Great service from Optotronics & Laserglow

I thought I'd add a positive spin to a section of the forum usually reserved for beefs...

After doing lots of research on this and other forums I decided to buy the Yellow and Blue lasers I've been wanting for a while from Laserglow and Optotronics respectively.

The first one I picked up was a Vega-5 from Laserglow. I literally live nearby, so I went to pick it up from Justin personally. It was fabulous to see that yellow beam the first night, but then, zzzt. The laser would start okay, but only run for a minute or so before dimming to an IR glow. (I'm told that yellow lasers are finicky beasts with multiple crystals and lots to go out of whack) I called Justin and explained the problem and he asked for a few days to find a suitable replacement, no questions asked. When I did pick it up, the new Vega-5 was another .5mW stronger and has been steady as a rock since then. I couldn't be happier with their service or their product.

The second I received was an RPL-10 from Jack at Optotronics, and well, even though it was slightly over spec I was just... underwhelmed. It just looked so dim compared to even my <5mW greenie and I was really hoping for something to do nice 4-Colour pictures like Andy's.
It was solid and beautifully made, but it just didn't rock my world. I read about the upgrade program on the Optotronics site and just didn't think it was worth the loss, so I emailed Jack directly asking him what could be done. To my absolute surprise, he agreed to give me a FULL refund for the RPL-10 and apply the credit towards an RPL-30! (I decided to go for broke...)

Today I received my new Blue and holy crap if the thing isn't rated at 46mW average! Not only that, but a note from Jack says that he's seen a peak output of 94mW from this module. Now I'm overwhelmed! The thing is as bright as I could have hoped for and is worth every penny I paid for it. (or will be paying VISA for... ;D)

So the lesson here is... If you're going to part with your hard-earned coin for some exotic laser kit, stick to the good companies! They care about their reputations and back up their products with exceeded expectations. I'm a Laserglow & Optotronics fanboy now and they've certainly earned the praise.

Cheers, CC

sounds like you got some awesome lasers

how visible is your vega-5 at nighttime?

About how powerful does a blue laser need to be if you want to see the beam in the sky or other dark areas?

Also will there ever be a 5mw blue rpl?

To answer both of you at once, The Vega-5 is very visible at night. I believe the eye has the greatest contrast at the yellow part of the spectrum, so the beam is easy to pick out. I tried it out on a deserted spit out in the lake and it illuminated a yellow street sign about a Km away brilliantly. It's such a nice sunny colour as well.

The RPL-10 that I had first did not have a visible beam unless you sighted down the barrel from behind the laser. The eye is not good at picking up this frequency of light. However, that being said, my new RPL-30 is very visible. I was showing it to a friend tonight and you could clearly see the beam in the cold air. Bloody amazing. And there's just something beautiful about that colour blue. It reminds me of those cobalt glass vases you used to see.

So... if a nice visible beam is what you're looking for, the yellow is more bang for the buck, so to speak. To get a blue that's visible, you have to spend some serious coin. But it's worth it IMO.

Cheers, CC

could u get some beam pics of them at night for us?

Sure guys,

But we just got a foot of snow dumped on us here and it's still comin' so it may be the weekend before I get any shots. (Assuming I don't spend the weekend skiing & riding!)

Cheers, CC

Okay, I couldn't sleep so I took out the Vega-5 and RPL-30 to see if I could get any beam shots indoors. This time the Vega wasn't that visible. I guess the day I played with the original down on the spit it must have been a bit foggy. However, the RPL-30 was brilliant. I'm attaching pix that nicely show the colours, if not the Vega's beam too well. I'm too tired to figure out how to post multiple pix in one post, so sorry for the multiple posts.

Cheers, CC

Pic2

Pic 3

And finally, Pic4

That's a really nice blue laser. How much did you get it for? I'm planning on getting either a new camera or a new laser, I just might go for a blue one this time. Hard to decide which one I want to get first.

kryptonian said:

That's a really nice blue laser. How much did you get it for? I'm planning on getting either a new camera or a new laser, I just might go for a blue one this time. Hard to decide which one I want to get first.

Click to expand...

uh to quote directly from the optotronics site:$1199

really nice shots curiously coherent, it just makes me want a vega even more.

lucky you

Uninteligible