Pacific Sun announces the first Cree XM LED reef light with the Metis XM

Today Pacific Sun LED announced their forthcoming Metis XM LED light which will use white LEDs that are brighter and more efficient than anything before. The Cree XM LED was announced about ten months ago but we have heard very little on the availability of this next generation luminous diode. Just as the promise of the Cree XM LED’s insane brightness in a single chip was beginning to fade away, Pacific Sun handed us something tangible to once again look forward to nearly unmanageable quantities of light. The Metis LED is the first reef light to use Cree’s XM LED which are bigger, badder, and more efficient than their predecessors.

If you thought Cree’s XP LEDs were bright, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Forget about the standard three watts that most XP LEDs are run at, and Cree XP LEDs running at five watts each still don’t come close. The Cree XM LEDs riding the PCB of the Pacific Sun XM LED can run up to 10 watts, each! Not only can the XM LEDs run this much power, they do so with an efficiency of 100 lumens per watt. When the Cree XM LED are run at two watts, they deliver about as much light as Cree XP LEDs at three watts. It is almost comical how much more gnarly these new Cree XM LEDs are, at least on paper.

The Metis XM LED light will come in the same sizes as the Metis CRP, but with each light having 50% more power! Only the white LED are being upgraded to Cree XM, with the blue and royal LEDs remaining of the XP variety. As with the Metis CRP, the Metis XM will be controllable to the fullest, with custom colors, sunset, sunrise, timer functions, lightning, passing clouds and individually addressable LED panels. Don’t expect all this high performance to come cheap as it is assured that Pacific Sun is paying dearly for Cree’s best LEDs to date. Exact pricing has not yet been determined, but it will be when the Pacific Sun Metis XM LED is set to become available beginning March 1st.

– 2x150W – 33.5?/850mm – suitable for aquariums up to four feet/120cm
– 3x150W – 49?/1250mm – suitable for aquariums up to five feet/160cm
– 4x150W – 65?/16500mm – suitable for aquariums up to 6 feet/ 200-210cm

cree xm-l LED — How strange to think we were impressed when we witnessed the shrinkage of the Cree's XR LEDs to the diminutive size of the XP, yet now we are impressed with how much bigger the XM LEDs are.

Jake Adams

Jake Adams has been an avid marine aquarist since the mid 90s and has worked in the retail side of the marine aquarium trade for more than ten years. He has a bachelor’s degree in Marine Science and has been the managing editor of ReefBuilders.com since 2008. Jake is interested in every facet of the marine aquarium hobby from the concepts to the technology, rare fish to exotic corals, and his interests are well documented through a very prolific career of speaking to reef clubs and marine aquarium events, and writing articles for aquarium publications across the globe. His primary interest is in corals which Jake pursues in the aquarium hobby as well as diving the coral reefs of the world.