The thing that seemed off to me about SpectrumKingLED is how he creates a tightly packed array of individual LEDs (something that looks like a COB, with a lot of labor) and then claims on his "LED 101" page that COBs are a "myth," a bad design, etc.
If you were going to go to all the trouble of wiring 40-80 individual LEDs together, why not spread them out for better coverage? If you're going to put them into a 3" diameter circle, why not use pre-built COB? (The owner of SKL was on this forum and couldn't address that stuff very well.). All he could say is that COB datasheets are idealized representations of real-world performance (while ignoring why the datasheets for individual XBD diodes wouldn't be equally idealized. I.e., why the datasheets show XBD diodes being less efficient than the better COBs).
To me, the thing I didn't understand about that guy is how he markets (differentiates himself) on the Cree brand, efficiency, etc. If he was going to scam with an inefficient light sold at a premium, he would do what Lush, Kind, HydroGrowLED, Blackdog and Growblu do: import Chinese lights, rebrand them and sell them like they're special..
Seems like an odd strategy to market an expensive diode brand, emphasize efficiency, and then do nutty stuff like a labor-intensive custom-made COB while denigrating COB technology (to the point we could call it intentional lying).
That still doesn't make sense to me.
