589 nm pointers: Rigel-HV, Rigel Pro-HV and Vega-HV

Hey folks, I know that a lot of you have been asking about the 589 nm handheld lasers, and we've just finished our tests with good results. We now have three versions of 589 nm yellow lasers available (names above) with various features depending on what you need to do.

The Rigel-HV (www.laserglow.com/GRH) is the standard Rigel laser pointer with a shiny new wavelength! Runs on 2 x AAA batteries and has no FDA safety features. (Americans, import >5 mW at your own risk, but we've never actually had any trouble in the past.) Currently available in power levels from 0.6-39 mW.

The Rigel Pro-HV (www.laserglow.com/GRV) is a 589 nm handheld laser with full FDA-compliant safety features. You'll recognize the housing style as the "Aquarius Pro" or Novalasers' "Alpha". It's available in power levels from 0.6-20 mW.

The Vega-HV (www.laserglow.com/GVH) is exactly the same as a normal Vega series yellow handheld laser, just with the more visible 589 nm wavelength. It's available with power levels ranging from 30-49 mW.

More power levels will likely be introduced as we continue to test and refine these lasers. Let me know if you have any questions.

That's awesome. Would you say there is much difference between the Rigel and RigelHV color wise. I already own a Rigel 593.5nm 5mW, would the Rigel 589 HV 5mW be any differant?

2007Revolution said:

That's awesome. Would you say there is much difference between the Rigel and RigelHV color wise. I already own a Rigel 593.5nm 5mW, would the Rigel 589 HV 5mW be any differant?

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Luke has said there's a total difference, plus I'd imagine the 589 would look brighter since it's closer to the middle of the visible spectrum.

589nm is a very nice clean looking 'golden' color with just a very very tiny hint of orange, beam looks more 'golden' than the dot for some reason, but IMO is one awesome wavelength!

I've looked at the colors, 589nm and 593.5nm and both are very close, but with brighter mW the laser looks like it gets less orange. I am sure this is a trick of the eye, the actual beam color is amber or gold, not that near green yellow. The more I see the beam the more I compare it to the amber turn signal lights of many cars and the dot is close to the color of those LED Traffic yellow lights. As close as they are, if you look at about 4-6 mW side by side, the 593.5 is a tiny bit further toward orange though. -Glenn

I think the 593.5nm is brighter than the 589nm cause of it´s better beam diameter. Is that true?

The 589 nm lasers are more visible mostly because they are closer to the middle of the visible spectrum (which peaks at green ~530 nm). Your eye is more sensitive to this colour compared to the 593.5 nm, and even though the difference in wavelength is small it can make a noticeable difference in perceived brightness. The colour is significantly more "yellow-yellow" than the normal 593.5 nm lasers, but if you're not very familiar with the 593.5 it's unlikely that you'll notice. The increase to perceived brightness is the real advantage of this wavelength.

Unless you have them shining side-by-side, you will not really notice a "color" difference. Visually, the value of this new wavelength is that it takes less output to "look" just as bright.

If you take all the conversation about comparing 650nm to 635nm (except the red vs. orange parts ) it would apply to thse two wavelengths as well.

These comments deal with "only" the visual aspects of the two wavelengths. I am not familiar with the "science" of the two proccesses to produce the different wavelengths.

Peace,
dave

@Justin
But the bigger beam diameter of the 589nm (1.5mm) means that the light is less concentrated, so the advantage to be 4nm nearer at 530nm compared to the 593nm (1.0mm) is maybe abolished? We´re talking about "normal" air conditions, in fog or smoke, of course the bigger beam diameter has a positive effect on visibility.

I already have a 593.5 from laserglow, and I love the color. It is pretty visible considering its only about 2mW.

I plan on getting a 589 sometime in the near future, its cool to know I can get one that matches from the same place!

Wait, It doesn't run on AAA batteries?

From my experience and our testing the visibility is increased due to the more visible wavelength regardless of the slightly increased beam diameter. Over any appreciable range the difference in initial beam diameter will have a diminished effect since the percentage difference in beam area will be reduced.

Justin said:

The 589 nm lasers are more visible mostly because they are closer to the middle of the visible spectrum which peaks at green ~530 nm

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The 'peak' visibility for the human eye is actually around 555-556nm.

This link will go into more depth on the topic if anyone is still curious:Color vision - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Use this chart for reference:

wikipedia actually has one that show where exactly each wavelengh is at 405nm 472m 532nm 589nm 660nm



thanx for te link! i still cant rep u kingdave :scowl:

Why is it that these yellow lasers are so much more expensive than green red or blue lasers?

They require an expensive manufacturing processes and components, that include high power pump diodes, non linear optics, and low tolerance alignments. They are a very inefficient laser. That's why most of them seem to appear in lower power applications, such as pointing.

oh i see that makes sense I figured it had something to do with the diode, being Rare or someting like that.
The color they produce is rich and appealing, just dont have to pocket money for one.