Anyone here starting to get bored with cree lights?

[Confederate]

SureFire isn't preteding s.hit. The serious flashlight users of the world have never traded incandescents for LEDs. Don't be sad though, SureFire does produce LED lights for the kiddies too.

Serious flashlight users are free to use whatever they wish. I'm more concerned with performance. Modern Cree technology is rapidly passing incandescent by, especially when it comes to tactical lights. Overall output, throw, and runtime numbers are now going to the Cree LED lights. Surefire's incandescent Xenon P61 heads need replacement every 20 or so hours. Cree LEDs need replacing every...well...never!

These "serious flashlight users" are aging administrators who don't like change. Well, that's unfair, because some of them are accountants who just buy what they've been buying...or what they can get a better price on. After all, if a tactical light burns out they can just buy them a new flashhead. And batteries are a dime a dozen.

Discriminating flashlight users are now using Cree, and I'm sure that in five years, when there's a newer technology available, serious flashlight users will be using Cree LED lights when discriminating flashlight users will be using something else.

Cheers!

 

[woodrow]

Yeah, but I have a boring life, anyway:
>I'm bored with my Mini-Cooper. It only has a top speed of 140 mph, and only gets 33 m.p.g.
>I'm bore with my Comcast digital Cable: it only has 400 channels
>I'm bored with my Benchmade knives: they only use CPM-S30V steel

get the point? :nana:

Chandler-to Ross on the series Friends---"Two women want me, and I don't know which one to choose...my wallet won't hold all my fifties and my diamond shoes are too tight." The me from ten years ago needs to get a time machine and come find me and simply pimp slap me, take my d-mini and go back to 97 and be content.

 

[woodrow]

SureFire isn't preteding s.hit. The serious flashlight users of the world have never traded incandescents for LEDs. Don't be sad though, SureFire does produce LED lights for the kiddies too.

Lets see... 2 123a cell light, 2 hours of runtime, incan.....e2e with the mnsuck1 bulb that I have in mine. C'mon, a Fenix P3 is not a M6, but it beats a couple of incans at least.

 

[ScooterBug]

yes and no. i have a lot of the cree lights (Fenix, JetBeam ect) i have the new P-1 on order. this will be my last untill the surfire L1 is released. right now i find myself EDC a OLD surefire E1 and i like the light alot. the built quality just does it for me.

 

[LowBat]

It's only us CPFers who see the Cree X-RE as being common. In terms of marketing and sales to the general public Cree based lights are only starting at appear.

 

[BentHeadTX]

Bored? No!
Patient? Yes!

I have a Fenix L1D CE and L2D CE I use as bicycle lighting and they work very well. My Peak Baltic SSC AAA light works great and that is the level I am presently stalled. My Quad (or Quint) XRE Mag is waiting for Georges MaxFlex boost regulator so I spend my days waiting for it (since October BTW) I have everything else except the LEDs to proceed with the build once I receive the regulator. That time allows the bins to jump from P3 to now Q4 so my Mag will truely be a monster to behold once it's done.

Since I am killing time, I am pondering two A123 Systems M1 cells to suppliment my 8AA to 2D adapter. Since the 100 to 107+ lumen Q4 at 350mA is arriving in a few weeks, it is fun to ponder almost 700 lumens from five of those LEDs at 500mA. Then I'll swap out the P3/P4 XRE in the Fenix lights for the Q4 just to stay current. 100 lumens at the LED from a single AA light? Does not sound boring to me! (Hey Bob, check out my Surefire E1E... BLAM! Beware the Fenix L1D CE Q4!)

Bored? Not in the least, maybe because most of my lights are still luxeon based as I waited for the magic 100+ lumens at 350mA. A meer year ago we were killing ourselves for the rare U bin Luxeon III screaming out 100 lumens at 700mA. My mighty T bin FFIII might be taken out by a Q4 bin L1D CE running a single NiMH AA cell...

Put me in the still excited section of CPF. Once someone builds a mod that puts a spot on the moon at night, someone else will only be impressed with outblasting the sun. (and won't like the tint, spill or that the light is larger than your finger nail and won't run for two months straight on a coin cell)

 

[ampdude]

I think those companies you mentioned are locked into contracts for large numbers of lumileds emitters. They couldn't change over to Cree even if they wanted to. Takes a lot of time for testing and R&D... a good year at least. The Chinese companies avoid all that R&D and hassles, so they can rush things to market to make $$$.

And as a result, they bring alot of crap to market, and make us the beta testers, until they get it right. Remember all the early problems with these lights? Finally they are starting to get it right, but in the end, they are still cheap chinalights with cheap switches and cheap internals. Soon the new Sure-Fires will be out.