CREE XR-E

Is it too early yet to be buying a light with the Cree XR-E? I.E. Are they a proven LED? Will they hold up like the Luxeon? Etc. I don't want to invest a lot of money into a couple new lights with the Cree if they aren't going to cut it. So far I've read nothing bad. Any suggestions? I'm about to place an order.

Thank you,

Nick

I would wait until the Q-bin's are available. This shouldn't last long. Which light you are thinking about?

Best regards

____
Tom

:thinking:
From your words, it seems you saw lights with a Cree XR-E LED inside. Where please ?

The Orb Raw is the light in question. I have to wait a few weeks, but as always this is more of a want rather than a need so its not a big deal. I just think I'll have the perfect EDC with the information I've heard about the XR-E. Its hard to wait.

nmiller - The Sandwich Shoppe (http://theledguy.chainreactionweb.com) has 3 A19 Cree XR-E 1x123 lights left at the time of this post. I have two of them, and they're BRIGHT and WHITE.
I agree with Tom that waiting until the premium emitters come out... the Q3 or Q2 emitters will be awesome when they do come out, but some people are saying that the Q3 could take quite a while.
Either way, waiting a little while longer, like a couple of months, and I think you're going to see the CPF light market start to shift toward the Cree lights, and you'll have at least a few more options.
john

What are the main benefits of the premium emitters? All I'm really after is the better run time/ efficiency compared to the luxeon. Sometimes a light can get too bright. To me for an EDC the extra run time with a little more output would be great assuming the white Cree XR-E is white. If I can get the power of a luxeon with the run time of a 5mm that would be amazing. I think the orb raw 1 watt can do that.

I dont think it's possible to get the same runtime as a single 5mm led but at 50mA the XR-E is already a lot brighter

nmiller said:

If I can get the power of a luxeon with the run time of a 5mm that would be amazing.

Click to expand...

wait another 2 years

as for the other concern:
thats what 2 levels are all about

a 5mm LED consumes about 20-30mA
While a Watt is equal to 1000 mA
How can you expect an one watte light can run as long as a 5mm LED ?

CaLux said:

a 5mm LED consumes about 20-30mA
While a Watt is equal to 1000 mA
How can you expect an one watte light can run as long as a 5mm LED ?

Click to expand...

An LED consumes power, not current. mA is a measure of current, a Watt is a measurement of power. Saying a watt is equal to 1000 mA is like saying blue is equal one thousand paintbrushes.

I am sorry
that must be 1A = 1000mA

Keep in mind I know very little about the technical information. I carry a gerber infinity ultra. I believe flashlight reviews has it down for a run time of 10 hrs. to 50%.

The Orb Raw 1 watt with a 1 watt luxeon has a run time of 5hr on high, 10 hours on low. I'm assuming since the low on the orb is a lot higher than the infinity with the same run time it should remain brighter than the 5mm with the same run time. There for you get more light output for the same period of time.

I would think that the XR-E would provide even more light output for the same 10 hrs? Again, I don't know. This just makes sense in my mind. When you start talking about regulation etc. I get lost. I'm a flashaholic, but typically I buy lights based on recomendations here not based on specs etc.

Well, it's somewhat incorrect to specify light output as Watts, since efficiencies change. Especially for LED's, in which light output per watt is a moving target.

Consider the compact fluorescent bulb, it's rated in watts in small numbers, but given a larger watt number on the package that is the lumen equivalent of the incandescent bulb it is replacing.

The point of the CREE XR-E is that it is becoming more efficient, and therefore the bulb can produce more light for a given wattage.

Therefore, you could potentially get more light out of a device that is limited by it's thermal efficiency. You can only get so much wattage "in" to a LED before it's too much for the package to handle. But if you can get more light out at a given wattage, a 5mm LED could theoretically start producing as much light as a 1W luxeon, for example.

CaLux said:

I am sorry
that must be 1A = 1000mA

Click to expand...

Don't take it hard Us Engineers can be brutal with units

A watt for a 3.4 volt LED is about 300 mA. Current =Power/Voltage

I think they round down the power for a 1W luxeon. The are driven at as much as 450mA, I believe.

Anybody care to clarify the benefits of the better emitters?

--> more light at less power consumation, thus longer running

a calculation:

Luxeon K2 --> 1,5 A at 3,85 Volt = 5,8 Watt --> Output 130 Lumen
Cree XR-E --> 0,35 A at 3,3 Volt = 1,5 Watt --> Output 93 Lumen (1)
- " -..............0,70 A at 3,375... = 2,4 Watt --> Output 150 Lumen (2)
say: same output at half current

(1) Q3, which is BY NOW the best available bin
(2) estimated from the infos given from cree

nmiller said:

Anybody care to clarify the benefits of the better emitters?

Click to expand...

nmiller, take a look here:

XLamp7090XR-E_B&L.pdf (application/pdf-Objekt)

XLamp7090XR-E.pdf (application/pdf-Objekt)

At the same current, the higher binned Led's are brighter.

Best regards

____
Tom

Thanks Yellow. I assume the current XR-E are still better than the luxeons?

yellow said:

--> more light at less power consumation, thus longer running

a calculation:

Luxeon K2 --> 1,5 A at 3,85 Volt = 5,8 Watt --> Output 130 Lumen
Cree XR-E --> 0,35 A at 3,3 Volt = 1,5 Watt --> Output 93 Lumen (1)
- " -..............0,70 A at 3,375... = 2,4 Watt --> Output 150 Lumen (2)
say: same output at half current

(1) Q3, which is BY NOW the best available bin
(2) estimated from the infos given from cree

Click to expand...

Hello yellow

You forgot my fav. (so far) U--J bin LuxIII:

0,70 A at 3,4 Volts = 2,4 Watts -- Output up to 113 Lumen

Best regards

____
Tom

Long John: That just about cleared things up for me. However a lot of that is too complicated for my simple mind. By the way, I love the mag 2c. Thanks.




Overall, I'm going to place an order with Rob. I don't see the need to wait. The best thing to say is that there will always be something better, but I think the current XR-E is more efficient than the luxeon and it will serve its purpose for an edc. The next time I need a light canon I'll wait for the higher bins. The only way I will get disappointed is if the Cree XR-E is a dud and doesn't function as well as the luxeon (think lifespan, run time, and then brightness). I don't think that will happen. Does this all make sense?