Cree Q5 bins...already? Can anyone be sure?

Update: 7/12/07 - Cutter posts pics of his Cree XR-E Q5 bin reel. More info at bottom of this thread - or check the pic here. Good news for those who have ordered from Cutter, and we can only hope that other sellers offering the Q5 bins offer pictures of their own bin labels to dispel rumors.

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June 27th - Cree announces a breakthrough. 100-Lumen XLamp LEDs Available in Volume Quantities. This is merely 12 days ago.

The next day, in a article from LEDs Magazine, Mark McClear, Cree's director of business development, says, "the Q5 bin (minimum flux of 107 lm) is not available in volume, but will be soon, as further improvements are made to the XR-E." He further goes on to state that R2 bins will be released before the end of the year...so let's say November-December.

Cree's roadmap even indicates that the Q5 won't come until Q3 2007:



So, here we are...9 days into Q3 2007 - and we have people claiming to sell Q5s. Not just groupbuys in the marketplace, but Mark at Cutter, and even DealExtreme.

Why would Cree release the Q5s so close on the heels of the Q4s? Why would they say Q3 2007 if they were going to come out in 10 days? :thinking: Mark @ Cutter started the Q5 sales thread on July 5th, 8 days after Cree releases the Q4 in volumes. Then today, 12 days later, DX is offering Q5s for $10 shipped.

Has anyone seen proof that the Q5s are even released? Since they are not marked like the old Luxeon stars, we have no clue what they are selling us - do we follow blindly and accept it on fact? At least when Cutter offered the Q4s in the marketplace, he had part numbers (XREWHT-L1-WC-Q4-0-01 500 pcs + XREWHT-L1-WH-Q4-0-01 500 pcs)...pictures of the bin label on the spool would have been even better.

Anyone else? Does anyone have industry access to people at Cree who can verify if the Q5 has even been released? It would just seem if they release the Q4 at the end of June and are shooting for the end of the year for the R2 bin, that the release of the Q5 bin would be somewhere in the middle...not 8 days after Cree releases the Q4. I hope someone can prove me wrong - but I hope that we aren't being taken for a ride. :shakehead

The Q5's seem to be upon us awful quickly. US sources say they have not been produced yet. :thinking: The price at a certain source that quotes them as available seems to be awful darn good. :green: Things don't seem to add up quite right, but its darn near impossible to point the finger and say "Aha!" With no markings on the packaging, let alone the emitters/stars themselves, it would seem to be a "trust me" proposition. :shrug:

Pretty sure I will not be buying Q5's unless the vendor can provide evidence that I am getting what was promised.

I appreciate your skepticism - and I only wish more people would adopt it when it comes to unverified dealer/manufacturer claims. What are asking for is not at all unreasonable (although I doubt it will be provided)

However, based on my experience to date, I doubt Kyle would be out to deliberately mislead us (of course, he could easily be being mislead by his suppliers). No real way to know at this point.

There was a lot healthy skepticism about DX's SWO U-bin SSC emitters when they first came out - given the lack Vf-bin data. A few members made comments about never buying these, not knowing what you are getting, etc. I bought a number to test, and they all had the U-bin SWO characteristics with apparently quite variable Vfs, as you would expect (as evidenced by widely different runtimes in identical direct-drive lights I moded with them).

So, I just ordered one of these supposed Q5s to test out. If I don't get the % output increase I expect to see compared to one of my confirmed P4 lights, then I'll post my results here. For the price, I think it's worth a flyer to see what we are dealing with. Caveat emptor, as always ...

Can't wait to hear what the real output and tint are on these...

the cutting edge is confusing...

I say just wait for the R2s or even R4s straight instead of jumping into the Q-series if you are already using Cree P4s or SSC P4s. A jump of 20 lumens is hardly noticeable and the Qs aren't exactly cheap from what I've seen; $14-22. What's more, if you are unlucky, you might get a low flux-bin Q vs. a good P4 and not notice anything!

Unless you really love modding and keeping up with the latest, wait out awhile to get a really worthy upgrade; similar to the previous jumping from Luxeon to Cree (so-called 'double' brightness or efficiency) for $7-8! Jumping from P4 to the Q-series for $20 (+ mod costs if you are not a DIYer) isn't really worth it, IMHO.

