sd 301/laser 301

hey everyone,is there any difference between the two laser's and has anybody had any experinces with them? thanks in advance

No difference. The XX 301 and the XX 303 lasers are all the same AFAIK

As for peoples experience with them, majority of people probably feel this way:
http://laserpointerforums.com/f45/xx-laser-303-big-piece-shit-89551.html#post1302408

To be honest, for the price, they are not that bad. I guess I belong to the minority in that case...

Heres a review of one I did a while back. :beer:

thanks for replying! :yh:

The 301 and 303 are similar, but not exactly the same. The 303 is the same host as the Lazerer LZCS and differs from the 301 in that it uses a 9Mx0.5mm lens thread, and there are differences with the diode module and heatsink setup as well. The lens itself looks the same as AixiZ acrylic lenses, with the same black plastic barrel. The 303 also has a threadded socket at the aperture, allowing one to install a "stars" i.e. diffraction grating attachment.

The 301 has some different lens barrel threading; it's harder to just order a lens for it. The lenses in these lasers are extremely fragile, and every attempt I've made to clean them, no matter how gently, has invariably resulted in destruction of the lens. The 303's AixiZ-like lens has proven more durable, at least in my experience, but they are still plastic. 532nm 303's can be an exception, having a single element glass lens instead. Lazerer LZCS 532nm is one of these, at least when I bought mine.

In my own opinion, the 303 is superior to the 301 due to the more common lens thread. You can swap the lens to whatever you want; I have a 405nm with a glass, 3-element, AR-coated lens and the beam quality is very good. The 303 is still a pain in the ass to work on due to the stupidly-designed front end and focus mechanism. Both 301 and 303 are glued shut and will probably require tools to open, and if you want to have any hope in hell of working on the focus mechanisms or adjusting the lens without scratching the back of it, you DO need a retaining ring tool.

But just to play around with, these are fun. Just be careful to turn the tail switch off, or else you can burn holes in your coat pockets.

ETA (tangent):

I really do like the 303 host. It would be a really good host if the following were changed:

1) Remove entire front end and replace with one that could incorporate a large copper heatsink, just like the C6 flashlight is set up. The heatsink should be able to take one of DTR's diode/driver modules or any 12mm module. (Is there a standard term for those units, btw?)

2) The side switch is a pain. The switch itself is mounted to the driver board in these lasers. If the front end could contain the driver and diode then the switch just needs something to sit on to keep it underneath the button. Then the setup becomes much simpler, you have battery, contact board wired to switch, switch wired to driver, and that's it.

But it would mean machining a custom front end.

i know someone who has a 301, and they said its as bright if not brighter than a 200mw dx module, i think that is grat news for a 20$laser pointer! thanks for you input marco polo :yh:

Well, they definitely aren't 200mW lasers, but they are bright enough, especially on a hazy night. My LaserBTB 200mW 532nm is substantially brighter than the 301/303.