These type of LEDs are called SMD (surface mount diode). Some advantages are they are much brighter than the focus type LEDs and have a wider range of light output. These types of LEDS are more favorable when it comes to brightness and visibility. The disadvantage is the cost. There are critical differences when choosing which SMDs are better. SMD type LEDs can come as a single or multi chip. How can you tell how many chips? You can turn on the LED, be sure to wear sunglasses and you can see the dot or dots. Those are LED chips. They could be cheap ones or they could be quality ones. You can look at two identical ones, like what we have pictured, but a difference is where the chips are made from and yes they both have different output of brightness as one is not as bright. You can look at each one individually and until it hurts your eyes. However, when projected onto a white wall you can see a significant difference between the two. Some type of SMD LEDs require the use of a heatsink due to the high heat it produces. This is a disadvantage of those type of SMDs that rely on the heatsink to cool it down. Imagine if you put that type of bulb in a headlight housing which gets hot, the lifespan is shortened greatly. Most of these type of SMDs will use a single chip because it is cheaper and you can get more output using a heatsink. Imagine when that single chip blows! We prefer the use of multi LED chips for reliability and color stability. When you use more chips you do not have to force more power into it to bring out the brightness. When you force more power into the chip the color will eventually decrease along with the brightness. Using a car audio amplifier as an example, when you bring the impedance down the amp heats up. When the amp heats up the sound also degrades as well. The same happens with LEDs. Another difference between SMDs is the type of lens used to bring out the color and output.

All of our SMD LEDs use circuit protection transistors to stabilize the current and light output. This also prevents the output from degrading. Most LEDs you see in the current market only use a resistor or possibly a diode in its product design. HiLEDs wants only the finest in materials. So, we do not penny pinch. You will see SMDs use either silicone or resin type bonding. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Silicone is good for heat dispersion but is delicate if touched and can damage the chip. Another disadvantage is when the chip relies on reflection to bring the light out. This is where the resin type has its advantages since it benefits by being a better reflectant. The downside is it holds heat. This is why multi chip is a required benefit for SMD. Yet again it costs more than single chip SMDs.