Anyone postponing light purchases in anticipation of K2 emitter superiority ? >$$

I am postponing 2 light purchases right now . I'm afraid anything I buy now .....( 3or5 watt ).... will be obsolite in 3 months and wind up a shelf queen . I'm holding out for K2's .This stuff is getting too much like Camcorders and VCR recorders. ( Dad ?.......what's an 8-track tape ? )

This is only the beginning....... with no end |


New & Improved will start appearing on the packages .....soon . .:mecry:


But we're having FUN > .........( just )


I use my flashlights to find my checkbook so I can pay for em :rock: .


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Re: Anyone postponing light purchases in anticipation of K2 emitter superiority ? >$$

Yeah I've got the same problem. I was hoping the new releases from SF would have K2's not the same old 3 watt leds.

Re: Anyone postponing light purchases in anticipation of K2 emitter superiority ? >$$

12 Step program for flashaholics?

My name is Bike and im a flashaholic!:buddies:

I am wondering about these K2'S as well.

The Lumens output on the Lumileds site though.....45 to 120 lumens in white.
that will be smoking.
Not really putting off any new mods or purchases, except expensive ones till these puppys hit the ground running.

Re: Anyone postponing light purchases in anticipation of K2 emitter superiority ? >$$

It doesn't look to me like the K2 is enough of an advance to eschew a nice performing Lux3 light. If you are talking about buying a production light, where you can't really choose your emitter, it might make sense to wait for a K2 light, since on average they should perform better than a Lux3.

If you are thinking about buying a custom or modified light, you have some choices in emitter bins usually. A U-bin Lux3 will be hard to beat for a while yet, I think.

Re: Anyone postponing light purchases in anticipation of K2 emitter superiority ? >$$

I have been thinking about waiting for K2's. I've been wanting one of the latest generation Streamlight TL-2 LED's because of its good throw. If it will be superceded by something with a K2 then I'll wait.

Re: Anyone postponing light purchases in anticipation of K2 emitter superiority ? >$$

Yup i'm holding off on Lux3 production light purchases. Can't wait till i see some nice K2 offerings. Not holding off on incans and mods though

Re: Anyone postponing light purchases in anticipation of K2 emitter superiority ? >$$

I heard a rumor that a "10W" Golston will soon be available. It won't be available for a while. Maybe the manufacturer is just waiting until they can counterfeit a K2 -LOL

Bernie

Re: Anyone postponing light purchases in anticipation of K2 emitter superiority ? >$$

i have a desire for a regulated high-output LED light that could run off of a 18650 or 17670... i'm holding out for something really exciting to show up, whether it be a K2 or something else... would like to get a LED light that has near the power of my G90 lamp, whiteness of an LED, in the 2x123 package that runs for over an hour.... oh yea.. and It has to be affordable (<$75).. so unless I missed something that already exsists that will do this.. i'm holding out for a K2, lol....and besides, I have to wait, i'm broke as far as money goes, lol.

Re: Anyone postponing light purchases in anticipation of K2 emitter superiority ? >$$

I'm not. I just bought a Mclux after corresponding with McGizmo about the K2. At least in the case of the Mclux which is designed to run about 50 lumens max in a compromise of brightness v. runtime, there appears to be little to no benifit of the K2.

Re: Anyone postponing light purchases in anticipation of K2 emitter superiority ? >$$

TooManyGizmos said:

I am postponing 2 light purchases right now . I'm afraid anything I buy now .....( 3or5 watt ).... will be obsolite in 3 months and wind up a shelf queen . I'm holding out for K2's .This stuff is getting too much like Camcorders and VCR recorders.


