I was in a Walmart a week ago or so and they had some wacky brand light with a big CREE LED sticker on the front. I was intrigued, but upon further inspection, there was a burned spot in the phosphor. or a manufacturing defect. I don’t think that cree would let that throught QC if it were legitimate.
Looking back at this review I wrote in March, I see I included a photo of the emitter on the PCB. The board is clearly printed with “LB” indicating that what I thoughe were poor-bin xp-e emitters are actually the fakes. We just didn’t know about them at the time.
much the same here as i am discovering some lights i bought almost a year ago actually have these LB fakes in them, and they all have horrible tint and output.
That’s odd… According to the LB page and the pictures (posted also at #1 here) the counterfeit XM-L2 called “XM series” should have a silverish top, too. With the green base, it’s quite obvious to spot as a fake. I’m still waiting for pictures of confirmed counterfeits of XM-L2, XP-G2 and XP-G…
At least, many of these LEDs sit on MCPCBs with “LB”/Latticebright or the LB logo printed on. But I’ve checked all my cheaper lights and found only fake XP-E and XM-L. The ones with XM-L2/XP-G2 look ok. The question is: are they harder to distinguish or not that common in the wild (yet)?
judging by the smooth substrate coating, the square pads beneath the bond wires it looks like a LB LED. (fake LED) it the tint & output seems to be more blueish & harsher then its likely a fake.
EDIT: - I am noticing an unusual non-consistient edge to the phosphor coating over the die on that one too, adding to the lower quality control of the fake Crees.
It looks the would-be XP-L led that popped up in the recent SRK clones everywhere. I tested it here (it comes after the XP-L Hi test): https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/35024
Indeed it does. And great test and info on the fake xpl too. It shoes how bad they are when it comes to efficiency & performance compared to Cree emitters.