Warm White Cree XLamp

I didn't see a reference to this item posted anywhere else, and I think it is important news for the flashlight industry...

Cree Announces Lighting-Class Performance for Warm White XLamp® LEDs


For many flashaholics, the cool blue light of LEDs are tolerable, at best. these new warm white LEDs should make color rendition problems in flashlights a thing of the past...maybe. :laughing:

IMHO they swang too far the other way -- most LEDs are 6500-5500K, this is 3000K. Something at 4200k woudl be best IMO for use in a flashlight (about the same as typical HID headlights, most fluorescents, and the moon). however, this is apparently designed to be competetive with incandescent lighting for indoor use. Usually the biggest problem with warmer white LEDs is that they are deficient in the deep red, and tend to look "greenish" as they simply convert more blue into yellow/green. Hopefully these will be better. 124 lm at 3W gives approximately 52 lumens per watt though, which is not bad for a warm LED at all.

If any of you have taken a look at the Luxeon Rebel data sheet you will notice that they have three different categories, cool (4500K to 10000K), neutral (3500K to 4500K) and warm (2670K to 3500K). If I read the datasheet right all the current Luxeon I/III/V tints would fall in the cool category. I think the neutral category would be the way to go for flashlights.