Why is everyone using Cree LEDs?
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Illum
Flashaholic
Nope....
There's only a handful of LED manufacturers to begin with: Lumiled, CREE, Seoul Semiconductor, Osram, Nichia
Lumileds Rebel is the latest they have but can't compete on the white end of things, they seem to have created a remarkable variety for color. What lumileds are making that's great are COB, or LED arrays that are useful for architectural lightning, but very difficult to collimate for flashlight use.
Seoul Semiconductor.... disappeared after making the P-series LEDs [P3, P4, P7, P9]. Right now the only widespread availability from SSC is a warm white Z-Power, but even then its been known that SSC uses CREE dies.
Osram makes some pretty good LEDs, but at very specialized wavelengths [like IR or UV]
Nichia makes wonderful LEDs for color rendition, but its significantly dimmer than cool white LEDs and is considered something of a specialty or custom order.
Mainstream is still CREE.
There's only a handful of LED manufacturers to begin with: Lumiled, CREE, Seoul Semiconductor, Osram, Nichia
Lumileds Rebel is the latest they have but can't compete on the white end of things, they seem to have created a remarkable variety for color. What lumileds are making that's great are COB, or LED arrays that are useful for architectural lightning, but very difficult to collimate for flashlight use.
Seoul Semiconductor.... disappeared after making the P-series LEDs [P3, P4, P7, P9]. Right now the only widespread availability from SSC is a warm white Z-Power, but even then its been known that SSC uses CREE dies.
Osram makes some pretty good LEDs, but at very specialized wavelengths [like IR or UV]
Nichia makes wonderful LEDs for color rendition, but its significantly dimmer than cool white LEDs and is considered something of a specialty or custom order.
Mainstream is still CREE.
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ven
Flashaholic
Great post illum, nothing too add other than nichia offers some nice flavours and supported by a handful of manufacturers. Have a look into the different 219b's and 219c's available. Also custom options to further fine tune your needs in the hunt for the perfect colour temp
I am liking pretty much 4000-5000k in nichia, manker and lumintop offer some lights in various flavours. My latest nichia added is from sportac, the 219c 4000k triple which is now in one of my work lights.
Also added the little Lumintop TOOL to 219b 4000k to my work keys
Lot easier on the eye than my cool white thrunite Tis............subjective of course.
I am liking pretty much 4000-5000k in nichia, manker and lumintop offer some lights in various flavours. My latest nichia added is from sportac, the 219c 4000k triple which is now in one of my work lights.
Also added the little Lumintop TOOL to 219b 4000k to my work keys
Lot easier on the eye than my cool white thrunite Tis............subjective of course.
StorminMatt
Flashlight Enthusiast
Flashlight manufacturers tend to like Cree emitters because they offer high output and efficiency emitters. Other manufacturers (like Nichia and Osram) tend to focus more on color rendition over output. With these emitters, manufacturers couldn't boast the higher lumen numbers, and feel that they would lose sales because most people care more about lumens than color rendition. Cree also sells emitters with better color rendition. But few flashlight manufacturers use them for the above reason (even though the difference in output is actually quite small).
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ssanasisredna
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Mainly because the average flashlight buyer and even CPF member is not overly knowledgeable about the MFRs but they recognize the Cree brand and associate it with quality and performance whether justified by the price or not. As the LED is really not that big a part of the overall price, paying the Cree premium though often not justified over say LG, Samsung, etc makes sense as customers will pay for it because actual performance figures are somewhat meaningless to most. Even if you understand the specs, without a beam plot beyond throw/flood you gain little from the specs.
Surnia
Newly Enlightened
In terms of flashlights for Osram and Nichia, sure. But if you ever look at any commercial LED light bulb for normal household fixtures, it'll most likely be Nichia or Osram. I haven't found much in terms of Cree household lighting.
ssanasisredna
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The odds of a bulb having an OSRAM LED is virtually 0 with the exception of very high CRI bulbs which are a very small part of the market. OSRAM is just not remotely competitive this market.
