CREE Bulbs, Lamps, flashlights...

[ibex333]

Did I live under the rock all this time and miss a revolution in lighting?
I never heard of this stuff till about 6 months ago. Back then I saw some CREE Flashlights up for sale from the Chineese which list insane brightness levels for ridiculously low prices. Nonsense.. It must be some kind of scam I thought... When something sounds too good to be true it probably is.

But lately, I see more and more of this stuff... Bulbs, lamps, etc. Checked out some You-Tube videos, this stuff seems legit!

So wait a second... If I replace my dual 60w bulbs in my lamp in the bedroom, my dim room will suddenly light up?!

I thought since these bulbs are so amazing they must cost a fortune each.. But no! I checked the prices and they are fairly cheap?


Ok.. Now I am really confused. Can someone with insight on the matter elaborate?

 

[CPA]

Where are they fairly cheap? Lowe's carries them for $12+ a pop. Not cheap.

 

[Mixolydian]

Cree has been around for many years. Best LED's on the market, IMO. I have their retrofit lamps for recessed can fixtures, they are fantastic.

 

[ibex333]

Where are they fairly cheap? Lowe's carries them for $12+ a pop. Not cheap.

But supposedly these things last for like 24 years, have a huge warranty, use a lot less power and are much brighter to boot! I'd be willing to pay $50 a pop if that was actually all true.

 

[Svnla]

You can get a CREE light on sale for less than $10. I had one for about $7 with free shipping and it was pretty good (very bright vs. regular LED light) and is still working fine.

The one I have is just like this = http://www.amazon.com/Cree-300LM-Mi...=UTF8&qid=1368146812&sr=1-1&keywords=cree+led

I can't remember who/where I purchased from, will have to look it up later.

 

[yh125d]

Apparently CREE LEDs are really popular in the quality flashlight market ("lightophiles" aka candlepowerforums, etc)

I've got a Quark AA2 and an ITP Eos A3 keychain light, both popular well reviewed lights with CREE emitters, and most of their competitors in the market (surefire, fenix, nitecore etc) seem to predominantly use CREE stuff

 

[rsutoratosu]

I got cree style 921 bulb for my reverse light, holy cow they are super bright..

 

[DaveSimmons]

Teal'c approves.

$13 for a "22-year" 60-watt equivalent bulb is pretty reasonable compared to $0.75 for a "0.9 year" incandescent even before you add in the power savings.

 

[Ayah]

They also make a lot of other SiC and GaN devices too. mosfets, schottky diodes, etc.