That one looks like a genuine Cree emitter. The die is larger, has round bond-wire pads, and a more stippled coating on the PCB like the Cree’s do.
The die is significantly decentered with respect to dome. If this is CREE, quality control void.
i did notice that the die is off center. its odd as the die is larger than the LB fakes and it does look like a Cree XM-L, but anything is possible i guess here.
It's definitely getting murky now. A few years ago you knew that you were probably getting factory seconds (ultra blue, maybe really low bin) Cree LEDs in the cheap budget lights, but at least they were Cree. Now, you never know what you're going to get.
We need to establish a list here for reliable suppliers & sellers of genuine Cree LEDs, so we know where to get real Cree emitters and not end up with receiving these crap fake LB ones when placing orders for “advertised” Cree products. I can add verified genuine sellers of Cree products list to the OP.
More pics of the LEDs on the 10 LED SRK…these are real, correct?
I can’t see then exactly, but it looks like there are square connection pads under the bond wires, and the die is smaller than Cree XM-Ls, meaning they look like the LB Fakes. (* See the OP with the first image comparison provided by RMM.)
Those look like the LatticeBrights.
I think gearbest lied to us all about this one:
http://www.gearbest.com/led-flashlights/pp_193536.html
Definetely NOT neutral.
Thinking about it now and watching the tint/ low brightness, I can see that this is a latticecrap led that we have been sold.
I also noticed that quite a few of the ultra-budget lights we bought lately have been with worse tints, lower outputs, and less efficient. We are discovering now that most of these are due to the fake Latticebright LEDs being sold to us falsely named as CREE LEDs. We all have have been “had” with this fake LED dilemma longer than we probably realize, and now were waking up to it… and it will likely get much, much worse until we make enough noise and claims back to force this mass-fraud to stop.
Is this their domeless copy of a Cree XHP? >> http://www.latticebright.com/En/hpxl1/2015-06/30/NewsView-214.html
Latticebright call it ” HP-M” , with a not-so-blinding maximum of 940 lumens.
its easy to “claim” anything and post anything on an internet website to make themselves look like professionals or high-quality, that doesn’t mean its true or they are legitimate. So far what we see and know of its a copy-cat company cloning the designs of Cree with lower quality & inferior performing products to the real thing. ( its all about marketing and cost savings for the budget cheapolight manufacturers to make more money by using crap LEDs they pay pennies for knowing they will fool the un-trained eyes of buyers that they are getting a genuine Cree light, when in fact they get a now even lower quality, less efficient, worse tint, dimmer light that is in reality going backwards in advancements because they want to cut corners & costs on using cheaper, junk components like this Latticebright “low-end” led manufacturer. ( in which is trying to capitalize on Cree’s success and sales by cloning them and stealing their designs directly in their low-cost inferior Emitter products.
I suggest everyone contact CREE and give them feedback. I did, and also left them a link to this thread.
Edit: link to CREE
I am sure Cree is aware of the Latticebright LEDs. There’s no reason why LB cannot produce and sell such LEDs unless there are any patent violations with Cree and other LED companies. It is the issue the latters have to deal with. For consumers, the problem is that many flashlights using LB LEDs claiming using Cree LEDs. If they are marked as using LB LEDs, we can decide if we want to buy it or not, i.e sacrifice quality for lower price. In my opinion, it is should not be LB’s problem.
Here are a couple of XM-L2s from different lights. I can spot differences but is one fake? If so, which one?
One thing I have discovered is it’s flipping difficult to photograph these little blighters without decent equipment!
Thanks for all the good info. I need to take apart some of my cheapo lights and see what I have. Of course with the prices on some of these lights I can only imagine everything is fake or a clone in some way or another.
Lancman, I would fix that Negative solder connection too on that last photo.
Damn things are getting much too close! Seems like, very soon it will be time to only buy from better brands in order to get real Crees. Convoy direct from Simon will be my 1st choice. Group Buys need to start requiring pictures of the led reel and / or documents tracing to source. It doesn’t matter if the brands seem trustworthy, they themselves can be tricked if they do not ensure the source can be traced all the way back to Cree and verify each step.
Much easier to fake and not only that, very easy for someone (in China) to request a photo from someone who is actually selling them in huge quantities (in China).
IOS was the first to post reels shots with the store name written, not sure how in the mean time it was lost as a secure LED source.
This is why IOS has their name written on their reels. Of course a picture is pretty worthless without a name or better a sample of the groupbuy light in it. But your right, when it comes down to it, their supplier could have used a reel and label that is identical to cree.
With documentation of the source we should be able to verify it with the led seller, if it comes directly from an authorized Cree seller.