Cree XM-L's available soon

Cutter is taking pre-orders for XM-L LED's and there is a USA-only group buy underway at CPF. Not sure what configurations are available in terms of the mounting board (I think the group buy is just doing unmounted LED's, but it sounds like Cutter is offering a lot of options). I'm tempted. With a 2.8A driver, you could get over 800 lumens at the emitter, which should beat an MC-E and no donut hole. Possibly shipping in a week or so.

Group buy:

http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=240815

Cutter:

http://cutter.com.au/proddetail.php?prod=cut1023

This is starting to put the fun back in it! It wont be long before XM-L's will be offered mounted on stars through Cutter, so it looks like I need to hold off until the second round group buy is announced. I have the perfect host to test one of these. The MCE that came in mine has a horrible bin with crummy output, however it measures 2.9A at the tailcap. At first, I thought it was the TIR optics that robbed lumens, but it works perfectly well with another known high BIN MCE I have.

Are you sure it's regulated to that and not direct drive? A lot dx mc-e lights have varying draws in the reviews which makes me suspicous.

Cutter is taking pre orders - But they still dont know when they will arrive ... If I remember , they are speculating for a month [ last time I asked about the XM ] , also the XP-G S2 is supposedly on the way ?

Who wants a XP-G S2 after the release of the XM ?????

Now the main issue will be the board the emitter goes on , if its 20mm , thats going to be too big for most flashlight applications ...

They will need to be mounted on 14mm boards ....

I have several lights earmarked for the XM ... Ultrafire A20 / Solarforce L2X / Solarforce L2 / Skyline 1 / RQ / HS-802 , for starters ... So if I can get 5 to 10 XM's from cutter ?

Again will be very dependent on the board there mounted on .

Who wants a XP-G S2 after the release of the XM ?????

Well, the xm costs more, and 3A /10W is not really feasible in most flashlights anyway. I think the better question is who would want a mc-e or p7 now. :)

Price of 7 bucks at cutter doesn't seem so high to me... the XM-L might replace both lines MC-E/P7 in fully driven and XR-E/XP-G in underdriven... one emitter to rule them all ;-)

You're right, they charge $7 for xp-g at cutter.

I was thinking of reel prices, which are much lower.

Of course its not regulated. If DX sells ANY li-ion lights that are properly flat current regulated through the ENTIRE operating voltage range of the battery via the diver, I am not aware of them. Some do to a certain degree, but I don't recall one that maintains that current from start and until the battery is depleted (3.2 - 3.5V). In most cases, or to a greater degree, the stability of a descent battery somewhat provides this service - not the cheap driver. Depending on the resistance and forward voltage requirements of the particular xm-l sample I receive will determine if the stock driver in my light will be appropriate. I suspect it will but, and I will test it at the connecting lead to the star with a DMM just to be sure its within spec. Up to .5A over will not be a cause for alarm unless I read or discover otherwise. What are your thoughts? Have you found any drivers that might regulate well @3.0A from 4.2 down to 3.2V? Anyone? (something without hords of 7135's please)

As an aside, the lumens on the preliminary spec sheet aren't as great as many had anticipated. Still, I suspect it will be a very noticeable leap above the current MC-E or P7 offerings when driven at the same levels, at least to the naked eye. Along with that, the large footprint of the LED to the mounting surface should transmit heat quite well, and hopefully allow for a certain amount of current above the published max... we can only hope! This is exciting and it can only get better as newer and more efficient bins are introduced. The true test if these produce bright light without artifacts; would be for gynocologists that currently hail their remote xenon short arc light sources for shedding light upon their subjects, to make the change to XM-L. I guess I better find a forum where members boast about their new speculums to see if anyone is interested in the XM-L.

Historically, cutter charges a slight premium for their product, but at least you have access to lesser available bins on the star size you want. And probably more important is the fact that you know what you are getting when you order... unlike the bin lottery you play with Chinese lights manufacturers, including the more expensive varieties.

Star size you want ? from cutter , I think not .

Cutter is very limited in star size ... I would be buying more XR-E R2 if they were not limited to 20mm bases ....

Ive already been pushing for 14mm stars , but the flashlight market is so small for cutter that there simply not interested ..

I can only hope the XM is not going to be limited to 20mm bases from cutter , as I simply cant use them ...

?

Of course its not regulated

I'm not so sure. The figures from the dx forum seem to imply that it's regulated to some extent, or otherwise the draws reported wouldn't all be around 3. Witness the recent tr-801 thread where people got everything from 0.6 to 1.9A draws. :) "Regulated" is a tricky word. A lot of these cheap lights aren't flat regulated (and really, it hardly matters), just enough so that it won't fry the emitter with a new battery, and it won't drop too low with a discharging one.

If it's not regulated, the XM-L would likely fail, as I'm guessing the Vf might be lower than mc'e with the typical process improvements, or at least not exactly the same unless you get lucky.

This is supposed the ~2.5A driver at dx that actually works http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.20330

That driver is huge !!!

I would suggest most of your SSC P7 / MC-E drivers will be ok , since they dont seem to push the SSC P7 to max .

KD sells ... http://www.kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=1845

http://www.shiningbeam.com/servlet/the-132/3-dsh-Mode-Regulated-Circuit-Board/Detail

I currently have both in hand for the XM ,

That SB one is 8x 7135, which works in the brute form manner, and the KD one according to its reviews is not really any more than a 1A driver.

I'm hoping someone will try KD's "1100mAh" 8x7135 driver:

http://www.kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductID=10995

Looks similar to Shiningbeam's but cheaper and free shipping.

I ordered one yesterday. I don't have any light that would need or could even handle that kind of curent, but I figured it's the cheapest source of 7135s available. Remove the chips on the bottom and you're left with a 1.4A NANJ AK-47, plus four 7135s .

You can always try the Knipex-solution for P60 dropins, but I admit... it is a lot of work.

If you read my entire post, I do believe that is what I already tried to convey, but I definitely agree with you.

http://www.kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductID=10995 Ordered last week .... I think the product description is wrong , or the picture is wrong ...

. http://www.kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=1845 Not a 1A driver , Direct drive on High , SSC P7 and MC-E over 2A

I just hope the MX will be on at least a 16mm base ... 14mm would be better ..

I think the stars are all added by other parties. I've not seen anything that says Cree mounts them on stars.

BICBW. Have been before, will be again.

I'm a lot more interested in a new LED than I will ever be in a new bin. It may have its drawbacks, but until you get the light in your hands, who's to know?