Best 5mm leds available?

I'm not sure if anyone follows the 5mm leds anymore with the cree/ssc craze going on right now. Are the nichia U bin still the best or are there brighter 5mm leds out there? I don't mean the high power mj/smj/and the other ones from lsdiodes, just the old fashioned 20ma leds. Any help is greatly appreciated.

I'm by no means an expert, but I have bought some of the 55,000mcd-rated 5mm LEDs from the seller 'jeledhk' on Ebay. They are bright but the evenness/color of the beam hotspot is mediocre, with some yellow and violet tones. In practice though, it's not very noticeable during most average uses, it doesn't look good on a white wall but beyond that they are alright. There are some being sold by another seller on Ebay that are called 'pure' white or something similar and are rated around 37-40,000mcd and I've heard that those are pretty good as well and have a more ideal-looking beam. Too bad I have to buy so many at a time, I only needed a few to try of the jeled LEDs but now I have 50 of them, minus a couple I'm now using. I put one in a maglite solitaire and have it running off of a 10440 lithium, it makes a nice keychain light with decent output and several hours of runtime. BTW, if you want a few of the jeled LEDs to try out but don't want 50+, I could put a few in an envelope for a couple bucks.

P.S. - these were the the other ones I was talking about - http://cgi.ebay.com/Pure-White-LED-...8066581QQihZ006QQcategoryZ66952QQcmdZViewItem

I got the JELED's off ebay to replace some old 5mm's in a few headlamps and cheap bike lights etc, and they are a real improvement. however these are the only 5mm leds i have bought and cant compare them to anything else.

also quite fast shipping from HK,
Robert

thanks for the replys guys. :thumbsup:

Robatman said:

I got the JELED's off ebay to replace some old 5mm's in a few headlamps and cheap bike lights etc, and they are a real improvement. however these are the only 5mm leds i have bought and cant compare them to anything else.

also quite fast shipping from HK,
Robert

Click to expand...

Robert, if you'd care to compare them to something like http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1105 with just a third the claimed intensity I'm sure a lot of folk would be very interested.

TorchBoy said:

Robert, if you'd care to compare them to something like http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1105 with just a third the claimed intensity I'm sure a lot of folk would be very interested.

Click to expand...

I'm not Robert, but I do also have some of the DX LEDs. The DX LEDs have a really nice, beam/hotspot/color compared to the Jeleds, but yes they are dimmer. Hard to say how much, I'd say maybe about half the brightness as a rough guess, not 1/3 or less as the ratings would indicate from what my eyes perceive. Hotspot size is similar, but much more uniform color with the DX LEDs. The DX LEDs are a great bargain at their price, while not incredibly bright they have a good color and beam and would be an upgrade from most cheapo multi-LED 5mm LEDs lights you see around.

mmmflashlights said:

The DX LEDs are a great bargain at their price, while not incredibly bright they have a good color and beam and would be an upgrade from most cheapo multi-LED 5mm LEDs lights you see around.

Click to expand...

That's nice to know. I bought 50 of them but gave them to my brother before playing with any. I think I saw a mention that they were the same ones used in the Lyckeby (9 LED, 3 AAA) torches, which have a strong blue/purple tinge.

TorchBoy said:

That's nice to know. I bought 50 of them but gave them to my brother before playing with any. I think I saw a mention that they were the same ones used in the Lyckeby (9 LED, 3 AAA) torches, which have a strong blue/purple tinge.

Click to expand...

With these cheap LEDs it's often luck of the draw, the 50 pack that I got has very nice color, a little cool but one of the more neutral LEDs I think I've seen. With lights like you mention, color can vary alot from one to the next, even varying within each LED in some cases. I have some 1 AA 8 LED lights and some are quite neutral, one is very blue, another is purplish or greenish. So I don't know how consistent these LEDs that they're selling are, they may vary alot but those that I received look very good.

Anyone try the besthongkong 25,000mcd Pure whites and 5 chip 5mm leds(any color)? How do they compare to the nichia leds from the sandwich shoppe?

I love the Jeleds. I just modded a Rayovac flexhead light with one last night.



I use them in all my 5mm lights. Sure, the color and beam is splotchy but they are very bright and very efficient.

My "White LED rating thread" may help you:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/149200

Toshi

TMorita said:

My "White LED rating thread" may help you:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/149200

Toshi

Click to expand...

I agree with your assessment of the JELED's poor-looking beam compared to some of the better LEDs. However it is still quite bright and in practice the beam doesn't seem very distracting. So it depends on what a person's looking for, if perfect beam quality is important than these will fail badly, but for good brightness and a beam that's decent in practical usage, they do fine.

mmmflashlights said:

I agree with your assessment of the JELED's poor-looking beam compared to some of the better LEDs. However it is still quite bright and in practice the beam doesn't seem very distracting. So it depends on what a person's looking for, if perfect beam quality is important than these will fail badly, but for good brightness and a beam that's decent in practical usage, they do fine.

Click to expand...

Yup.

I still prefer the LCK 40k because the 15k difference isn't very noticeable, and the beam is subjectively much better.

Toshi