I ordered 5 of the MECO sk68 style lights with “CREE Q5” emitters. I got them quickly enough, problem was they didn’t have CREE emitters but rather the crappy Lattice Bright. When I pointed that out, they apologized and gave me 60 cents credit for each light. They have since removed CREE from their description and lowered the price on their site by 80 cents for each light. LOL
If you have a replacement emitter to swap in, this light does have the 1 mode boost driver for AA compatibility. MECO light for $2.69
This is good news. Having been burned themselves, BangGood at least, is now aware of the difference.
Does LB make an xpe fake? I just got a cheap 3 dollar light in and it is pathetic compared to a real xpe q5. It has a deep blue tint but still appears identical to the xpe q5. It might be low on the lumens because the light only has about half an amp tailcap reading.
This emitter had several of the signs of being a LB fake, including the White substrate, smooth green surface on top of the board, and smaller die size. It seems to have round bond wire junctions though. The interesting feature was the phosphor overspray, even covering the bond wires. I haven’t seen an XM-L clone like this in any of my other lights.
does it have a horrible bluish gray tint? Like other latticecrap LEDs, the phosphor is coated so thin the blue light underneath just emits right through it.
i have found a similar one in one of my cheap xxxfire lights i bought last spring for 6 bucks. its on a Latticebright star.
I just saw my brother over the weekend and he mentioned that he ordered a ’98 light. I will find out which emitter it comes with and report back later.
Hi guys, I was directed to post here. I was wondering if someone could confirm if Banggood sold me a light with a fake Cree XM-L T6. The output is really dim and the tint is a horrible purple-ish blue-ish white. Tailcaps measurements are 1.57A with a 25R.
Before anyone makes fun of me for buying these lights, I bought them as Christmas gifts. Since they AAA batteries can be used with them, I thought that they’d work out well for people that don’t know anything about lights. I only wish that I hadn’t bought 4 of them. :_(
Now to be serious. This is yet another reason why local retail stores are becoming a more viable option for LED flashlights. As they become mainstream, it makes more and more sense to buy them locally. That is of course if these FAKE LED’s CREE LED’s (see, I almost did it) don’t end up in the retail stores. Usually large retail outlets have “buying” departments that supposedly know what they are doing when they order stock for the chain.
UPDATE: Banggood issued me a full refund no questions asked.
Thank you Hikelite. I’m a bit disappointed in Banggood. I thought they were above this sort of thing since so many of our group buys go through them. I wish I had read through all of the posts here.
BTW, this is the one I bought. The description says CREE XML and “CREE” is print clearly on the side. Then is it unreasonable to expect an actual CREE emitter? It sucks that I don’t think this will be rectified in time before Christmas.
At the very least I should have spent a few cents and bought it from Simon (at Convoy). He is literally selling it for 50 cents more. I just didn’t think about it. Lesson learned.
I bought some ’MECO” SK68 type lights that also were described as CREE. When they weren’t I complained they offered 50 cents refund for each light. They then removed any reference to CREE and lowered the price by 80 cents.
It probably isn’t BangGoods fault, they were unaware, as were we. When it is pointed out to them, they take the appropiate action.
I just can’t afford to deal with this kind of stuff. From now on I will only be buying from sites or stores that can guarantee that what they describe is what they sell.
