the world!!
 
doogs said:
now you guys know what its like for just about everyone else!! At least cutter ship internationally , half the US distributors arent interested in the rest of the world!!
Click to expand...

Or worse they want to fedex everything for 25$ so your 12.21$ optic order costs 37.21$!!! :thumbsdow

Last order from cutter; 5 optics, 2 drivers, 5 LEDs = a mere 6$ shipping :twothumbs
 
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