Question on Lumileds Lottery...

I thought I'd try my hand at the lumileds lottery. So I put in an order
to future electronics.

I asked for 6 white LuxIII emitters and 4 red-orange LuxIII emitters.
Here is what I got:

For the red-orange:
2 each of G2G
2 each of H2H

For the white:
4 each of SYAJ
2 each of TXPJ

I am not quite sure what to make of this. I am happy with the red-oranges --
in fact the 2 H2H's seem to be a coup - but I don't really know...

The whites are kind of a disappointment. When I ordered, they initially said they were out of the LuxIII white emitters, but they shipped very shortly after that anyway...(huh?)
:huh2:

Also, they are all cut from reels -- i.e. still in plastic strips. If they were cut fom reels, why would they give me cuttings from different reels (and hence different bins). They claim they don't sort the bins, but I feel a little like they gave me less desirable emitters for the white's... :thumbsdow

Any ideas?

One other question....

Is it possible that they put the best emiiters into stars? I.e., would I have
had better luck if I'd ordered stars?

You got parts with the new binning structure (XP is a new bin, just created like a month ago)

You may have gotten remnants of reels that were used up by other orders. That would explain the mix of bins

I just recently ordered a bunch of stars from Future, this is what I ordered:

1 Lux V high dome star
4 Lux III high dome stars
8 Lux I high dome stars

Here is what I got:

Lux V: WW0T !!!!!! Score!!!!
Lux III: TV1K - icky color bin, though these aren't as bad as other TV1Ks I've had - these came as 2 loose stars, and 2 more connected together (not broken apart)
Lux I: QX1H - all 8 of these were still connected together on one tree - basically it was 1/2 of a 16 star tree.

A while ago, I ordered 12 Lux III emitters, and I got all SWAK, all in one continuous reel clipping.

Ive read a few posts now where people have had good luck with LuxVs -- are they doing better with those now?

I think I may be happier with the known flux bins of the K2s. It'll be nice when the V-bins are available from future. (But then they will probably give me a crappy color and/or Vf bin just to compensate -- conservation of contentment factor...).

I still cannot figure out why future electronics does business this way. It just cannot be that difficult for them to accomodate requests on specific bins -- and people would obviously pay more to be able to order them that way. Either they have a very poor inventory control system or they just dont care about small quantity buyers. You would think that they would be happy to supply the rarer, high quality U-bins to small quantity buyers (and maybe even charge more) because that will: (1) keep them satisfied and (2) serve as positive PR for the product. On the other hand, there probably arent enough of the rarer bins to make a difference to the large qnty buyers -- they probably have to settle for mixed bins anyway..

The issue is not one of lottery, but general nature of the business IMHO.

Think of it from their perspective

- Some LEDs are ordered for specific customers to a specific bin range (example, Surefire) There is not the ability to provide a customer that large with an exact bin every time, simply not possible.

- Some "mid size" buyers" (like Photon Fanatic) can order reels to an exact spec, but not always. Lux Vs are easier to get than Lux IIIs, but still, you have to buy an entire reel.

- No matter what Lumileds makes, or Future orders, within 6 - 12 months, it is obsolete from a CPF perspective.

- Lumileds does not appear to value one LED more than another bin. From their perspective, all customers and LEDs are equivalent, they just make the best they can.

- The parts which are essentially "non binned" / cut tape are for small buyers / engineering samples / low end users.

Believe it or not, it is a lot easier to obtain a premium binned Lux III or Lux V today than a year ago. At least now you can actually order one from someone like the shoppe or Photon Fanatic, etc. A year ago, you had to actually gamble, pay your money, and roll the dice. Just ask PF how many LEDs he has gotten stuck with in the past.

I am not sure that the K2 will really solve more things from a binning perspective or not. That remains to be seen in my mind.

The truth is that all of us are VERY small potatoes. The vast majority of LED's are being used in industrial uses and automobiles, not flashlights.

We don't get what we want because we aren't going to order a million of them like GM, Ford, or Toyota.

Both Lumileds and Future have little interest in selling to our market, and only slightly more in selling even to companies like Surefire. Just ask PK about it next time you have a chance at talking with him at SHOT or somewhere similar.

Knight Lights said:

The truth is that all of us are VERY small potatoes. The vast majority of LED's are being used in industrial uses and automobiles, not flashlights.

We don't get what we want because we aren't going to order a million of them like GM, Ford, or Toyota.

Both Lumileds and Future have little interest in selling to our market, and only slightly more in selling even to companies like Surefire. Just ask PK about it next time you have a chance at talking with him at SHOT or somewhere similar.

Click to expand...

Bill - I think it is not really quite the case. Surefire does in fact get a bin range within their spec esp. for Lux V. Surefire buys so many Lux Vs that they cannot spec too narrow a range or LL cannot delivery.

I happen to know that a mid range size user can in fact obtain reasonably narrow ranges of W bin Lux Vs. Lux IIIs are a different issue due to demand.

Everyone wants to buy the absolute brightest bin Lux IIIs, which are about 2 - 3 % of total yield. Guess what, they just cannot do it - no one can.

No, I do not work for LL, but I have some experience selling to them, and buying from them.