Reminds me of the days when people were upgrading their T-bin luxeons to U-bins

I only just installed some Q4's on my bike so I think I'll wait

LEDcandle said:

I say just wait for the R2s or even R4s straight instead of jumping into the Q-series if you are already using Cree P4s or SSC P4s. A jump of 20 lumens is hardly noticeable and the Qs aren't exactly cheap from what I've seen; $14-22. What's more, if you are unlucky, you might get a low flux-bin Q vs. a good P4 and not notice anything!

Unless you really love modding and keeping up with the latest, wait out awhile to get a really worthy upgrade; similar to the previous jumping from Luxeon to Cree (so-called 'double' brightness or efficiency) for $7-8! Jumping from P4 to the Q-series for $20 (+ mod costs if you are not a DIYer) isn't really worth it, IMHO.

Reminds me of the days when people were upgrading their T-bin luxeons to U-bins

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My big thing is that if I can get a light in a Q4 or Q5 that also happens to have a better tint (WH, or to a lesser extent WG) I will upgrade -- in most cases, the improvement in tint would most likely be more noticeable than the boost in brightness anyway.

Here is the link to the Q5 WG stars at ExtremeDeal that Wintermute mentioned at the start of this thread:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2394

So far, I can only find on the web the Q5 WG bin.

DMC said:

Here is the link to the Q5 WG stars at ExtremeDeal that Wintermute mentioned at the start of this thread:

http://www.dealextreme.com/xxx

So far, I can only find on the web the Q5 WG bin.

Click to expand...

Hey DMC - how many places are you going to post the same information??

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/2074904&postcount=5

I already put in the first post that DX was selling them - you posting it here wasn't necessary. It's not hard to find the Q5 stars at DX.

I noticed early this morning that you were the first to post that DealExtreme had Q5s. So, I was editing my postings to acknowledge your earlier posting and give credit where credit it due.

So why did Cree announce on June 27 the Q4 bins and then make a Q5 bin available to resellers two weeks later?

DMC said:

I noticed early this morning that you were the first to post that DealExtreme had Q5s. So, I was editing my postings to acknowledge your earlier posting and give credit where credit it due.

So why did Cree announce on June 27 the Q4 bins and then make a Q5 bin available to resellers two weeks later?

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Gotcha - all good.

Look at this post from WeLight (aka Mark from Cutter):

WeLight said:

I am of the view that the deal from DX says something about all his Cree product, we have the only bin of Q5 released, we have never sold any to DX and if we did it would be at a min twice his advertised price

Cheers
WeLight

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Interesting to say the least. Cutter is an authorized Cree distributor and usually one of the first to get the Cree LEDs. Not even LED Lighting Supply, a U.S. distributor of Crees, can get any Q5s yet - and they are a distributor. It will be interesting to see how this one pans out.

Well skepticism aside, I too wouldn't believe Kyle would purposely mislead his customers. It would be more likely that he's being mislead by his suppliers if that's going to be the case. With that said, it's cheap enough to take get some and try them out in my opinion...

I do know a couple of people who have ordered from both Cutter and DX, who are planning to do comparisons once they arrive...stay tuned. I'm still just surprised that Cree would release the Q5 so soon after the Q4's press release.

According to LED Lighting Supply, CREE has NOT released any of the Q5's just yet and that most likely Cutter is just pre-ordering the Q5's at this time.

Cutter has the Q5 bin reel. He has proof in a pic here. I hope the other sellers offering Q5s do the same and offer pics of their bin label. Only time will tell, but Cutter indicates that his reel is the first 1000 Q5's released from Cree specifically for selling to members on CPF (his words, not mine). Check the pic, see for yourself.

So he's posted a picture of the Q5s. What's to say that those are the LEDs he's actually shipping to people?

We should have an answer in several days. Just received a shipped confirmation from DX.

I am just asking myself a question: Why does an Australian electronic store (Cutter) should be the only one to receive the first batch of Q5?

Asian are producing more electronic high tech toys than anybody else.

gerry45 said:

We should have an answer in several days. Just received a shipped confirmation from DX.

I am just asking myself a question: Why does an Australian electronic store (Cutter) should be the only one to receive the first batch of Q5?

Asian are producing more electronic high tech toys than anybody else.

Click to expand...

Maybe because Cutter is one of the few authorized distributors of Cree LEDs. Regardless, a few members here have Q5s coming from both Cutter and DX and will compare the performance of both once they arrive.

How much of coincidence that DX has the same bin, Q5 WG?:huh: