I cant comment on your previous post, but Ill give this one a shot. BTW, Im taking many numbers from my memory, I may be off on some. There is also some speculation form my side here.
On a general basis, I would not say that a higher bin emitter costs more than a lower bin.
Ofcourse U3 should generally be more expensive than T6, its better in the BIN department, and equal on the others.
6500K T6 with 65-CRI typical
6500K U2 with 65-CRI typical
6500K U3 with 65-CRI typical
But look at XM-L T4,T5 from FT. They are more expensive than XM-L U2/U3.
In this case I guess it have to do with demand and supply (or maybe just pricing)… WW T4(/T3?), is not as cheap either. These are less known emitters. Manufacturers and such often use CW, or 5000K NW. These are popular emitters, so some distributors probably buy larger quantities, making them easier to sell cheap. The emitters I prefer, that are more in 3500-4500K are usually less common, and fairly expensive.
This is not always the case though… Some of the more recent XM-L2s have been nicely/reasonable priced despite having top specs.
CRI has a lot to say in this too. XM-L2 S6(very low bin), with 90-CRI is fairly expensive.
There are also some emitters that should be cheaper than others. When looking at the more detailed XP-G2 spreadsheet we can in some cases see many emitters in the same tint range. In theory I would assume pricing should be something like this:
This is an extreme example though, but it shows the importance of knowing the exact BIN and CRI when buying certain type of emitters. Intl-outdoor does this. (I hope I have had something to do with then when requesting various specific emitters.) For the record, I have requested emitters to FT too, but none of those have been seen.
Back to the picture.
- 3750K - Q5 with 70-CRI typical
- 3750K - Q5 with 80-CRI typical
- 3750K - Q5 with 80-CRI Minimum
- 3750K- R2 with 80-CRI Minium
In the example I would say 1s emitter should be quite cheap, and the 4. emitter should be the most expensive.
When it comes to XP-G2s, the cheapest ones out there are the currently top bin R5 6500CW emitter. All the others, are usually more expensive.
You can also get 5000K NW in the same R5 BIN (still a low 70-CRI though). I would pay more for that unless I had de-dome plans or were on a tight budget.
If an emitter have same bin and same CRI, I usually consider the less cool tint to be the most expensive (and IMO, usually the nicest).
On a side note, Im a bit fed up with the majority of vendors when it comes to emitter specs to be honest. Too much BS specs, or the lack of specs, or questionable emitter tint (and bin).
KD and the others cheap “DX type” china stores seem to be quite off at times when it comes to emitter specs too, nor are their responses what I would say trustworthy compared to what you get.
FT, which I consider a fairly trustworthy vendor, have sold me XP-Gs that were not as described in terms if tint. What else differences could be in the specs? Lower bin than advertised? They seem to offer a few “higher bin XM-Ls than all the rest, and what is stated in the Cree datasheet”. Again, if that is a mistake, what other mistakes could there be? When that is said, I have been happy with all my XM-Ls from FT.
I had to mail LCK-LED in order to find out what tint and bin their NW XP-G2s were. They told me 5A tint and unknown BIN. But it certainly looked like 3C to me, certainly not anywhere close to the similar tint from intl-outdoor, which I considered to be correct in comparison with a bunch of other emitters. They also messed up description on packaging. They are supposed to be a professional LED supplier. How hard can it be to get the basics right?
LED-DNA does in some cases lack info too…
Im very happy with some of the latest emitters intl-outdoor have gotten in stock though, I should mention Illumination supply too.
Generally the slightly lower bin emitters that I buy are usually more expensive than the higher/top bin CW emitters.
I would have saved a good amount of money if I always opted for the higher bin (CW) emitters.