Bitter Sweet Cree

We're all flashaholics here. We love technology, precision, and the attention to detail that is infused in these illumination tools. With the Crees finding their way into many manufacturer's lights, we are experiencing a new chapter flashlight history. It's like the LED is being reinvented.

Is it just me? I'm excited about these new Crees, but I feel like my current LED lights are quite primative compared to the numbers posted by the Cree's. The lights that I once showed off to my friends are second class now. The once bad@ss SF L6 of mine is inefficient, oversized, and dare I say dim in comparison to the Crees.

Are your current LED lights going to just sit on the shelf forever now? Are you going to give them away? Stocking stuffers? Throw your expensive L5 or L6 into the toolbox to be replaced by the new L5?

Like I said, bitter sweet.

This is the reason that you need to be bitten by the mod bug.

Personally I never think it is a good idea to spend over $150 on a light when you consider the advances in technology that are happening as we speak. Spending that much on a light and having the light be totally outclassed in less than 18 months will bother pretty much everyone.


I still use some of my non cree LED lights such as my Nite Ize Minimag, Streamlight 4AA Luxeon, and several high power Incans. For the most part however my new Cree based lights get most of my use.

I don't agree, because there are guys on these forums with the
talent to mod most of the lights fairly effortlessly.

The more the light is worth, the more the mod. will be worth it because
it will be comparably cheap compared to the cost of the light
and all the reasons why the light was desired in the first place will
be preserved with the latest technology.

Supernam said:

Are your current LED lights going to just sit on the shelf forever now? Are you going to give them away? Stocking stuffers? Throw your expensive L5 or L6 into the toolbox to be replaced by the new L5?

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I'm going to continue to use my lights as before. Lights are tools. If a light was adequate to do the job before, it will be adequate to do the job now.

I do not think that my L2 is going to be replaced by a cree light. Maybe the next gen LED will knock it off the top for me. Even after that, it is still going to be useful, much moreso than the lights it replaced. I ain't gonna cry at all when it gets totally surpassed, it's usefullness will still be there.

I'm excited about the cree's also. I ordered a Fenix L0D CE. I expected this to be a replacement for my Arc AAA premium for EDC pocket carry and compete somewhat with my HDS EDC U60 for attention. Various light levels and good runtime I expect will make it a great pocket companion.

I have to say though it's not like the world just got darker and I need more light or the spare batteries I carry just got heavier; the lights I have still work as expected and they are not obsolete. I do find it amazing though that a light with a single AA battery and cree can be as bright as a Surefire L2 and have just as good or better runtime.

And even though the world didn't get darker and my spare batteries didn't get heavier, having a few of my lights modded with a cree would still be awesome!

I agree and diagree. The horse and buggy was adequate before, but more people prefer cars. Walking is adequate to get around, but people are spoiled and use the wheel to get around. I prefer to mod an oldie if I can't afford a new toy.

GeorgePaul said:

I'm going to continue to use my lights as before. Lights are tools. If a light was adequate to do the job before, it will be adequate to do the job now.

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I have just about given all my 5 mm led lights away, I plan to mod some of my existing
LUX-1 and LUX-111 lights some with the CREE, some with SEOUL Leds. The other luxeon lights I have will remain the same as they are great performers

It's like computers. Whatever you buy will still work but be "outdated" fairly quickly. You usually upgrade because you want to, not because you need to.

Personally I stay away from very high end lights and computers.

Yes, but we all know that a majority of people here in this forum WILL upgrade. :laughing:

well, I had resisted buying many lights (especially expensive ones) in small form factors (such as EDC) with the powerful luxeons in the I-III-K2 range because I felt they were too deficient in run-time.

I see may people still defending those formfactors (eg., HSD Ultra 60) on the grounds that you can get the runtime with very small lumen outputs and that for many uses those small lumen outputs still serve.

i don't feel that way at all, the modern circuits can give you a low lumen output setting but also very powerful ones.

after you've used one of the L1D/L2D CE's or the P1D CE or the Lumapower M1 you just don't ever use an older EDC again.

