Hi another newbie from UK

Hi forum

Firstly I know almost nowt about electronics or lasers except from what I've read in the hour or so I've spent on the forum (mostly :drool:ing at jayrobs kits)

I'm looking for a pointer for astronomy and was really just considering a $47 200mW green DX module hosted in the DX $8 5mW pen. Or, heaven forbid, if that was above my capabilities a solder free, mint tin host

However I have now made the mistake of coming here to LPF and now think I would prefer a 1W bluray instead LOL or at least as a NEXT project.

As an initial astronomical pointer is the green going to give me more beam for my buck?

Off to read up on what I need to know.

Thanks

gar

Hey, welcome to the forum. I'm a brit too, with a tendency to pounce on anyone I find from England and demand to know whether they're near enough to me for me to meet up with. So, in what area of the UK do you live?

If you want it for astronomy, buy a 5mW green DX pen. Try it out, see if you like it. And if you like it (you probably will) THEN you can worry about getting something more awesome.
These are not hugely different from the pens at DX, except that they will probably ship faster, are guaranteed not just to work but to be overspec:
http://laserpointerforums.com/f39/s...c-5mw-pen-shop-stock-now-w-blu-ray-65618.html
On the other hand these are basically the cheapest around, but the company is less reliable than buying things on the forum:
5mw 532nm Green Beam Laser Pointer Pen Stylish P1 - BuyinCoins.com
Most "5mW" lasers are actually significantly overspec so always treat it like it's very powerful and able to do severe harm to your vision unless you've measured it. And even then don't point it into people's eyes.

That's pretty much it. Enjoy your stay, try to be polite and courteous, play safe, have fun and fire a PM in my direction if you have any questions and I'll help if I can or direct you to someone who can if I can't.

Hi geeo,
Another new UK member here.
I've got one of the DX 5mW lasers and they are plenty bright enough for astronomy. Mine needed a bit of a tinker to get it working properly as the batteries were loosely jumping around.
Beam fluctuates quite a bit now and then but I wasn't expecting anything amazing for the price.

Let me know what you decide to go for as I'm looking for something new too. :beer:

Us Brits are beginning to take over here

Welcome to LPF and say goodbye to your money

If your planning on buying stuff on here, read this http://laserpointerforums.com/f39/6-steps-prevent-you-getting-scammed-63634.html

Hi Geeo i'm in the UK also and a newbie on here cheers

Where in the UK are we all from ?

Nelson,lancashire :yh:

Kookapeli said:

Us Brits are beginning to take over here

Welcome to LPF and say goodbye to your money

Click to expand...

Tell me about it. I just blew £200 on lazerer. I was only browsing and got carried away.

Sawbridgeworth in Hertfordshire here.

Cheers for the welcome peeps

@JaiNobeZ I'm just north of Edinburgh. Just too far for a meet up I guess and thanks for the links and offer of help I appreciate it.

Oh dear....I dont like the idea of spending all my wonga. I'm trying to save up for a big dobsonian telescope but then again it's so bloody cloudy here I probably get more entertainment from a laser collection....

@Madaxe Whoa £200........So what nice goodies did you buy?

I went for the LZCS - 532nm 200mW Focusable Green and the RIFLE445nm - 1W Focusable blue with the upgrade pack because I don't have glasses and I fancied the changeable heads.
Should have done some more research first really but I sold some old crap on eBay so had the money in paypal waiting to be blown on something fun. I get excited when I start reading about things. Way too trigger happy. I'm the same with photography gear. Girlfriend is always wondering why I'm skint!

I'll let you know what they are like when they arrive, unless someone already has them on here. I'll have a search tomorrow.

Edit: There is loads of information on both of these lasers around here along with some mods, so that should give me plenty of reading and playing around to get on with once they arrive.

Sound good I'll have to check them out.

Yeah thats the good thing about taking payment through paypal. It's hard to waste those funds on bills and groceries......

I'm trying to keep my laser purchases in check till I know what I want, just bought some cheap DX greenies and a set of swim's super overspec greenie and blu-ray. Keep the best for myself and fob the rest off as xmas presents hehehe

@ Geeo, that's how we all start out, Cheap greenies then start building our own

geeo said:

Sound good I'll have to check them out.

I'm trying to keep my laser purchases in check till I know what I want, just bought some cheap DX greenies and a set of swim's super overspec greenie and blu-ray. Keep the best for myself and fob the rest off as xmas presents hehehe

Click to expand...

Sensible move.
I wish I had that much control heh.

Be interested to see what you think of swims blu-rays. Everything I've read on here about his stuff has been good so I don't think you can go wrong.
Which greens did you get off of DX? Link me and I'll see if it's the same one as I have.

@Kookapeli Yup looking forwward to learning how to build one.


@Madaxe bought a couple of these

True Green Laser Pen 5mW - Free Shipping - DealExtreme

in the hope one is better than the other and see how they compare to swims super overspec.

Yep that's the exact one I went for. It does what it's supposed to and you can't really go wrong for the price.
When you get it just check how secure the batteries are. Mine would stop and start working all the time at first as the batteries weren't making a clean connection.
I just dropped a little cutting of raw solder into the bottom of the tube and that seems to have stopped it all together. Not really a permanent fix but it saves stripping it down.:yh:

I'm currently living in Norwich - specifically, in the UEA campus, if anyone's interested.

And, regarding the above, I personally prefer to use aluminium foil. It's way more moldable and less useful for other stuff.