Cree dive lights

http://goo.gl/0oXISq

Want to invest in a super bright cree dive light.  Pricing does not directly correlate to lumen rating, so i'm wondering wassup.  There's a ton that appear too cheap to be quality, but then get decent reviews.

Anyone have any recs?

Off topic but,,,,,

I'd never heard of Cree til about a week ago when my son gave me a 100w (equivalent) Cree LED.

I'm in the middle of a kitchen remodel so just mounted a socket in my ceiling and screwed it in.

Damn near blinded me when I turned it on. Pure bright white lite.

I just picked up this one on amazon and it's super bright! I will be testing it out this weekend. Pretty good reviews on it and it seems like a solid light. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CRAARMC/ref=pe_385040_121528360_TE_dp_1

shoprat - pls do a product review!  there's lights with higher Lumen ratings that are less expensive, but again, i'm questioning the quality.
in addition to brightness, i'm really interestd in run time

I've had a good ten years of experience on flashlights and technologies. I know a thing or two about flashlights. Most of the lights from your link are knockoffs of other knockoffs. Quality is mostly sub par. The cheap ones with a magnetic switch has rust problem. The ball bearing and spring are exposed to water and will rust after one use. Stay away. The $10 plastic ones have a design flaw. You have to untwist the head to turn off the light, thus breaking the seal. There's a $10 one showing a flip switch on the body, but when you place an order for it, you'll the get the twist head one.

The only one that I have some positive experience with is the MagicShine $80 one. It's also a mag switch, but no ball bearing to expose. Comparable to my 500 lumen Surefire M6 in terms of output. Feels somewhat solid. (I did not try any costing more $100.)

Chinese flashlight manufactures publish bullshit numbers. They publish the led's maximum output, but the driver will never drive the leds to the max, if they have a driver board at all. For example, my MagicShine is advertised at 1000 lumens, but it is roughly the same brightness as my Surefire M6, which is military grade and rated to be true 500 lumens. I have two $20 dive lights that are rated 2000lm and in reality only put out about 200. You need to know how much current the driver board is supplying to the led, which led, whether the battery can supply that current, and whether the cooling is adequate to sustain that current. No chinese manufactured flashlight will supply this type of info. (I have several of these cheap dive lights sitting on the shelf collecting dust. Anyone who wants them can have them.)


Basically, you get what you pay for.

It is only a Cree chip, not a Cree flashlight.  They sell their chips to everybody.  I do happen to know that this one does NOT come with a battery.  My buddy bought this one and it took him a while to figure out which one to use. I think he just gave up on it, not sure.  hope this helps. 

-steve

Yes, Cree is an LED manufacturer. They make LEDs mostly to supply companies that make car headlights and other lighting equipment. Cree does not make their own flashlights. LEDs are not light bulbs. They are Diodes. You need to (Should) use a driver board that puts out the specified amount of current/voltage to the diode in order to make it light up.
Cree, Seoul and Lumileds are the most renowned LED manufactures.

In my opinion, a good dive light needs to be able to operate by one hand. Waterproof is a must. Some people like a spot light, but a flood light is a lot more usable than a spot. Spot gives you tunnel vision. Flood gives you a wide angle of view. Many dive lights have multi brightness, which means you have to click/switch several times to get to the setting you want. There's no time for all that while diving. A good dive light should have only one brightness setting.

yeah, i figure get what you pay for, as in everything in life . . .

If money was no object, what is the brightest most reliable flashlight, something so powerful it would sear a lingcod's retinas at 90 FOW depth?

This one can start a fire 6 inches away from it 

is that a filament bulb?!

Yes it is. It's a Welch Allyn bulb for cars. LED will never get that hot out the front.

I recently installed a batch of Cree brand LED lighbulbs in the house.  Good quality lite except they have a "dead spot" at the peak of the bulb, which in my case, was hung upside down so the "dead spot" is pointing strait down    Still worth it though!  No warm up time like the "twisty bulbs" and good color lite output.  Pricepoint is already falling fast too!  <end of threadjack  >

LEDs have a dome cap on them that act as a lense. They are directional. To get rid of the "dead spot", the manufacturer needs to arrange them in a pattern that minimize the dead spot, plus deploy some sort of a diffuser (ie, frosted glass). The more LEDs they put inside the bulb, the less of that dead spot you'll notice. I personally prefer Incandescent light because of the warmth feeling it gives. I love playing with LED flashlights, but I don't ever consider installing them in my house unless they come up with some warm tint at a reasonable price. < Sorry, enough of my threadjack>

I bought a Cree headlamp at Amazon 2 yrs ago.  Got the ultra fire battery on the side for spare.  Brightest headlamp there is.  All for $18
Yes, $18.   
Headband, lamp built solid. 

Very interested in picking up a light for diving as well. So should I buy one of these Cree dive lights, or is there a better light that has been tested over time to be solid. What's the go to light everyones using? Don't mind paying $$
Thanks