I read about it here on Flashlight-Reviews. SBT-70 it's called. Is there a reason why the modern LED die has traditionally been rectangular? Anyway, Luminus sure knows how to name 'em don't they?
So who's going to be the first to try them out? I found the link to the flashlight and emailed the company to ask how much it is.
Worthless without pics so here you go:
Funny! They put square LED's on round circuit boards and put round LEd's on square circuit boards. Personally, I think round LED's will be the coming "thing". Makes perfect sense to me. No need for a inefficient pattern conversion via reflector. I'll be watching this trend for sure.
LEDs are square because saws cut straight lines and you have very little wasted space when cutting them out. If circle LEDs are the next thing be prepared to pay more for them as specialized equipment will be needed for singulation and the usable area for die drops significantly due to wasted material.
I'm not so brilliant but I would have to concur. Squares and rectangles rule in the manufacturing/distributing world.
What do you think was a primary factor bigger LCD TV's cost significantly more before they became mainstream? Cutting larger, less popular sizes outweighed the cost of the materials themselves. However, I'm not too educated about the engineering process of LED's so I never thought much about the shape. I just assumed they designed what needed to be designed.
In the begining , the projection with lens of a Xre was a bit strange for all, I think we prefer circle projection of led on the walls, but now don´t matter.
I have led lenser K3 with a nichia led and was very nice, but too poor on power, only 11
lumens¡¡ , now I put Cree xre on LL about 140 lumens and I still prefer the squares.
But if sst70 are cheaper than sst90 we can change our "wall" projections on circle (with lens)
I would love to see this in an aspheric setup,different than the traditional projected die square.I know the die size is big but a cool idea anyway just to experiment.
thanks bose, makes sense.
Finally, a round led die!
Can wait to get my hands on them
Round emitter dies are nothing new. They have been made by the Chinese in all the worst crap lights you can find. To me the round dies symbolize junk. Make mine square, please. :)
Here is a link with a couple example pics: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?242143-zhong-sheng-zs20rba3-5W-flashlight&p=3085464&viewfull=1#post3085464
nice, but probably won't be a "budget item" for awhile
Take it easy on them. They make the best lights. With so little pay.
Agreed! Except for the LEDs themselves. 
I'm sure i've seen these being used for led headlights
I talked to the manufacturer of the flashlight that uses it and they say it is 2000 lumens off of 2 32650 batteries. Now I just have to resist the urge to buy it. :P
Round emitter calls for a square battery.
http://www.batteryspace.com/lifepo432650battery32v18ah576wh100aratebatteryinaluminum-box.aspx
The data says that it puts out a maximum of 100k lux at 1m.
"LEDs are square because saws cut straight lines and you have very little wasted space when cutting them out". Uh....., no not really. Look at this: http://www.lightdirectory.com/news-Ever-Wonder-How-LEDs-Are-Made%3F.htm
"If circle LEDs are the next thing be prepared to pay more for them as specialized equipment will be needed for singulation and the usable area for die drops significantly due to wasted material". Again....., no, not really. Currently used lasers make round shapes just as easy as square shapes. The only thing close to accurate in this statement is the (very) slightly increased wasted space per die. They might be a tiny bit more expensive but not much. As soon as another producer starts making them the price will drop. Heck, the price drops every year for square ones just because the volume of production goes up. Right? This is a common sense thing.
I forsee/predict a prefocused round LED that will eliminate the need for any kind of reflector whatsoever. Smaller, lighter, cheaper.
Knowledge is Power.
A round LED will be nice for zoomies and aspheric throwers.