( Dad ?.......what's an 8-track tape ? )

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I do not have any Idea but it remind's me of a good joke. your kid found some of your old Lp's "what's these daddy?" "there vinyl Lp's, that's what I listened to when i was your age". "wow there big you can see the artwork better, ,,,What's these seed's and little sticks all dried up in the fold in the middle? Uh,, um,, mom had house plant's over the stereo..... :sweat: VDG

Re: Anyone postponing light purchases in anticipation of K2 emitter superiority ? >$$

voodoogreg said:

I do not have any Idea but it remind's me of a good joke. your kid found some of your old Lp's "what's these daddy?" "there vinyl Lp's, that's what I listened to when i was your age". "wow there big you can see the artwork better, ,,,What's these seed's and little sticks all dried up in the fold in the middle? Uh,, um,, mom had house plant's over the stereo..... :sweat: VDG

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carefull................. Narc's are wise to that now .





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Re: Anyone postponing light purchases in anticipation of K2 emitter superiority ? >$$

About the only thing that the K2 is likely to obsolete anytime soon is the (troublesome) Luxeon V "portable." The 1000/1500 parts can operate at >5W, and have markedly less thermal resistance.

The Luxeon 1 & 3 are still competitive. Remember - the K2 uses a different binning structure than the Luxeon 3, and emitters are binned at 350/700mA & 1000/1500mA. S-bin Luxeon 1's and U-bin Luxeon 3's will still be quite competitive with better K2's.

I think the main advantage of the K2 is its ease of use in automated PCB fabrication/soldering equipment and the somewhat reduced heatsinking requirements that come with less thermal resistance.

Re: Anyone postponing light purchases in anticipation of K2 emitter superiority ? >$$

TooManyGizmos said:

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carefull................. Narc's are wise to that now .





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Joke, humor, not my album an listen to bob and tom radio show, that's were i got it. BTW Narc's have always been wise to that, as is ATF for guy's that own LOTS of gun's,, like many who talk on here.............. VDG

Re: Anyone postponing light purchases in anticipation of K2 emitter superiority ? >$$

I'm not buying anything else at the moment.
I will buy some K2's and do some serious modding

Re: Anyone postponing light purchases in anticipation of K2 emitter superiority ? >$$

I'm personally holding off major purchases until LED efficiency begins to settle down. The industry is still in a state of major flux, with huge efficiency increases and price drops still to come in the next few years. No point spending money on today's latest and greatest only to have it eclipsed in a year by the next offering. Also, I certainly wouldn't design the Luxeon, Luxeon III, or especially the Luxeon V into a new product these days. Rather, I would only look at the K2 or similar offerings from Cree or Seoul Semiconductor.

Re: Anyone postponing light purchases in anticipation of K2 emitter superiority ? >$$

Not me, just bought a McLuxIII-PD with all the options and can't wait to get it

Re: Anyone postponing light purchases in anticipation of K2 emitter superiority ? >$$

It will be a year or two to find out if the K2 hoop-la is worth what Lumileds have been typing. Economics of light manufacturer need to work it way through their system.

Light manufacturers have inventory of Lux lights that they will need to dump on consumers. The Lux emitters and old electronics in the lights have already been bought. Manufacturers will need to dump the old stock first before the new stock is sold. LED lights are still new to the general public so the market is ripe to sell to the unknowing.

If the K2 emitters were put into lights the manufacturers would still be using the lower powered electronics. Manufacturers are going to sell their older electronics on consumers before designing new technology.

A manufacturer could use old electronics or direct drive when the K2 emitters come out. That option will under power the K2 emitter.

Has anyone tried putting 1500mA through a K2? I had a burnt finger to prove how hot the K2 emitter gets. Heat sinking the light will wick the heat to safe temperatures but companies have a lot of old inventory of light bodies they need to sell before they design a new light to handle the K2 power. Initially, the manufacturers will use old electronics or resistor direct-drive with the K2. To quickly get brighter K2 lights to the consumer the manufacturer will now be using off the shelf lights that have marginal to poor heat sink. A K2 resistored down is a Lux emitter without the option of good tint selection.

