- The Fake-Cree LED Awareness Thread - The new "low" in Budget lights.

DBSAR, here it is:

The white square has sides of 3,5 mm.

djozz, yes - my led is the same as yours!

Indeed it does. And great test and info on the fake xpl too. It shoes how bad they are when it comes to efficiency & performance compared to Cree emitters.

Iā€™ve checked the New Arrivals @ DX (http://www.dx.com/new-arrivals?cate=1307) and all flashlights have no mention of ā€œCREEā€ neither in the headline nor in the description. Eg. it says ā€œEmitter Brand: Othersā€ or ā€œEmitter Brand: N/Aā€. Some examples:
http://www.dx.com/p/fandyfire-flashlight-led-xph50-long-range-outdoor-household-rechargeable-flashlight-12-6v-408996#.VgWVPFMyl-I
http://www.dx.com/p/fandyfire-l2-t6-3-mode-1000lm-cool-white-rotatable-switch-diving-flashlight-black-1x26650-408949#.VgWTdFMyl-I
http://www.dx.com/p/lightscastle-xm-l-t6-5-mode-600lm-cool-white-flashlight-w-clip-black-1-x-18650-408800#.VgWTrVMyl-I
http://www.dx.com/p/zhishunjia-a2-t6-xm-l-t6-led-800lm-5-mode-neutral-white-flashlight-w-keychain-golden-1-x-18650-408832#.VgWTwVMyl-I
http://www.dx.com/p/zhishunjia-u1-usb-q5-xp-e-240lm-neutral-white-light-led-flash-light-black-407050#.VgWT3FMyl-I
Since there is no fake xhp-50 ? at least this one should be a CREE. But those ā€œXM-L T6ā€ / ā€œXM-L2 T6ā€ or ā€œXP-E Q5ā€ could be LatticeBright or else.
Some of those lights arenā€™t that cheap, so there is the chance that all have CREEā€™s nevertheless.
I wonder whatā€™s behind the decision of DX to avoid naming the emitter brandā€¦

Interesting.
looks like they are beginning to hear us and our discovery of these fake LEDs, but i do notice they are still using the Cree LED type names or part of them, ( XM-L , T6, L2, etc.

Itā€™s funny to see that DX is actually selling Lightcastle branded product. :bigsmile:

That is funny actually :stuck_out_tongue:

As long as they donā€™t name a Lattice bright as a ā€œcreeā€ emitter, I am fine with whatever name or no name they assign to the emitterā€¦.

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/20mm-Board-CREE-XML-XML2-T6-U2-10W-High-Power-LED-Emitter-Bulb-For-Flashlight-DIY/616282_32271279885.html

what about this ? seller says its original cree not copy/replica/imitation/fake.

difficult to know there. AlieExpress is known to have some shady sellers as bad as ebay sometimes.

Hank from http://intl-outdoor.com has legit Cree LED.

Just wanted to let you know that the Solarstorm T4 also has fake XM-L inside. If someone allready did, my fault did not want to read the hole thing. I still kinda remember they did not want to swap to XML2 back then because they had a big lot of ā€œXM-Lā€ left, go figure.
Highly suggest everybody to swap the emmiters, makes for an way better light.
I only noticed it beause of my neighbours failed T4, where it had killed 3 out of 4 leds. Didnā€™t use mine that much.

Made a quick and dirty picture:
It also has a white base.

thatā€™s definitely a LB fake XM-L.

where is the limit below that even chinese manufacturers canā€™t make a light with a real cree LED?

Definitely LB fake XM-Ls.
The cheapo sellers and manufacturers are trying to make more on their cheapo lights by using these knockoff Cree emitters they probably get for pennies each, and pulling the-wool over the eyes of the mass number of unsuspecting online buyers that they are getting a real Cree LED flashlight, but what we get is a crap LED fake with half the efficiency & output of a cree version, and even worse tint than the worst Cree tint-bins.

Does Cree know this situation of fake leds?

That lb 2.0 just gave me cancer. Next gen fakery

the best solution is stop to buy from these f*king disonest chinese sellers
they know what crappy light sell.
unfortunately,newbie customer including me was attracted lowest prices and they continue to sell them

That is nearly impossible.

stop buying noname crap which is too cheap to be trueā€¦. :wink:

or buy it knowing the lottery :slight_smile:
we know the gameā€¦

The sellers are less of a problem, the manufacturers though is more of a problem.