Why don't companies specify LED type anymore?

I’ve been noticing a lack of specific information about LED’s lately, which seems rather odd since us flashlight “geeks” tend to get into the technical side of flashlights. On Olight’s sight, for example, the only thing they list under LED type is: “High Performance Cool White LED”. Nothing about being Cree, or Nichia, or anything like that. Why not?

Olight designs are kind of: seem to be perfect otherwise, just lacking the most important detail: a proper emitter choice (soul of the flashlight). EDIT: Yes, batteries are also a bummer.

In my view point, they sell premium priced flashlights with purposely garbage LEDs (they also don’t even bother with CRI, it is almost every time around just under 65 anyways).

I also noticed this from Olight for more than a while. I like to review new Olight offerings, but I walk away not knowing which led. Strange, but true. Why? For some crazy reason.

Yup they lack information about the led used.
But besides Olight, which other companies are not specifying the Leds?

Fenix has been doing that lately too. I’m not sure why. It’s possible to find the LED used through reviews/discussions where someone has made a visual identification, and more often than not lately the answer is Luminus SST-40. Sometimes it’s something interesting, like a chemically-dedomed XHP35.2 HD.

I don’t think emitter choice is the only thing Olight gets wrong. Proprietary batteries are very high on my bad list, and several Olight models don’t function at all on standard batteries. I also really dislike exposed plastic optics.

To be honest most consumers just look at the lumens and get wowed by the overuse of the word “tactical”.

Olight doesn’t seem to want the core part of the light to be a feature the buyer makes a decision based on. The “seasons” editions of the S1R Ti were a rare exception.

Amazon sellers have a code that helps you narrow it down:

  • “Ultra bright” = 10,000+ K CCT.
  • “High power LED” = circa 2005 technology 1W or 3W LED.
  • “Genuine Cree LED” = probably not a Cree
  • “XM-L T6” = Lattice Bright, or worse.
  • “Tactical” = no way to bypass strobe and/or next mode memory.

“Why not?”

1. listing does not increase sales.
2. actually detracts from sales.
3. geeks are a small market.

To avoid people googling the LED name and finding there is a ton of different flashlights that are much cheaper?

average user doesnt know or care if a light has cri 70 or 90. let alone if its a nichia or a cree led not like it tells them much, . also warmer tins with less lumens are for some hard to understand so thats why many uses coolwhite tints only it sells better.

Most people only heard Cree=good, so if they are using a non-Cree LED like a SST40 or a LH351D they will believe they are using an inferior LED.

Many manufacturers do not offer LED info. They also dont offer throw specs.

I could guess why, but thats just the way they roll.

HDS used to keep their LED secret, and even now they rename LEDs they use, so it is not easy to know what is in the light.

Olight has no desire to cater to the few of us who insist on High CRI. They also make their lights difficult to modify.

Yet there is a huge profit driven resale market for Olights in fancy metals, that are also Low CRI.

Marketing is focused on Lumens, and most buyers dont know anything about Color Temperature, CRI, nor Tint. What they do know, is that High CRI has less lumens, and that is enough to make them buy Cool White Low CRI instead.

Lumintop at least offers a choice between Nichia High CRI and cree Low CRI.

the latest trick is Jetbeam RRT-01 2020 models offer either Cree or Nichia, but, the Nichia is Low CRI too. This is not disclosed, they just say Nichia, and people assume it means High CRI…

Fenix E01 is another light with a Nichia LED that is not High CRI…

the few of us who actually care about High CRI, pretty much have to learn to replace funky LEDs.

because I did not know how to open my Olights, I could not mod them, so I sold them off. Even though I like the hosts. I sold an Olight Ti SMini w NW LED that has a disgusting Low CRI w terrible Tint, for 3x what I paid for it. To some irrational fanboys on the bay.

I found the tint so disgusting, and the fact that the Tir was not compatible with Nichia, total dealbreakers… But, Im not a “normal” buyer.

I’d say those lights are not for me. They’re marketed to a different group.

Maglite and Streamlight don’t list the LEDs in their lights, other than C4 LED technology. Probably Cree xp-g2 in early stinger leds, and xp-l in later ones. Not exactly sure why, but probably some kind of marketing or non-disclosure thing to keep competitors from ‘stealing’ designs or espionage. If you’re an enthusiast, you can usually finger the led by looking at it. Otherwise a regular consumer doesn’t care about cri or CD or bin, CPR temp, any of the techno-babble. Battery capacity, runtime, and Lumens sell so that’s what they focus on.