I've tried a couple of K2 emitters. Maybe in a few years the emitters will eclipse the Lux emitters. I'm not impressed with the K2 brightness and tint. The K2 soft domes are going to be a problem. Driving K2 emitters does not make them as bright as a Lux V. The K2 emitters do get hot running full power. I'd hate to see how hot the K2 emitter gets when people start overdriving them.

Another option I have seen is other companies are designing brighter and more efficient emitters.

We are at the beginning of the K2 learning curve. K2 emitters are not known and the building process is in its infancy. Other emitter makers are also working on new emitters that are brighter and more efficient then the K2. The K2 emitter needs time to mature. For now I'll guess that the Lux emitter is better.

The K2 emitter is new but that doesn't mean it is better. It is cheaper to make.

I'm still going to buy and use Lux emitters.

Re: Anyone postponing light purchases in anticipation of K2 emitter superiority ? >$$

I have gone through this mental exercise for some time now (for my own light projects), and have had premium bin Lux IIIs, Lux Vs, as well as U and V bin K2 s and Cree's products to choose from. I have tested all of them.

The very challenging break that people will have to make for their "best" light solution, is not that different than before. If you want a commodity / production light, with no control of tint bin, optimum brightness, and optimum run time, then the K2 or Lux V are your better choices. I like the K2, but there is no clear light output / efficiency gain of a K2 over a Lux V, in fact, for a light actually driven at 3 - 5 watts, I will take the Lux V any day. It is really hard to beat a WWOS driven in that range for beam "coolness".

It is interesing that not 6 months ago, you could not sell a light or emitter for anything but playing around to this group unless it exactly met the desired tint, Vf, and output specs. People are jumping on Cree Xlamps and K2s with only 1 aspect under spec control. I wonder what will happen when everyone gets their new K2 based light and says - hey, you sold me two of them, and the tint on one is different than the other.

As far as electronics and flashlight bodies, the people that build flashlights have had K2 engineering samples since at least summer 2005. The changes required to go from one to the other (Lux 1, III, V, K2, Cree) (on my light) are ZERO. That still does not make it any easier for me to decide what is best for my customers, nor whether or not they will accept my opinion, or be carried along with the hype breeze.

The only real issue, is that if customers decide they like one or the other, is availability of the desired LED in a reasonable time frame.

Re: Anyone postponing light purchases in anticipation of K2 emitter superiority ? >$$

TrueBlue said:

The K2 emitters do get hot running full power. I'd hate to see how hot the K2 emitter gets when people start overdriving them.

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I honestly can't fathom any logical reason why someone would want to overdrive a K2. Look at the data sheet. You get a mere 30% lumen increase going from 1000 mA to 1500 mA, and that's based on the unrealistic assumption of having a constant junction temperature of 25°C. At 1500 mA the output is leveling off. In the real world you probably won't get much increase in output above 1000 to 1200 mA, depending upon how good your heat sink is, which is similar to the current situation with the Luxeon IIIs. There is zero reason to overdrive a K2 since in all likelihood you'll get the same output at, say, 2000 mA, as you would at maybe 750 mA, while using something like 4 times the power. For most applications I'd say 1000 mA (or less) is about where you would get the most light.

Overdriving may have made sense when parts where severely underrated, such as the original Luxeon at 350 mA, but now that absolute maximum current ratings probably exceed the point at which you get more output it makes no sense.

Re: Anyone postponing light purchases in anticipation of K2 emitter superiority ? >$$

HarryN said:

I like the K2, but there is no clear light output / efficiency gain of a K2 over a Lux V, in fact, for a light actually driven at 3 - 5 watts, I will take the Lux V any day. It is really hard to beat a WWOS driven in that range for beam "coolness".

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$3.45 versus $14.56 is a good reason not to use the Luxeon V. I won't even get into the multiple emitter/short lifetime stuff. For most of the markets LED is trying to penetrate now cost is everything. Trust me on that. Right now I would need $1 K2s to make a few things I'm working on competitive, for example. Tint is probably irrelevant when you're using a bunch of emitters. The differences likely average out so all your products end up looking similar.