Another discerning "feature" I've noticed is that most of the Cree LEDs silicone have a stippled or "orange peel" appearance on the flat part of the die. The RGBW Cree XM-Ls also have the stippled appearance like the XM-Ls. [After reading this, the next batch of LatticeBrights will probably also be stippled].
Interesting, i wonder how long the sellers have actually been sneaking these Cree fakes in under our noses before we finally caught on now to whats been happening.
The probably will now that they know we are on to them.
I opened another flashlight, i.e., one of those “2000L Zoomable CREE XML-T6 LED 18650 Flashlight” flooding the market. Sure enough, it is a LatticeBright version 2.0. I am starting wondering if any of these with the name of Ultrafire on them are real Crees or they are all LBs.
It is not that bad actually except for a little lower light output. They should just mark as LB rather than Cree.
Just checked some of lights.
Found few LB LEDs.
My comparison pics for the record:
LB/XM-L
XP-E/LB
i found what appears to be a fake xp-e in one of my sk68 clones yesterday. i bought one of the gearbest camo-sk68 a while ago, and that horrible bluish tint had to go, so i de-domed it.
when i compared it to a couple of my other xp-e sk68 i was surprised. the de-domed focused led had only a slightly smaller hotspot than one of the others. when i looked closer the led looked like a xp-e but with a smaller die.
i thought that maybe it’s a xp-c then? but it had three strips and two bond wires, just like the xp-e but with a smaller die.
so after reading this thread a bit more and looking at other fakes i suppose this is a fake cree led, since the phosphor seems to extend outside the die, and the dome isn’t clear like the cree.
the tint isn’t good, can fake cree be de-domed as well?
Question is: XM-L2 are so well cloned that are indistinguishable from a real CREE XM-L2? I ask because all I see is these old generation emitters being discovered as fakes while LB clearly makes XM-L2 style clones.
Warsun H006 also has some super low quality fake XP-E... or something.
this is a false xp-e
yeah, that’s how mine look as well, phosphor even outside of the die, and maybe yours has a smaller die than an original xp-e as well?
Mine comes in a flashlight zoom, and the projection is the size of a xre, and bluish, like the fake Lattice xm-l
I’ve found several like this in my cheap lights as well.
What you are talking about, frustrated with, and experiencing disbelief over was exactly me as a newbie a few years ago, and then I found this forum.
They do put lots of fake reviews up, which can be bought for very cheap. But I don’t think most of them on many sites even need fake reviews.
I think the real reason is what I have tried to explain quite a few times, at least in Ebay and Amazon type sites goes like this…in shortened form: newbie buys a fake Cree “2000 lumen super bright!” (really 500 lumen XML2 T5 or LatticeBright) light with ultrafire “5000mAh” battery (really 1500mAh recycled battery) and goes to try it. Since his old light that he thought was bright is 150lumens, this new light outputting 500 lumens is incredible!! His run time from his Ultrafire batteries are really only 1500 mAh, but since the LED is only driven at 1.5A max, he can get a whole hour runtime, which to him seems reasonable. He probably doesnt even use it on max very long and probably doesnt use the flashlight often. He really doesn’t have much else to compare to except his old 150 lumen light, resulting in a really “AWESOME BRIGHT LIGHT” review and “REAL POWERFUL 5000mAh battery runs my light a long time!!” review for the battery.
To make matters worse, most flashlight users don’t run thier flashlights for very long anyways, some barely turn them on for 5 mins a couple times per year. He probably is also pretty used to batteries getting old and failing, and so he’ll never notice his batteries only would last 50 recharges and drop capacity the whole time. In fact he probably barely gets the light out and 1year later just tosses them and buys more “Ultrafire super power 6000mAh!” batteries next year, because, well they must be better! And then he writes a positive review for these too…
Repeat this pattern for most uneducated consumers and you get an avalanche of happy customer 5/5 star reviews on fake bad products.
On ebay, there is the addition of this “feature”: sellers will reward any complainer who recognizes they got a bad product with free items if they write a positive review, or don’t post/delete the bad review at least. Why not, Ultrafires are $.25 each, if the seller sends off 4 free batteries to replace the dead/bad batteries the buyer bought in the “$8 for 4 Super High Power Ultrafire 5000mAh!!” deal, he still makes money: $8 - supplies (.25x8=$2) - shipping ($2?) = $4
Very noticeable difference.
Thank you for your insight. Right now, I am convinced that probably none of these cheap flashlights has authentic Cree LEDs. Can someone tell me where I can find AA/14500 LED flashlights with Cree LEDs fore sure?
Whats your budget?
Say < $10.
RMM looks rather hard at his stock and is looking for authentic emitters, he knows the lottery is strong.
His SK68 clone is out of stock right now but a likely bet for what you want:
http://www.mtnelectronics.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=319
Thanks.
The only thing I am not like particularly is that it has cool white tint. My old SK-68 is neural white. I just cannot find anything as good nowadays. However, I may get one anyway for comparison when it becomes available. If I don’t like I can always give it to someone.