Usually fakes start out good then degrade as time goes on so at the outset it is possible that we get decent emitters but on the other hand it would also be a good idea to start scarfing up any deals on genuine product also.
Much the same here. Most of the budget lights come with a way-to-bluish cool white emitter, and those lights that i use daily i end up swapping them with a better tint.
the names seemed a tad bit close too
I would suggest contacting Cree and sending them info. I do not think they will take it lightly and even though their facility is in China, the US offices should be able to at least file law suits in the US.
It is shoddy and it is one of the biggest reasons I do not like to work with the Chinese. Sorry, I know not everyone is bad, but the present culture there, seems to applaud, condone and give incentive to this type of thing. Of course, if the rest of the world, (meaning all of us), didn't approve and demand it, there wouldn't be monetary incentive to do it.
Good points OL. While some may be good, ( well atleast ok maybe) other CREE “Clones” will likely be more inefficient, inconsistent tint claims, low CRI, etc. I am even noticing some of the Latticebright emitters even only have one bond-wire. (good bye to trying to drive more amps through that to achieve more output.
People who are aware of this issue will back off buying on ebay and less reputable sellers.
Of course, the other question would be, "Is Cree making these and selling them?" Well, it is a possibility. There's only so many facilities that can make these leds. If not Cree, then who is manufacturing them?
Could easily be someone who was in and copied the facility Cree has too…
I feel that we will be safe for the time being to expect established brands like Olight, Nitecore, Fenix, Sunwayman, 4sevens, etc. will still come with premium CREE emitters, but those one-off brands & over-cloned lights, (all the various *fire brands, etc.) will soon be showing up with unknown, low-cost LED emitters with little QC ( and already may be using them)
Those close-ups of those counterfeit-emitters are quite convincing…
In the past we’ve seen dodgy drivers in some cheaper torches, and now we need to contend with fake LEDs too.
The fakes are very similar in appearance. The XM-L2 would be an easy one to mistaken
The chinese do have led factories.
I agree on all counts, it seems to be the way they do business (and is not caused by their government as someone else said).
This really sucks though, fake Cree emitters that are hard to tell from the genuine article, i wonder if there is anything Cree can do to combat this.
Jk :bigsmile:
I decided some time ago to buy only premium lights, olight etc. Sometimes there are bargains to be had. $44 for an olight warrior, $18 for a Skilhunt x0 are just some examples. It is not worth taking the risk buying more budget lights, by time you mod it, it ends up being more expensive.
I recently went against my own instinct and bought a convoy that was fake and someone pointed out they also had fake drivers! Now with the possibility of fake LEDs as well. No thanks!
Marc
My problem with premium lights (besides cost) is their damn love of threadlocker glue! Evil!
LOL. I used to mod lights but by time you spent the money for a new driver, new LED you could be in for a few bob! And of course the host aren’t as good quality as a branded light.
Marc
The demand has been right here on the forum at times (rare times of course), I see here images of flashlights made by someone and requested to be cloned or copied, so the demand is sometimes blatant, like when you read posts that say something like: I am looking forward to a cheap clone of this light. While nothing seems to have been too serious, you know "clones" usually have some detail different to feel good you did not clone it 1:1.
There is always a possibility that cree is actually selling b-grade,factory rejects,etc. to Chinese companies,and makes some extra money on "junk".
The we end up buying those “junk” factory rejects.