I have an oddball C8-variant flashlight with a deep reflector I purchased for ~$12 from eBay a few weeks ago. After comparing to another similarly-driven standard C8 flashlight purchased from Manafont, it appears that the light I have has a low-bin XM-L emitter that is noticibly dimmer than the Manafont light's emitter. Both lights are being similarly driven on DD high from indentical freshly charged cells, but the Manafont light throws further and is visibly brighter.
I would like to replace the emitter on this with a current high-bin U2 to get the maximum output possible. My last attempt at purchasing an XM-L from DX was not good as the emitter I received was a very poor bin with low output and a horrible green tint. I'm not a tint snob, and prefer something in the cooler end of the spectrum.
I have seen that both DX and KD offer XM-L emitters that are stated to be a U2-bin. Can anyone please advise the best source for me to purchase one of these from? I'm only looking to purchase a single (possibly two) emitter on a 20mm star and prefer a place with free/included shipping.
Will the DX emitter @ $12.20 be a good choice or should I look elsewhere?
I have tested to many XMLs to many to count from KD, DX, Manafont, Cnqualitygoods, Illumination Supply and several other sources . Shiningbeam always has great quality emitters as does Cutter but LCKLED has the best quality brightest most efficient XMLs right now.
The 1A U2s from LCK LED 16mm or 14mm are by far the brightest at .002amps. Some emitters will not even light up at such a low amperage. These are brighter than any others I have seen at .002amps.
Cnquality goods has the best neutrals right now these 3C T6s are exceptionally efficient compared to the 4B T5s from Shininbeam and the 3C T5s from Illumination supply they aremuch brighter at .002amps.
Shiningbeam had some exceptional 4C tint XPGs, but they are sold out now.
Most T5, T4 or T3 will not even light up at .002 amps I have to bump my moon low up to .02 for some T6 emitters also.
Trust me when I say cheapest is not the best, you get what you pay for when you buy a quality emitter. The bottom line is the emitter is the source of the light, think about that. It's like buying a Corvette and putting snow tires on it or buying an expensive 500 watt amp and using cheap speakers.
I think that your post doesn't make sense, either you forgot to write it all or you are judging based on wrong criteria.
An emitter lighting up@ 0,002 doesn't show anything other than possibly a low Vf. You can't judge an emitter by the fact that it lighted up at such a low current. There are a lot of factors for an emitter to light up at such a low current, even a better pcb might be the reason/or a better reflow process. Moreover, a lighting up at such a low current, doesn't necessarily mean that the emitter will have a lower Vf @3amps in comparison to another that didn't light up!
Except if you forgot to mention that you judged that the best quality emitter by their performance in higher currents closer to real life applications.
Anyway, i just expect from you to clarify exactly what you mean. Have you bought emitters from cutter to test them?
As for my tests, i have also bought emitters from everywhere and made my tests@700ma and all leds had the same type of pcb and cooling and all other same conditions. The best emitters so far are from cutter. He is basically the only official Cree dealer out there for the flashaholics. But i wouldn't suggest someone to buy from cutter, if he wants only a few emitters, he is quite expensive and only larger orders are worth from him. I order everytime from Cutter ~15 emitters and i get (out of 15) 3-4 exceptionally good,~10 on average of the specs and 1-2 almost out of binning specs. So, if i want quite few, i order from him and i am always sure that i will get a few super emitters. LCK-LED, LED-DNA have good emitters, all that i bought from them were measured within specs. Emitters from Cnqualitygoods, DX and KD is lottery, i found some on specs other not in specs(or even completely out of specs).I can't judge for manafont and shiningbeam, both are good dealers and i trust them more than most dealers.I am waiting my first emitters currently from illuminationsupply, so still no idea about them, i would only add that he seems to be a good dealer too. Concluding, whatever type of led i have bought so far, i get the highest performance from emitters from cutters.
But anyway, the difference is really difficult to see with naked eye, what matters most for some, is a good tint, and cutter hasn't disappointed me in this area either!The 2T tint is the best for me so far!
I agree with Cutter having great emitter. I have only got 2 1C tint U2s from Cutter, but they were exceptional performers, very efficient and bright. I wish they were more reasonable to purchase in the states or I would use them exclusively for all my builds.
You guys are correct there are a lot of other ways to determine good emitters, but I have found the super low amperage efficiency test is usually a good indicator of higher amperage performance.
Sorry for my ridicules post I haven't slept in two days and can't think straight you guys obviously know how to test emitters I will shut up now.
I here you Bob that is a great idea. I got my Cutter XMLs from the group buy on CPF last time. We should put one together here, I am sure there is enough interest to do it. When I get some free time I will start a group buy post unless someone else has time to put it together now. I just got a bunch of 3Cs from Cnqualitygoods and 7Bs from LCKLED and I still have a bunch of the U2 1As so I am in no rush.