Even Nichia would be rare in the bulb space .... Again expensive. Most bulbs today will be using Chinese brand LEDs which is just fine. They color is good, efficiency good and life acceptable.
Nichia does very well in fixtures where long life and better color control is required not to mention efficiency especially at higher drive currents to keep LED cost down. The tier 2 and 3 are not that far behind but don't have the reliability both of the product and supply chain.
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slackercruster
Newly Enlightened
What does Surefire use in their small lights?
yowzer
Enlightened
Most of their TIR optic equipped lights use Osram Oslon Square LEDs.
yowzer
Enlightened
C4 is purely a marketing term that stands for 'Whatever LED we want to use.'
the0dore3524
Flashlight Enthusiast
Pretty much sums it up ^^^
Surnia
Newly Enlightened
You Know what, I can't find any of our light bulbs that had osram/nichia printed on them. I remember a few years back I was VERY surprised to see osram/nichia written on the side of the bulbs, but going through the more recent purchases, I don't see them listed anymore.
I wonder if it's on the Ikea 4500K bulbs (I so severely regret only purchasing two of those. They're now on the more standard 2700K) in the garage opener...
Woods Walker
The Wood is cut, The Bacon is cooked, Now it’s tim
I think the "C4" was originally the XR-E. Not sure what Streamlight uses today however as people said it's a marketing term. For example. My old 60 lumen Apex had a luxeon star led pre Cree revolution. So wonder what today's "Maxbright" LED is?
"Princeton Tec Apex headlamp - 350 lumen model - is ideal for both long distances and close range. The center Maxbright LED gives you a powerful beam of light (good for distance) with 2 brightness levels. On each side of the center Maxbright LED are two ultrabright LEDs for wide flood lighting with 2 brightness levels. The Princeton Tec Apex has regulated LEDs (for more consistent light output over the life of the batteries), 4 brightness modes plus safety flashing, heat sink technology and a battery power meter."
"Princeton Tec Apex headlamp - 350 lumen model - is ideal for both long distances and close range. The center Maxbright LED gives you a powerful beam of light (good for distance) with 2 brightness levels. On each side of the center Maxbright LED are two ultrabright LEDs for wide flood lighting with 2 brightness levels. The Princeton Tec Apex has regulated LEDs (for more consistent light output over the life of the batteries), 4 brightness modes plus safety flashing, heat sink technology and a battery power meter."
BruceMKuykendall
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I think it is because Cree LED is known to the most in the world. As for quality, some other LEDs are also very good, like Osram and Nichia
Chicken Drumstick
Flashlight Enthusiast
I'll give a slightly different answer.
1. First up, the flashlight world is far larger than CPF or just the brands liked and talked about on CPF.
2. Not all flashlights use Cree, which you'll see if you look at other lights other than the brands you mention.
3. I do agree Cree is the most prolific, but that could be for many different reasons, availability and suitability at the right price point likely being the biggest reasons.
Well, that explains that. It seems people would be less likely to buy Streamlight if they have no idea what LED is in there. I was clueless about LEDs when I bought my first high output flashlight ([FONT="]Streamlight ST-88040[/FONT]). I don't think I would buy another light not knowing what LED it uses.
ssanasisredna
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With the exception of the lights in my house that I have designed and/or built, I have no clue what LEDs are in the rest of the lights in my house.
Illum
Flashaholic
The C4 designation seemed to have originated when streamlight transitioned to CREE from Lumileds Luxeon series.... because the first "C4" light I received from streamlight was XR-E, my current microstream is XP-C, My TLR-1 HL is XM-L, TLR-1 HPL is XM-L2, and TLR-3 is XP-G. Again, all CREE
Before the designation my Streamlights were all Luxeon III, last surviving model is the venerable Pro-polymer 4AA
Chaitanya
Banned
I have seen few Zebralight lights with Philips LEDs. Sure majority of market is Cree but if you search you will find Nichia, and Philips Leds being used as well.
