Buying a 20mw 405 from Rayfoss

I'd like to buy a 20mw 405nm from rayfoss.
For the most part I've heard good things about rayfoss, but I've heard some bad things too, so I'd like to ask you guys about it.
I live in the US. Is that ok? How long is shipping expected to take?

Just to clarify, I'm really just looking for a "pointer"; the only reason I want to be able to change output is so I can see the beam out at night if I need. Otherwise, it'll just sit at a nice safe output level.

Also, I'm a noob but I'd expect that all those 405nm pen lasers use the same diode, so I'm wondering if I can pot mod it; that'd be nice to get it to about 5mw but not necessary. Extra power could be nice too .

EDIT: I also hear that people here buy from Dinodirect too.
IMO both sites look moderately sketchy...but if you think they are worthy I'd definitely buy from then. Dinodirect has an A- BBB though, which is pretty respectable.

I bought the 20mW 405 from rayfoss, for the price it was a great buy. I only bought from rayfoss once but with that and my 50 mW greenie I got I'm happy with the purchace and plan on buying from them again.
I can't remember the exact time it took to reach me but around 20 days. I live in eastern US.

I wouldn't pot mod it, if you want a stronger one just buy a stronger one. The 50 isn't much more in cost.

Check out this thread before you buy. I bought 4 405nm pens from itemquickship for about $8 each and all measure over 40mW with one at 53mW.

Thanks, but it seems now the included link is dead.
I've practically never shopped on ebay, so I don't really know my way around. Could you provide a link? Or if dinodirect/rayfoss is fine, then I'll buy from them, though rayfoss sounds like they have slow shipping.

nicks75 said:

I wouldn't pot mod it

Click to expand...

Why is that? I (as a noob) am guessing here, but the stronger ones are probably the same diodes driven at a higher current as I mentioned above.

Just to clarify, I'm really just looking for a "pointer"; the only reason I want to be able to change output is so I can see the beam out at night if I need. Otherwise, it'll just sit at a nice safe output level.

I wouldn't recommend price-angles I purchased a "200mw" 405nm laser after testing it on an lpm it outputted <5mw. After a while of "thats impossible" and "we would never ship a laser like that" I sent my laser back to them. That was around a month ago and I have yet to received a replacement.
I would never deal with PA again.

I have ordered from o-like plenty of times and they have really good customer support and deliver a good product.

Check out the link in my sig about where to buy lasers from.

udanis: Was it one of the priceangels pointers that they "stand behind" the power +/- 20% on? I believe there is only one 405nm pointer that they've done a power test on, and guarantee the output of, and it was the kaleidoscope version.

rhd said:

DinoDirect is the sketchiest. The most recent example I can give you is from this holiday season. They ran a phony "50% off sale", but in reality, about 6 hours into the sale, they falsified the "original" prices they were discounting, so that things like lasers were priced pretty much the same as they had been before. They tried to deny this fact in their forums, but were somewhat embarrassed and exposed when users posted Google cache pages of the item prices before falsification.

Click to expand...

Yeah I heard about that...and it doesn't really bother me, it's not like they were actually ripping people off so it didn't really do anything aside from make them look stupid. Nothing "bad" per se; as you said, prices were the same. Yes they are sketchy, but these sites are all sketchy it seems o.o. I think this will end up as whichever has faster shipping.

udanis said:

I wouldn't recommend price-angles I purchased a "200mw" 405nm laser after testing it on an lpm it outputted <5mw. After a while of "thats impossible" and "we would never ship a laser like that" I sent my laser back to them. That was around a month ago and I have yet to received a replacement.
I would never deal with PA again.

I have ordered from o-like plenty of times and they have really good customer support and deliver a good product.

Check out the link in my sig about where to buy lasers from.

Click to expand...

If I order a 405nm laser for under $15 and get a 5mw laser (regardless of specs), I will be pleased...
I looked through your links, and I'm pretty sure what I read was basically "you get what you pay for". I've no doubt that any of the sites you listed will provide, but most of them have their cheapest blue's listed at over $100, definitely out of budget. Their cheapest are probably the $50 USD greenies, which are probably great lasers, but I'm not exactly looking for quality lasers. A crappy blue is fine really, I'd like to keep it at around $15 - $20 or less, and shipping within a couple weeks (that makes the power guarantee moot, again, I'm looking for a snazzy pointer).

Just a side note, I know I'm asking a lot already, but I'd love it to be an open-back style pointer. I've only seen 30mw variants for $21 at Dinodirect, but I've seen plenty of cheaper green ones. If this purchase goes decently, I'm thinking about getting a green laser that's got a open-back body. Honestly, all these cheap Chinese sites look mostly the same, so unless a lot of people are leaning toward any particular site, I might just pick based on something trivial, like if they have open-back greenies...
About O-like, I don't really like chrome and it's a bit more expensive, so if possible, I don't want to order from them, but it's still an option.

Sorry for being so picky, and writing up a long post.

hellokittyhk said:

Thanks, but it seems now the included link is dead. I've practically never shopped on ebay, so I don't really know my way around. Could you provide a link?

Click to expand...

Link to overspec violet pointer that ships from USA.

rhd said:

Here's something you can help me with -
What does the distinction between "open back", "mid open" etc refer to?

Click to expand...

Yep, that's what I mean by open-back and mid-open.
I wasn't sure which dealers on ebay would be reliable.
Thanks for the link.

The 405nm violet pointers from itemquickship aka wlaser on Fleabay are all overspec. Another good seller is laseryork, a presumed roommate of the aforementioned. Mine ranged from 41 to 53mW. Even the 53mW pointer beam is barely visible at night. It depends greatly on ambient conditions such as humidity and the amount of dust particles in the air. You really can't turn the power on these up and down easily. You'd almost have to destroy the host to get to the driver board, but for eight bucks, who cares? Fun to see what fluoresces under them. Here are a few threads you can read about them:

http://laserpointerforums.com/f52/review-405nm-violet-laser-pointer-5mw-wlaser-ebay-57965.html

http://laserpointerforums.com/f38/what-do-you-do-your-9-ebay-405nm-laser-57629.html

http://laserpointerforums.com/f52/ebay-9-blu-ray-pens-great-53322.html