Maybe the old SF L1 is an exception because it is such a classic light. OK, and the HDS 60 Ultra - using both as a kind of very low light output candle substitute.

personally, then, I'm not at all bitter-sweet because I didn't really spend much money on old formfactors, the exception was some relatively cheap multi-LED's in 5mm which I gave away as gifts to some kids.

CREE is the FIRST big powerful LED that can do better than the incans and get vastly better reliability and runtime and make small formfactors useable. THESE I AM spending the big(ger) bucks on!

see the reviews by Quickbeam on the L1D/L2D CE's - they just obliterate even Mag 3xD's in overall output and approximate them in throw. Wow.

bring it on, the revolution marches on!

Supernam,

CM here at cpf modded my L6 and did an amazing job with it.
The price was very reasonable, the work was flawless and the results
were jaw dropping....amazing throw!

Ray

I bought a Cree to see what the fuss was all about. The beam pattern is awkward at best, and doesn't form well into a tight throwing spot. The radiation profile is all wrong. With a smooth reflector, you get rings and dark regions and weird color shifts.

The color spectrum is still typical LED. Nothing has changed from the Luxeon days. It still has an alien glow to it. Sure, it looks white, but when you shine it on anything made by nature, it looks unnatural.

The output is twice a Luxeon, at least on paper. But when you actually see it, the difference is like the increase from 10 to 11. It barely edges out a Surefire U2, or an HDS U60.

Yes, the Cree is bitter sweet, but perhaps in ways other than suggested by the original poster.

I'm excited about the new emitters but they don't effect the performance of the lights I own. My lights were chosen to help me accomplish specific tasks -- newer lights will not diminish their performance.

If my reason for buying lights was always to have the brightest I might be bummed or feel pressured by the new technology but it's not and I don't.

I have a very short list of new lights I want but they are not replacements for what I'm using now.

Someone else wrote that the Cree is evolution, not revolution.

It's worthwhile upgrading, where the new product is a significant improvement on something you have, but your existing lights are not obselete all of a sudden.

I'll still be using my Gerber IU to read in bed, or stagger around the house in the middle of the night, because anything brighter will hurt my eyes.

I still use my L4, even though it is inefficient compared to the Cree lights, but so what? I don't need it to be any more efficient than it already is and it's rechargeable, so, for me, it fills the bill just as well as any Cree light. I have been considering selling my Raw UWOJ, because I've never really used it. Actually, I already made the For Sale page here on CPF, but then decided to try it out and ended up not submitting the thread! In terms of output, the Cree lights I've seen don't have anything on my Raw. It may not be very efficient, but so what (?), I'm not going to EDC it anyway. I've got others lights to fill whatever shortcomings it may have, but there are few lights with beams as gorgeous as those original first run RAW lights.

I did need my Draco upgraded, though, and am having my Jil Intelli upgraded. Also, I am going to have my Spy005 upgraded. So, I guess for some lights, the old just won't do, but in certain cases, the old are still rockin' it. I think the old L5 and L6 lights will, for most people, still be right at the front of the pack as far as utility goes (referring to post #1). I didn't know the new ones were going to have Crees in them. I'm curious to see how they compare.

FlashKat said:

I agree and diagree. The horse and buggy was adequate before, but more people prefer cars. Walking is adequate to get around, but people are spoiled and use the wheel to get around.

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These are false analogies. Moving from the horse and buggy to cars was a major revolution. Moving from Luxeon or Nichia flashlights to Cree flashlights is definitely not a revolution. A Cree-powered flashlight is still an LED flashlight.

Sub_Umbra said:

I'm excited about the new emitters but they don't effect the performance of the lights I own. My lights were chosen to help me accomplish specific tasks -- newer lights will not diminish their performance.

If my reason for buying lights was always to have the brightest I might be bummed or feel pressured by the new technology but it's not and I don't.

I have a very short list of new lights I want but they are not replacements for what I'm using now.

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Well said Mr. Sub-Umbra:twothumbs:twothumbs.

Ty_Bower - Which Cree based light did you buy?