U2 with unfavorable tint - what now?

OK, so I got my factory sealed (as far as I know) U2. A beautiful piece of work it is, as so many have already expounded. Unfortunately, I think I lost the Luxeon lottery here. It has a green-yellow tint that is readily apparent to me, even absent comparisons with other lights. I'm willing to buy another one, hoping for a different tint - anything else would be better to my eyes. Then I would just resell this one I suppose.

Is it likely to be a fairly even distribution amongst the other tints - pink, blue, violet, yellow, etc? Or do I run a very high chance of getting another greensh one?

And who to buy the next one from? It would be too much to expect a vendor to preview his product and tell you what tints he has available, but dang, I wish you could!

Looking for advice here /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif. I know from a practical point of view this is a little silly, but this is less of a pure tool to me and more of a lifestyle perk, and I want to be completely pleased with it.

Thanks in advance,
Chip

From what I have read here on CPF, if you send it back to SureFire, they will replace it no matter where you purchased it from. Call SureFire, they have a great customer service department-they will help you. I have 3 U2's with no problems with tint but one of my lights has a faulty tail cap. SureFire is sending me a new one.

I'm a little doubtful Surefire would exchange a light just because I don't like the tint bias - that isn't exactly something they guarantee. But if it has been the experience of others that they do, it would be worth a shot.

Chip

I'm sorry to hear you were a Surefire Luxeon lottery victim.

Good Luck!

Chip,
I hate it when people give up a fight as early as you have! Be a warrior for your $270 investment.You deserve a white light. SF doesn't inspect their "$270 goldmine lights" for objectionable tint when they assemble them. If Lumileds says that their emitters are white, then that is enough for SF. A SF assembler puts all components together, and turns it on. If it works, it gets put in a box and placed on a stock shelf.

SF owes you! Demand that SF replace your light "because you are not satisfied with it." Don't let them bamboozle you with "tint is not covered under our lifetime warranty" crap. My approach should work, if you have enough time to wait until they ship it to you.

In the future, may I recommend that you buy any SF lights from my dealer Steve at The Product Wizard..... The Product Wizard SF page

Also, look at the thread developed as a result of my Cheers post here..... Cheers to Steve of "The Product Wizard"

You are going to like this policy statement..... Due to the fact that the tint of the U2 varies so much, as a courtesy to any CPF member who calls or visits his store, Steve would be happy to open the box of a U2 and verify that the color of the light output is as white as possible.

Let me now how you made out with SF.

In this price class.

Send the durn thing back..........

It occurred to me the other day that pure white light doesn't always render colored objects in the most pleasing way. Therefore I've come to accept and enjoy (even more than I already do) my more warmly toned LED lights that don't fit the general CPF stereotype of the "perfect" tint. I also seem to recall a recent post by McGizmo regarding "X" binned lights with "offwhite" tints but killer output. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Sheesh,

I thought the higher end lights would be less susceptible to the Lottery. Agree with others, at that price point, send it back till you are satisfied.

With a light that pricey you shouldn't be subject to the Luxeon lottery. In a sub $100 light, you get what you get, but that's just not acceptable at the price of the U2. Insist that SF do the right thing.

I could live with some blue in the beam (I'm used to it from Nichia 5mm whie LED's) and even a little yellow wouldn't be too bad, since *every* incndescant light is *very* yellow, but if I can see the green in a $280, when I'm not comparing it to another light, I'd be mighty pissed off, too.

By default, a lights that costs this much shouldn't have a bad tint.

The fact that SureFire is willing to take *so much* of your hard earned money, and deliver a light which has such a bad tint, speaks to how little they have come to regard their customers.

Good luck getting it exchanged....and I certainly hope the LED doesn't suffer a sudden, unexplained complete failure, which would then force SF to replace it. I wouldn't want to hear about that happening to one of their $280 'wonder lights'.

(Like I wondered why I paid so much....?) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif

Thank you Gandalf. There seem to be a growing number of SureFire owners with "real world and practical" issues with SF and their self-proclaimed "world class" products. What is going to be done about this growing problem?

Let's keep this thread constructive and don't bait please.
First and final warning.

B@rt,
PM sent at 4:27PM EST.

Seeing as tint is so subjective how is Surefire supposed to make everyone happy?

Other than testing them out yourself in a B&M store, I don't see how you guarantee the *perfect* tint. One man's perfectly white tint is another's awful, green tint...

[ QUOTE ]
Blinded said:
I'm a little doubtful Surefire would exchange a light just because I don't like the tint bias - that isn't exactly something they guarantee. But if it has been the experience of others that they do, it would be worth a shot.

Chip

[/ QUOTE ]

Surefire just changed out an L1 due to poor tint. your experience may differ.

My U2 is a warm or yellow compared to my KL4 head on a white wall. Is that worth complaining about? I have other LEDs that are a bit bluish which I don't mind but green! Yuck!!

cy:

Can you explain just exactly what your "poor tint" was on your L1?

I think my troubles are solved. My father, who has a red-green visual color deficiency, doesn't find my greenish U2 objectionable at all and wants it. Dear old Dad!

I've also talked to a vendor who offered to check out a few of his stock if necessary and send me a U2 with an acceptable tint (he says all samples he has seen have some tint) and flawless beam - and I've taken him up on that. He actually offered to simply swap my greenish one for me, since he is already sending some greenish U2s back to Surefire, but I wasn't going to impose on him in that fashion. I would sing his praises here, but since he isn't yet a CPF sponsor (though it is his intention to become one) I'm going to refrain for now.

Thanks to everyone for their input. This experience does underline the benefits of developing a relationship with a service oriented vendor, even if they aren't the absolute lowest cost choice.

Chip

[ QUOTE ]
sigp6 said:
Seeing as tint is so subjective how is Surefire supposed to make everyone happy?

Other than testing them out yourself in a B&M store, I don't see how you guarantee the *perfect* tint. One man's perfectly white tint is another's awful, green tint...

[/ QUOTE ]

Back when the KL1 first came out, SureFire was reading the discussions on this board, and they knew we CPF members would very unhappy with green tinted KL1's. Unfortunately, to avoid getting any green tinted Luxeons, they went to ones which were blue/violet. I still have one, and it really doesn't bother me much. I'd much rather have that, than a greenish KL1

If SureFire could do it back then, when bins were poorly defined and sorted, on a $50 LED head, why can't they do it now with a light with a factory mandated price of $270?

This isn't a rhetorical question; the answer is: it can be done; it's been done before, but it simply isn't being done now. Why not?

I'm forbidden by the CPF esteemed moderators, from stating my opinion for the obvious reason for this. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif

But you can be sure of this: SF doesn't yet have an incredibly luctative contract for this light yet; our Federal Government works far to slowly for that to have happened yet.

So the vast majority of people who are buying this light now is....us.

CPF members.

But not me. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif

Your wish is my command... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banned2.gif
I'm getting tired of your meaningless innuendo's. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dedhorse.gif

[ QUOTE ]
wptski said:cy: Can you explain just exactly what your "poor tint" was on your L1?

[/ QUOTE ]

the beam was purpleish and had streaks of yellow and was brighter than the new L1 sent back with 3watt. funny thing beam color is better, but wish I had my old light back.