E-Bay 301 405 Laser

Bought one to try out...a very eery color and a weird beam, but I do like it. I paid about $10.00 for it and it works surprisingly well. While many don't much care for the model 301...IMHO it is a good starter laser. No sense to spend hundreds of dollars on only to find that you have lost interest.

I have used mine in a semi dark (suburban) night sky...pretty easy to pick up the beam and I have no doubt it'd be pretty awesome with dark adapted eyes under dark country skies.

It must have an output of 50mw+...has anyone with one ever tested theirs with an LPM...???

Can't say that I own one, bought a different set of lasers from eBay (still being shipped) to see what color of the spectrum I would want for a bigger laser. I know the laser 301 can range from 10mW to around 150mW (when lucky). Can it melt through thin plastic bags or light matches? If so it may be over 60mW.

I also have a Red 301 and a Green 303 ala E-Bay. They all work well and have to be 50mw+... They are like a cheap rifle..they shoot well and of good quality, considering their cost.

I haven't tried the matches or burning plastic as I have no Laser glasses. I basically use for outdoor "light shows"...

Kewl. I might just have to pick up one of them 301s being so cheap. Then I'll probably go for one of Skylasers' products.

Reason for edit: Noticed a grammar error of mine.

I bought mine from Smartopled on E-Bay. I asked a few questions and they responded the next day. They aren't a Laser store per se... I also have the 301 Red and the 303 Green from him...both work very nicely. IMHO they are good starter Lasers... One can determine how they like using them and more up to a premium laser.

Anyone provide a link I'm finding a bunch of them, or are they all the same, just a crapshoot.

I ordered this one seeing as how it has a picture of lighting a match, but will order another, and if this one is the wrong one I will just have two.
301 Super Power 405nm Adjustable Focus Blue Violet Laser Pointer Battery Charger | eBay

I have a few Green 301's and a Laserbtb 150mw Green pointer...the 301's are about 1/2 the brightness so must be in the 70mw area...some with LPMs have found this to be about right. I have three 301's and all are very consistent and all about equal in output...

SilverFire said:

Kewl. I might just have to pick up one of them 301s up being so cheap. Then I'll probably go for one of Skylasers' products.

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The first IIIb lasers I bought were a pair of 301's from ebay, I think they cost just under 20 dollars each. One of those died within minutes of first powerup; the other is still working, more than two years later. I just metered it and it's doing 90mW with the lens and its carrier in place. However, the channel through the lens carrier is too narrow and blocks out some of the diode output; the raw diode power is 135mW. I could probably drill that channel wider and get 110mW without having to adjust the current at all. It's a solid laser and has never disappointed me; the only thing I've replaced is the lens due to the original getting scratched.

They are sometimes hit-or-miss but I agree that the 301's are good to start out with. But they're still a lot of fun even if you're more advanced, too.

I got my E-Bay Green 301s for about $8.00 each... all are still working. The last one I got has a loose barrel on the laser side...so I could remove it. This gives me easy access to the lens/focusing assembly. As I understand it eth lens is of acrylic and it would increase the performance if I replaced with a glass lens. However I am not sure about the threading. Has anyone else replaced theirs?

I bought some 532nm green lasers for eight dollars to make an array with, here's a photo. I think they might be the same thing as the ebay G301, but with a different host. Can you tell me if the laser module inside is the same as the one in this photo?

I bought a large number of them, most are in the 50-70 mw area for output, some lower, some higher. The performance can vary quite a bit from unit to unit, a couple of them would not begin lasing for a few seconds, but not many like that.

Overall testing results for power output:

(Note: These units do not have IR filters which means the output power I measured is part IR and part 532nm, I don't know the ratio between them yet but will test later with an IR filter to determine how much is 532nm.)

Watching the power output some would start at 40-50 mw and then as they heated up would go to 70 mw or more, then slowly trail back down in power to 40 mw. Others were stable with 70mw output from first turn-on for 10 minutes without much change in power. Some would immediately produce 70mw or so and then over a period of a few minutes slowly ramp down to half power. Out of the twenty I have tested so far, three of them would put out over 100mw (after waiting 30 seconds or more for my power meter to stabilize, or the units themselves to stop changing output power) and were fairly stable at that output for a few minutes.

This from a sampling of about 20, I have another 50 to test. Although the majority of them put out about 50 to 70mw, not many of them would hold that 70 milliwatts for more than a couple of minutes before the power would start to slowly ramp down.

Of the units tested which did not come on at their full power output, I could see the brightness ramping up to higher levels as time passed, so I think most of them which acted that way are taking awhile to come to temperature for a more efficient output. Also, since some of them would come on at their full brightness when first turned on and then slowly reduce in power, it is my belief that the performance and temperature sweet spot of the crystals used in these lasers can vary from unit to unit by quite a bit. However, considering they don't have crystal heaters inside to keep the crystal at their individual optimum temperatures to consistently produce the most output over time, I think these cheap units are fairly stable for what they are. I believe I will likely end up using just the modules from the units and have a large number of hosts available to sell from them.





Here's a link to one sellers listing on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/5Mile-Range...Visible-Beam-Mark-Direct-150-US-/141147727954

Yes, it looks the same--the ribbed aluminum heat sink is identical to what was on mine

Yeah. I don't own one, but had the chance to measure one and it was in the 50-70mW range, IIRC. For the price, they aren't a terrible way to go if you are starting out. I have seen them on eBay, and there you have to be careful. The same laser can be quite reasonable or three times the cost. My opinion is to shop around. They aren't going anywhere and you can find a better deal that way.

I have seen these same identical units on ebay for 20 or more USD from other sellers, Paul is right, shop around for the best price. Also, I should have mentioned the first green 301 (equiv.) I bought was 45 milliwatt all of these from this large order were better.

I have bought 301's Lasers from E-Bay sellers on a "buy now" deal and paid about $8.00. Had one "bad" one and the seller sent me a replacement. I now have five--they all work and have worked for me for sometime now. I just received a Laserbtb Blue HL445-1000. It is a premium laser however IMHO the 301's are not too shabby.

I sent a green 301 to a long time friend who is very picky....he was & is delighted to have it.

One of these could probably be easily modified to be a IR laser by removing the crystal but not so durable for changing the focus, it wasn't built to do so, is fixed to infinity. Removing the wax seal you can twist the lens to a different focus and perhaps, change the plastic lens for glass too, but must remove too much for on the fly focus change.

Can one not remove the threaded brass plastic lens assembly and replace with a glass lens assembly?