Hey all, a friend found this on ebay and was wondering whether this is a good deal or not. The video shows that it peaks and averages at 116 mW and 110mW respectively. Here are the links

New 50mW 473nm DPSS Laser with Modulation | eBay



What do you think, is this worth buying?

At first sight it not seems wrong, but you can also consider these other.

Here you have the same, but cheaper

50mW 473nm DPSS Lasers :: DPSS Blue Lasers :: Ultralasers, Inc

And this other possibility

50mW 473nm DPSS Blue laser/laser alignment/ blue laser pointer products, buy 50mW 473nm DPSS Blue laser/laser alignment/ blue laser pointer products from alibaba.com

The Second one is <50mW not big deal.

but <390$ (plus shipping) for >100mW 473nm it's a Good deal.

Maybe i will take this Non-Functioning 473 nm Blue Laser, DPSS, BWB-10-OEM - eBay (item 320695582008 end time Jul-05-11 17:07:04 PDT)

10mW used (2004) for 35$!

I surely hope you read that its not functioning

Considering that the wavelength is similar to 445, you could just get one of the A140's that are floating around. They are much more powerful too. But they arent that wavelength nor are DPSS

I would choose a 473 over a 445 any day and colorwise the 473 is a tad more cyan colored and ofcourse the beam owns a 445 by far

What you said. I have a few 445 lasers around. Never seen 473 though :/

No

Always opt for analog modulation. TTL kinda sucks.

:P

Newbie question: Why do the majority of 473's I see seem to be installed in a Lab-laser configuration? And I frequently hear fans in the videos...

Do 473s run "hotter" than others, or do they need higher-current drivers or something?

A related newbie observation / question: I'm interested in duty cycle/cooling. I WAS assuming (at first) that heatsinking was mainly for the diode/DPSS, but when it's mentioned in DIY threads, they almost always reference cooling THE DRIVER.

DPSS 473nm is ridiculously inefficient. Watts of optical input give you only a handful of milliwatts of optical output. This probably has the same cooling requirements as a 500mW 532nm system.

-Trevor

Trevor... and so the inefficiency translates to waste heat... (and you need to shove a lot of juice at it to get it to do anything) ... got it, and THANKS for edumacating me.

The rise of the 445nm diode has sure driven he price of 473nm, DPSS units down

473nm is a very cool color. I would recommend that any "serious" hobbyist should have one. However, I am not sure that the price has hit bottom yet

Peace,
dave

Daguin - yes... If I could have just ONE laser, it would be Cyan (tech problems aside). I suspect it will be quite a while B4 I own one, though. Who knows, MAYBE there will be a technical breakthrough sometime.

Don't forget you're talking to the man with the argon lasers...

-Trevor

Hehehe... what would *I* do with an Argon setup(?); start an interstellar war with Ale-ee-uns?

Price seems to definately be coming down. I bid on a new ~100mW two days ago - BLM-100 DPSS 473nm Blue Laser Lab Diode Module : NEW! | eBay - from Ebay seller - eBay My World - extremelasers - I stopped bidding before it finally sold for $365 (+$20 for shipping)

If you want 473nm and don't mind a lab style unit get one of these.

473 nm Blue Laser, DPSS, B&W Tek BWB-10-OEM | eBay

Several people here on LPF including myself have bought them and they're the cheapest way I've seen to get 473nm. If you do buy one make sure to do two things. First wrap the switch with some electrical tape because there is a small exposed connection that can give you a nice 110VAC zap (Ask jakeGT about that). Secondly if you're not going to put it into some enclosure you need to join the two green wires together. Those are the ground from your power supply to the wall outlet that normally attached to the original chassis.

I'll do that; thanks for the heads-up...

-Trevor

@JBTexas:

You should definatly see 445nm and 473nm side by side.. there is a pretty big difference

Also, poor man's way for cyan is a 445nm (I think you might do this with a 405nm instead? IDK, never tried 405nm) and a 532nm mixed with a dichro (and varried to ballance to a cyan)

As stated, Argon is also a good way to get it (488nm probably will get you there IIRC).
or a diffraction grating of a multi-line argon, you will get a nice collection of wavelenths that can go between 473nm and 515nm.

But note that argons are more like Space heaters then lasers, they are rediculously inefficient.

Visible lines for argon go down to 458nm.. which funnily is called the violet line.

Silvershot if you go with that one get it directly from lasever Its cheaper that way
They except paypal so paying is easy
DPSS Laser,Green laser,Blue lasers,Red lasers form Lasever

I have a 10mW from them and have no complaints. Read my review its well worth the money.

These 'non-functioning' lasers actually do work. They just aren't up to spec and/or have beam artifacts.

I just got one in for experimentation purposes that peaks at 12mw without the feedback and averages around 8mW but the beam output is pretty nasty looking.

I actually have a 2nd one on they way now as well for an even different experiment heh. So i'll end up with 3 in the end, though hopefully if one project succeeds, it won't be a 473 any longer. heh.

All in all. If you really want 473nm and are on an extreme budget, these are probably your best option.. Yes they're low power, but if your brave there's always the chance you can tune them and get more out of them. I managed to get 30mW stable out of my 'good' one.

Hey just so you guys know the ebay seller from the OP is Ultralasers. Shawn wang is the owner of "Ultralasers", Thus its the same product... I actually talked to the guy on the phone last week. Good guy, reliable, and give's good customer service. I bought from him years ago and he replaced a laser I bought due to me not being satisfied with the divergence.

Kind of funny that piferal posted it and had no idea lol, hope that helps silver..

-Greg

Alright folks, I was offered a CNI unit that does a lil bit over 100 mW for $450 + shipping. What do you think? It's from a member on PL and is used.