Phraug.com <150mw Fusion Green laser review

Okay folks - watch this space for a review of the Fusion laser from Megahurts' pal
- Rick Lee ! First off, a little teaser :

I opened the cardboard box , pulled out the foam insert and saw the new kid on the block - the Fusion laser rated at <150mw by Rick Lee. My first thoughts are, thank goodness it is a little bit smaller in person than it looked on the web !

More to follow.....

Check out this laser here : http://www.phraug.com/laser/

Some preliminary pics for you ! Kinda dark - but a 50mw Ebayser on top of it for size comparison.  The laser is in the protective foam insert, and sitting on top of the box it came in. Those cutouts in the foam are for 2 AA batteries.

Another pic - with a 6" metal ruler next to it for size comparisons.

Here's the last size comparison pic ! More pics to follow, as well as Beam shots, power tests, and power measurements !

Im so happy it came for you today, I have to work all day tommorrow! My fingers are crossed, if your review is good im ordering one TONIGHT!

I wonder what the power output is going to be?

I HIGHLY reccomend Lithium Batteries - but I will get into that in a few moments. I was glad to see that the laser is a little bit smaller in person than the preliminary design photos showed. It DOES take two AA batteries, but the size on the web looked enormous ! The foam insert that the laser ships in is inside a cardboard box - this setup protects the laser well enough, but for extended trips in the mail, I think shipping the box inside another padded box would be best to ensure the laser's safe arrival at its' new home. A suggestion I would make is this - put some branding on the packaging - a logo of some sort ?

My first impression when I pulled it out of the foam insert was, WOW this feels Niiiiiice ! And it does - it fits perfectly in your hand, the weight with batteries in it is a moderate weight - the "bolt" on the front of the laser at the aperature is not heavy, as the body is machined from heavy duty alluminum.

Here is the first beam shot from this laser, taken at 11pm (CST)

This laser is BRIGHT ! I insist that if you buy or use this laser, you WILL buy some eye protection. First power rating measured with my Andover Holography LPM-1 (AWESOME !) laser power meter was 138.9mw initial peak using lithium batteries. Alkaline batteries will not give good results with this laser, neither will NiMh 2600Mah. Both of the non-lithiums greatly under powered the laser - to the tune of 78mw or worse.

I will do more in depth power readings tomorrow - and post results of the typical burning/popping tests - as well as hopefully be able to measure the divergence of it, along with filtering out any residual IR. My hopes are high that it will continue to impress me, as it has done thus far. For the price, this is a very nice laser indeed.

Looks about the size of a Mini Maglite. Can't wait for some beam specs, stability and power-over-time info.

Are these designed to be run on lithium batteries?

Not expressly designed for them - but it tolerates the lithiums fine. Most greenies will tolerate the higher voltage - and it is not pushing the diodes too far when doing so, as the circuitry swallows up the excess voltage. I will post more info today on this laser - most likely only on here, since on CPF there is a troll that cannot controll himself - and I asked to have that thread locked down. I just wish he would come back here, then he would be gone so fast - you would just see a blur where the jerk posted...

I saw the fiasco over there, it was quite amusing. The mods have eliminated the problem. I hope you will re-post your review there.

I've been trying to get to the post office, both to pick up an MO to get one of these lasers and to pick up my own Andover power meter - which has been sitting there for a week! Aaargh. Work is interfering with my hobby! ;D

Looks good!

I appreciate the dedicated time, hard work, resources, and the sacrifice you have made...to review this product.

OH WAIT, he is having FUN doing this review. Who wouldn't?!?!?

hehe

Aside from the trolls out in this world, I think I am speaking for everyone: Thank you very much for this preliminary review, and we are all waiting patiently for more....ok the patiently was a lie. No rush though, no rush...

Have fun

Great rewiew [smiley=thumbsup.gif] thats a very nice looking laser

Okay, to get down to the nitty gritty on this laser –

The beam diameter is excellent – coming out at 1.5mm, with a divergence of .82mrad !

The measurements were taken at 100ft, and measured 25mm. I used Psuedonomen137’s Divergence calculator that can be found here:
http://www.pseudonomen.com/lasers/calculators/mRadCalculator.html


It is showing less than 1mw of residual IR leakage, which is phenomenal ! It cuts tape, lights matches, and pops balloons with no issues. Over a test period of 10 minutes, the head was little warm, but not HOT ! The output power did dip over that time frame – from an initial peak of 143.7mw to a lowest point of 134.2mw where it remained rock steady for a full 4 minutes, and then dropped consistently, in power to 124.9mw to finish up the 10 minute test run. The batteries I used were Energizer E2 Lithium AA batteries, starting voltage of 1.7v each – finishing voltage was 1.1v each after the 10 minute run. This laser LOVES batteries ! I do not have any rechargeable Lithium batteries to try in it – and am not certain the circuitry would handle that voltage, as I understand they can easily exceed 1.9v off of the charger, and I do not want to blow this laser up ! I am not privy to the complete design notes of it, so cannot tell for certain what the max voltage would be. The beam intensity was very bright, and did not seem to dim that much after the test, either. This test was a very intense test – and I do not expect that most folks will use the laser constantly for 10 minutes at a stretch – but it is great to see that zero duty cycle will only affect the batteries, and not have too much of a detrimental effect on the laser output. The laser disassembles easily to insert the batteries, and if you want to check out the heatsinking of the diode, the head unscrews fairly easy as well. It comes equipped with an aperture laser emission warning sticker, in front of the power button. This laser is very well constructed, and I fully expect it to be a very popular seller because of its’ ability to withstand a zero duty cycle, less than 1mw IR leakage, ability to use AA batts, and overall appearance of this wonderful little laser. I will take some more beam shots and publish those in this thread, and will post some vids of it performing the popular tricks, as well as showing of its ability to “write” on a Lightscribe Disc.

Thanks for the detailed info/review, and for running the laser through the gauntlet of a 100% duty cycle test. It's good to know it can handle it.

The divergence figure is very good. How is the beam quality - scatter, TEM, changes over time, alignment with the case? I'm sorry... :-[ here you've been busting your a-- to get the info out, and I'm asking for more. It's just that I'm an information hound and I want to know EVERYTHING!

I'm sending off for one of these - I hope he still has one for me by the time the MO gets there!

I'll probably run it on NiMHs, even if the power level is less, because I hate going through batteries, and will use lithiums if I need to do something that requires every mW I can get.

The beam quality is awesome, it operates in TEM00 constantly, and alignment is dead on accurate - a perfect 90degrees from the case ! Okay, maybe 89....I do not have anything that accurate to measure with, but it appears to come straight out of the case to my eyes ! Guys, this is a great laser for the price, if I had the funds available to my hobby fund right now, I would buy one in a heartbeat !

so overall the good points with this laser are:EVERYTHING while it's bad points are: NOTHING! i would say that ain't too shabby. is there ANYTHING wrong with this thang? probably too heavy for girls, right? or maybe fingerprints show up real bad. or...heck, i'm gettin one-if they aren't all gone!

Hehehe - it's a sweet deal - it is a rock solid performer, and I have not found anything bad - other than it is advertised as a 150mw....it does have the <150 there - so I guess it still falls within a good range. The price is phenominal - I have been waiting for a good price break like this for a long time !