i contacted my guys at cecol to see whats up with US availability. I'm shying away from CLU058s for now they seem to be a lot more fragile ive had half a dozen gen6 drop rows (out of a few hundred chips). Did not see this problem with Gen5s. CLU048s are nearly indestructible in all cases and have better holder reflector and heatsink options. i think ive seen one bad 1212 out of literally thousands. with the new 1818s rated up to 420W you'll be hard to sell me on CLU058s for our application.
if they can really get a 6.5% efficacy increase across the product range, that would get the cheap 1212s up to the same level as the best that cree luminus and vero have to offer (currently). and the 1818s could be a real force. its hard to say because their test conditions assume high currents where most growers (yourself aside) dont run that way. so there may not be the touted 6.5% bump at low currents where dissipation isnt the controlling factor
luminus is also about to drop gen4 i wonder if they are also going to have substantially better dies. ive noticed the cxm22s ive been getting lately are lower voltage, ~52.5V at 1400 mA where before they were ~53.5V. its possible they are sliding out newer gen products under old part numbers like cree does sometimes with their bins. b-lux probably isnt far behind
as for the new 3618 an 850W cob driven full tilt is literally a drop in single point replacement for 1000W HPS. meanwell doesnt even have a good match for that that im aware of right now (esp at the ~120V the cobs gonna want)
even if the lumen maintenance sucks at that current the cost of a chip is the same as an HPS bulb and can be treated as such and flipped out every 8000 hours (with newer cheaper more efficient tech even)
here are new datasheets, they are showing 8750 mA/580W max for 1825 and 4200 mA /187W max on 1212s
http://www.leds.co.uk/products/led-components-indicators/citizen-chip-board-leds/high-current-cob
