Please explain: Bins, P3, Q5 etc...

I have been seeing lights marked as T bin or U bin or R bin, and p2-p4 and the q5, but dont usually understand what they mean or what is better.

Could you explain the order of what is better, differences in the lights, cost vs. benefit for some of the more expensive ones? etc? Links to other pages with info would be nice too (yes I tried google)

EDIT: Here's a guide I found: http://www.cree.com/products/pdf/XLamp7090XR-E_B&L.pdf

The Price difference isn't that great, between bins

from what i know , for CREE emitters, it goes from P2 to P4

then Q2 to Q5, and the new bin, R, right now only R2 is available

its just like the newest thing, like a new car that comes out

P2 is the oldest, Q5 is the most popular right now, R2 is the newest

For say a P4 emitter, it might be 5$ on MCPCB star, comared to 9$ for a Q5

Its best to get a Q5 as they put out about 230Lumens @ 1.0A. where as a

P4 puts out about 180 @ 1.0A

In general, bin codes are a way for LED manufacturers to sort individual emitters by tint and flux (output at a certain input). The guide you got from Cree is a good one, but sometimes there are confusions between different types of emitters. For instance, Seoul Semiconductors (SSC) makes an emitter called the P4. The P4 is sorted into lettered output bins; T, U, V, etc. P4, as Jake mentioned, is also an output bin for the Cree XR-E emitter, and so the confusion arises.

There is a another guide with more companies here.

Bin codes are used to sort LEDs by how they perform. They specify at least the efficiency/output and what tint the LED is.

Different companies have different bin codes, that is probably why you are confused, along with not knowing what means what.

In case you were looking for a more basic response, this is what I gather from the bin process:

To keep manufacturing costs down, after they design and develop a component, they'll make a die and do a giant production run of a zillion or so components (computer CPU manufacturers do this too). Then they take that batch and run tests on them. The items that score the highest get thrown in the premium "bin" and second highest to that bin, etc. on down the line.

So I believe that's what that all means. They're all manufactured together, but like school, they're all kids but some get to sit in the front of the class, some in the back, and some don't even return from recess!

more good info for you...
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/194616