Why so few flashlights using the new Osram OSTAR?

[Outdoors Fanatic]

This new six-die LED is pretty impressive. Is there any other falshlight using this LED besides ArcMania and Fox Fury? Where are the Chinese manufacturers? Are they sleeping on this?

I wish SureFire would come up with an upgraded L6 using the OSTAR...

Cool Beamshots-- see this monster in action:
http://www.customlightfactory.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=58

 

[Kiessling]

1) because it is difficult to focus
2) because it is less efficient than the EZ1000
3) because it is expensive like hell
4) because most lights do not need so many lumens

However ... I can dream up some speciality lights that are quite impressive ...

bernie

 

[Outdoors Fanatic]

1) because it is difficult to focus
2) because it is less efficient than the EZ1000
3) because it is expensive like hell
4) because most lights do not need so many lumens

However ... I can dream up some speciality lights that are quite impressive ...

bernie

Yeah, I know it's not the most efficient LED in the market and it is expensive indeed. But this is CPF, it's a niche. Just like a lot of stuff we buy in the CPF market place. I strongly believe that the vast majority of users would be quite happy with the brightness and runtime provided by a Li-Ion or lithium powered light with an OSTAR.
It would made a great alternative to the incan hotwires and high-powered tactical lights like the SureFire Combat Millenium lights. Can you image an L6 with just 3 cells taking the place of an M6+MN21? I mean, we are talking about a SINGLE emitter capable of doing the same job as 6 clusters of the brightest LEDs available today. This is HID territory in terms of brightness.

Cheers

 

[THE_dAY]

the OSTAR is a very odd shaped LED, a lot more effort to focus...

i was gonna ask a similar question expect "why no cree warm-white LED flashlights".

incandescents are great for the outdoors and do better than brighter LED lights.

an example, while on a camping trip, the Surefire G2 with used batteries (~60lumens)seemed to give similar results when compared to the Fenix P1D-CE on high with fresh batteries(~110lumens.)
both were pointed and the woods which were ~40 ft away.

i was wondering if the warm-white LEDs, even though it is less lumens/watt, might be better than the cool-white LEDs for outdoor lighting?

has anyone even tried the new Cree warm-whites?

 

[Outdoors Fanatic]

So we can put a man in the moon but cannot focus an LED? Please...

 

[THE_dAY]

true, it will take more effort but ,it can be focused, but as Kiessling pointed out, that is but one of the factors.

the Foxfury is ~$1000 and the Arcmania is ~$900, so cost is another main factor.

maybe if the OSTAR was as effiecient as the cree/seouls (which continually seem to be improving)..

 

[asdalton]

an example, while on a camping trip, the Surefire G2 with used batteries (~60lumens)seemed to give similar results when compared to the Fenix P1D-CE on high with fresh batteries(~110lumens.)
both were pointed and the woods which were ~40 ft away.

This difference is simply a matter of focus, not tint. The Fenix has a small reflector and is simply not much of a thrower despite its high output. None of the Fenix lights are. I have a Cree-modded Surefire L6 that easily matches the throw of the P60 incan lamp on non-depleted batteries.

I prefer warmer-tinted LEDs for aesthetic reasons, but I have never seen evidence that tint can turn a beam that throws poorly into one that throws well.

 

[LEDninja]

There is the problem of providing 14V (4 die) or 22V (6 die) to power the LED.

 

[Hodsta]

A huge amount of resource and money has gone into the develeopment of reflectors and optics to harness the light of single die LEDs, this cost of all this activity is spread across a huge volume of flashlights sold.

Lights like the Fox and the ArcMania have been built up from scratch to match the OSTARs capabilities, this significant cost is spread out over a much small volume of units - therefore each light contains a proportionately higher R&D cost passed onto the pricetag.

There are many great single die LED lights, but they are to some extent standing on the sholuders of giants, building on innovations of previous generations. I'd like to think that there will be many lights using the multi die LEDs in the future, and they will be standig on the shoulders of Arc Mania and Fox. The price will drop rapidly as production and sales volume increase.

My 2 pennies.

 

[maxilux]

Is there any Flashlight in the market with the osram led ? i can not found.

 

[jasonsmaglites]

how is the efficiency of the osram?
are we talking like the luxeon's, which i will never buy again.
cause four of them just wouldn't impress me, i'd rather have a custom multi-cree light.

also, can we get a link to these existing osram's you refer to?

 

[Hodsta]

There is a link in the first post of this thread to the ArcManian SF-V thread over at custom light factory forums.

Also a preproduction thread here at CPF..........
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=160078&highlight=ostar

You can get to the FoxFury lights via the advertising banner or view both the ArcMania and SF-V at Lighthound (http://www.lighthound.com/)

 

[yellow]

I have a host waiting for the new Lux V or the ostar, or whatever, but

• there is no New Lux V by now
• the Ostar sucks, but not because of the points mentionned (which are also true, unfortunately), no, Osram, by now, does not grant anything, You pay for the super-lucky-production-best-part, but not bin, nor tint is fixed.
  Could end up with an white-green 450 lumen part, for the price of the superwhite 1200 Lumen one

 

[Outdoors Fanatic]

how is the efficiency of the osram?
are we talking like the luxeon's, which i will never buy again.
cause four of them just wouldn't impress me, i'd rather have a custom multi-cree light.

also, can we get a link to these existing osram's you refer to?

http://www.customlightfactory.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=58

Don't even try to compare the Ostar to a Luxeon. That's like comparing a candle to a HID.

 

[maxilux]

Wow !!! What is that ??? i feel from my chair, where can i get this? What is the price for it ?

 

[THE_dAY]

you can get the Arcmania OSRAM light here:

http://www.lighthound.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=3085&HS=1

price is $899, 600+ lumens.

from what i have read the new OSRAM LED has:
50 lumens/watt efficiency @ 1000mA
60 lumens/watt efficiency @700mA
75 lumens/watt efficiency @350mA

 

[BugOutGear_USA]

Not sure what everyone's definition of efficient is, but in low mode the SF V gets 6.5(not a typo) hours of runtime at constant brightness. Low mode is about as bright, if not brighter than my Surefire L6 Seoul mod. Turbo mode(1000 lumen) is estimated to run for 1 hour.

 

[Daekar]

This difference is simply a matter of focus, not tint. The Fenix has a small reflector and is simply not much of a thrower despite its high output. None of the Fenix lights are. I have a Cree-modded Surefire L6 that easily matches the throw of the P60 incan lamp on non-depleted batteries.

I prefer warmer-tinted LEDs for aesthetic reasons, but I have never seen evidence that tint can turn a beam that throws poorly into one that throws well.

This is partially right - it's a matter of focus, but also because both lights are producing almost the same amount of light. Remember that SureFire rates their output as torch lumens, whereas Fenix rates their lights with emitter lumens. The approximate conversion is 65% of emitter lumens are torch lumens - so the SF G2 is generating approx. 100 bulb-lumens, a paltry 10 lumens difference from the claimed output of the Fenix, which is almost impossible for your eyes to notice at that total output. SF lights really are better than people give them credit for.

 

[Ron Schroeder]

The Osram isn't harder to focus. It's a simple matter of geometry. A larger emitter needs a proportionatly larger reflector to get the same beam.

 

[maxilux]

y
price is $899, 600+ lumens.

2. time i fall from my chair, when i tell this my wife, the rest of my life i am alone