LEDs that are easy to hand solder.......why so few?

[grizedale]

When a led lamp prototype comes out, its nice if the LEDs can be hand soldered like this......

https://www.lumex.com/specs/SML-LXL99MWC-TR+5.pdf

.....it has legs, so is easy for hand soldering.


So often these days, , surface mount power leds have no legs and they only way to solder them is with an infra-red soldermachine....ie this led here.....

**broken link removed**


.........so why the great big move toward non-hand-solderable LEDs?......is it just the "fashion" of making things smaller?, or is their some scientific reason, such as the non-hand-solderable package types can be made with smaller Thermal resistance from junction to solder point?

I've worked in companies where there is no need for microscopic circuitry, and the engineers there hate the site of these pesky packages with their pads hidden away under their bodies.

 

[mister_rf]

In order to drop the price of the products means less using the resources (materials, energy, labor) necessary to create it.

 

[grizedale]

so you mean its cheaper to manufacture a LED or IC without legs than with legs?

 

[hexreader]

If 99% of the market is surface mount, why bother with the other 1%?

Let one of your competitors lose money catering for the 1%.

 

[grizedale]

But i am talking about surface mount LEDs with legs.