Why are MC-E flux & tint bins never listed?

Just wondering aloud. I always see XR-E flux and tint bins listed (Q5, R2, WC, WH etc.), but when it comes to MC-E's, nothing is ever listed. How come? Does Cree use the same bin codes for tints on MC-E's as they do on XR-E's. Not sure how they list flux bins, and what lumen levels might relate to those. Does anybody have the answers?

As far as I've seen, they use the same tint bins, but the flux bins use different schemes. The exact bins should be available on the Cree website. As for why they aren't listed, I've found that at least the flux is usually listed in some way, whether it says "M bin", "xxx lumens" or something else like that, sometimes buried in the serial number. Can't quite recall how many manufacturers say the tint used though.

Up until recently all MC-Es were of K-bin flux. In the last few months M-bin flux MC-Es have arrived.

Most mass manufacturers still have K-bin flux MC-Es in their lights and will not be forthcoming about that because it
deters people from buying them when new products with M-bins are coming out.

There are quite a few lights available with M-bin MC-Es now.

Here are a few:-

neoseikan's LegionII
Plenty of Arcmania's pocket-rocket lights.
Shiningbeam's MG-RX1 (see the marketplace)
download is making a third batch of compact 18650 lights with them
The coming O-light TritonM30 will be using an M-bin too.

A quick search on the internet provided this:-

http://www.cree.com/products/pdf/XLampMC-E.pdf

You can find the MC-E specs from some retailers;

http://www.led-tech.de/en/High-Power-LEDs-Cree/CREE-MC-E-Series-c_120_133.html

Rob

I would say that it's still quite early in the overall production lifecycle of the MC-E compared to the XR-E so comparing them is a bit like apples and oranges. I assume that supplies of particular MC-E flux or tint bins are still constrained or perhaps erratic, so by advertising a particular flux or tint bin, you could be painting yourself into a corner and perhaps not be able to produce enough lights to meet demand and thereby annoying customers. Annoyed customers often never buy your brand again and they also tell their friends never to buy your brand.

Plus, limited supplies may also lead to unrealisticly high prices for the producers in order to justify making a light with a guaranteed bin in the first place. People who buy from custom/niche producers like Neoseikan or ArcMania may be happy to pay that premium, but maybe not your average Fenix buyer, and probably not a more mainstream customer, like perhaps a military or LEO who isn't particularly interested in the minutiae of flux or tint bins.

Compare that to the XR-E, which is a far more mature product with a more plentiful and consistent supply now. If you know that you can get enough of a particular bin at a good price for your target audience, then it starts to make sense to advertise particular bins if you know that certain high-volume buyers like flashaholics are interested in that and will pay for it.

Well, that's just my opinion on the matter.

Because we haven't asked for them.

It makes a manufacturer's world a bit nicer if they aren't expected to post complete specs, like bins. Then they can change or be subpar, and nobody notices.

I encountered this problem when compiling my database, and I wasn't even trying for tint bins, just flux. I still haven't found quite a few.