photon micro freedom still old DS led!

i bought 2 photon freedom micros from cfrlights.

before i purchased them i asked if they were the latest ones and the said they were

now that i have them i am not so sure these have the GS leds in them

the color is a bit blueish when i shine on a white wall (way more blue than any other cree light i have)
the GS led should give out white light
also the dx lights seem to put out more light than this one.

cfrlights replied that they asked LRI inc.(photonlights.com)and they say they have been putting in GS leds for 1,5 years now.
I do not think this is the case because the gs led only came available this year.

anybody else has problems with LRI claiming that they are using the GS leds but in reality are getting something else?

i know there is such a thing as old stock but if i specifically ask for the newset led i expect them to honor my request.

since dx is out of stock also i can not replace the leds myself.

The Fenix E01 uses a GS led and it is not white light, most people say it is magenta. There are a lot of thread on cpf about that.

Well from what ive heard...the GS has a different beam when compared with the DS. The GS has a oval/rectangular hotspot with a yellowish ring around it while the DS is rounder and smoother if i'm not mistaken?

from a distance of 30cm on a white wall

the centre is a bit oval and blue/purple
there is a small yellow ring around it.

accoording to this is is a GS led

strange that it has the blue color

not really. All GS's have that colour.

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/209827

ok that explains it

the color is probably okbut mine is blue, not purple)

however the dx light seems to put out more light which is a bit whiter also

do they probably overdrive(or not overdrive) their leds to create more white light?

DX uses a less efficient, but whiter LED. The GS is more efficient, but suffers in tint. You have to pick which is more important to you.


But the Freedom Micro's from CFR do indeed have GS's.

Marduke said:

DX uses a less efficient, but whiter LED. The GS is more efficient, but suffers in tint. You have to pick which is more important to you.


But the Freedom Micro's from CFR do indeed have GS's.

Click to expand...

The GS also has a much lower life than the DS.

i was comparing them to the dx nichia 35000 version which also has the GS version

maybee they overdrive/not overdrive the leds causing the tint to change

with cree's overdriving them is making hem blue i think, maybee it is the same with the nichia gs

how do you know that the cfr's are GS?
is this your own experience?

Marduke said:

DX uses a less efficient, but whiter LED. The GS is more efficient, but suffers in tint. You have to pick which is more important to you.


But the Freedom Micro's from CFR do indeed have GS's.

Click to expand...

First, the DS is not an old LED. It is almost as good as the GS. It's just a single die compared to the three stuffed into the GS. Some people prefer the DS to the GS actually.

Second, LRI/Photon were the first to use the GS as far as I know. They started getting samples out almost a year ago iirc. They've been using GS's for quite awhile now. (Can't remember if Arc was first on GS or DS.)

Third I trust LRI/Photon to be telling the truth about the GS much, much, MUCH more than any claim made by DX. Then again sometimes they do get good stuff. They could just have a really nice batch of GS. LEDs aren't all created equal when the come out of the oven.

All the GS LEDs I've seen have been purple or even pink in their color. I've yet to see a nice white one in person. This is a common feature of Nichia LEDs unfortunately. There are nicer 5mm LEDs out there than the GS even if they aren't quite as efficient. It really doesn't matter when we're talking about 1.5 lumens difference. I'd say find the LED you like and put it into the Freedom yourself. :thumbsup:

gravityz said:

i was comparing them to the dx nichia 35000 version which also has the GS version

maybee they overdrive/not overdrive the leds causing the tint to change

with cree's overdriving them is making hem blue i think, maybee it is the same with the nichia gs

how do you know that the cfr's are GS?
is this your own experience?

Click to expand...

Fenix drives the E01 right at 20mA, which is well within spec. Other brands such as Arc overdrive the GS, which is more likely to lead to tint shifts and short lifespans.


And I have ordered Freedom's from CFR, and you can easily tell they are GS's by looking at them directly, and by looking at the telltale oval hotspot. LRI was the first to get DS and GS LED's, and had an exclusive contact for at least 6 months IIRC. I actually wish they still used only DS.

He great info from you guys

so i think i indeed might have used a bad reference from DX(despite the fact that that one is brighter)

i thought that the gs was more white than the ds because of the dx version

i will drop Dan of cfrlights an email

if i find new leds i can always replace them

i have a lot of experience/references with crees so i can easilly verify those

with these nichia's i only have these 2 from dx and lri so that created some doubt.

thank you all