Sure, PicklesRus, I’ll give it a shot.
The Samsung F-Series Gen3 will be kick-ass parts for the amount of light they generate at high efficacy and low cost (on a lumens/$ basis). The cooler K-temp strips can generate more than 20,000 lumens/strip. At the soft side of the power range, they run up to 199 lm/w. The ease of building and operating specs will make them desirable for many users. Still, they may not be the best choice of light strips in every situation. The F-Series is designed to operate near maximum power all the time. The datasheet gives its operating specs as 43.7V min, 46.0V typical, 48.3V max at 2.24A (no range at all on amperage is specified). That is a tight range compared to the other strips. From a practical standpoint, there has to be some wiggle room in the amperage spec, but I don’t have the knowledge or experience to know what it might be. I suspect that the F-Series will not be dimmable over as great a range as some of the other strips, which may be a significant problem for different users. In any case, these parts will be easier to match to constant voltage/constant current drivers, such as the HLG-240H-48A, than to constant current drivers, such as the HLG-240H-C2100. If you are trying to redeploy a bunch of CC drivers from a COB build, you may be challenged to get the right match. Fortunately, the parts with a single-row of diodes and the 560mm parts all scale proportionately to the 2.24A part, so there is some flexibility in mixing/matching serial/parallel configuration to an available driver. The smaller parts aren’t quite as good on a lumens/$ basis.
The OP is considering the Samsung M-Series. While the M-Series isn’t the latest tech any more, it is still a good value based on price and performance. And, unlike the F-Series, it is available now. Same with the Bridgelux EB Series. There is currently an excellent, active thread on the EBs (darn forum won’t let the new guy, me, link to it). I really like the EBs for their range of output and high lumens/$. For example, the 3000k, 4ft part (part number 976-1502-ND on Digikey) has a “typical” output of 4,820 lumens @ 31.0W and 156 lm/w. You can push it to 8,724 lumens @ 65.2W at a still-decent 134 lm/w. At the Digikey price of $14.83/strip, using max power, that works out to 588 lm/$ - pretty awesome for any LED product. They also dim down to 1,412 lumens @ 8.4W and 168 lm/w. If you need that range of control, the EBs are hard to beat.
