Well, Merl came to stay at my place this weekend and what a blast we had.
After formal introductions and a couple of beers , we got down to the task at hand (Dinner) ;D ;D
Between us we assembled a collection of lasers to play around with (Pics to follow) .
The plan was this: After a quiet night at the local drinking establishment, we would grab some photos of the laser collection in action for you to enjoy at your leisure.
The reality was: After a couple of drinks , I bumped into a couple of old friends and the Jack Daniels and coke started to flow. We were both armed with a Core, but to be honest, they didn't really see the light of day (or night, to be correct).
We stumbled home and fell asleep, forgetting all about the pictures for you guys to enjoy.
However , we redeemed ourselves and had a great show the next morning. We laserchecked each and every one of them over both days, several times, using Merl's Coherent lasercheck at the appropriate wavelength settings.
Laser lineup is as follows:
SPYDER II GX
ENVEE 125mW
LANLING lab 50mW (green)
WL ADVANCED 35mW (green)
WL CORE X2
LANLING lab 100mW (red) X2
WL PULSAR 125
PSEUDO 808 IR laser <400mW
THE VERDICT:
SPYDERII GX:
Holy s**t, this is bright. In a word, awesome. The beam and especially the dot is super bright. It has a great feel about it, sadly the mode issues bar this from being excellent. The mode hopping is not really visible looking at the dot, as it is so bright, but by expanding the beam using a lens, or viewing the beam in smoke shows it up quite well.
The TEC cooling transfers the heat from the diode into the body of the laser and it got very warm to the touch after 10 minutes of constant on.
Put through the spiro scanner, the results are amazing (Merl has some pics of that) ;D
Laserchecked it peaks at about 247mW , with an average of over 200mW over a ten minute period.
It is just a shame about the mode issues.
ENVEE 125mW
The only fully compliant FDA laser of the bunch. Aperture cap, dongle and 2 second delay. The feel of this laser is the best of the bunch. Very bright and very solid. The button is the best of any laser I have used (well it has to be with the 2 second delay) , due to its excellent divergence and narrow beam, it almost rivals the Spyder when both are shone, side by side into the night sky. This is also known as the Nova Alpha series. Great laser and very much recommended.
Laserchecked it peaks at 137mW and settles down to a healthy 122mW on used batteries.
LANLING 50mW lab green
Well this one surprised us somewhat. AC powered driver board to a big heatsinked module, labeled at 50mW. The beam and stability of this is excellent. 2mm initial beam diameter and still 2-3mm as far as my indoors let me measure. Duty cycle on this is 4 hours constant on, 30 minutes off. I don't believe this model has an IR filter as residual IR leakage at aperture measured 11.7mW. The unit is advertised as having a 10 minute warmup time to achieve full power
Lasercheck reading were taken at up to 3 feet from the aperture to avoid any IR contamination. The unit peaked at 167mW with an average over 20 minutes of 155mW , with a varience of +- 5mW (not bad for a badged 50mW unit) ;D
WICKEDLASERS ADVANCED 35mW:
Nice little laser, Nothing special, but at least overpowered on the rated spec. Batteries make a huge difference on this particular laser. Rechargeables gave around 45mW sustained, Alkalines around 49mW but with lithiums it held about 67mW. This laser will mode hop after about 2 minutes constant on, to a classic TEM01 (2 very distinct beams)
WICKEDLASERS CORE X2
Great little lasers, perfect for taking out to the pub in a dragon case and showing the power of a green. beam is visible indoors in low light. Button however is a little cheap (I managed to remove one accidently - sorry Merl :'( )
Laserchecked on rechargeables , they both clocked in at around 4.2mW.
WICKEDLASERS Pulsar 125
Not much to say about this one. Great distance burner but useless closeup, without an external focusing lens. It has a natural focus of about 20 feet but with an initial beam diameter like that of the space shuttle, it is little more than a showpiece for reds. The Chrome barrel is very nice though. Laserchecked on alkalines this one hits a nice steady 137mW and on rechargeables 123mW. Lithiums are not recommended for the pulsar as it is not regulated.
LANLING 100mW lab red X2
Well these were the best surprise of all. AC powered driver board fed into a 18mm brass housing. Fantastic burners and very powerful. they are focusable but they have been factory set and sealed with an epoxy substance, however this can be removed and refocused using a pair of needle nosed pliers. The 18mm brass housing makes a pretty good heatsink and they can be powered up for maybe 10 minutes at a time without getting warm. I have made a big 2" ally heatsink for mine to give it 100% duty cycle. Laserchecked (wait for it) ..........
197mW and 207 mw
constant.
PSEUDO 400mw IR 808
Well I have never used an IR laser before, so this was a bit of a novelty. Merl has laserchecked it at over 500mW , so that makes it class IV. The dot is a very dim cherry red and the divergence is awful. It has a quite strange dot profile, almost a square, with rounded corners. Burning wise it is awesome, shine it onto anything plack at the correct distance and it will smoke instantly (and I mean instantly). Pseudo included a pair of IR goggles with the deal and really should be used with something of this power.
Something of interest to note, it wont burn skin very well (I tried) greens seem to work better. I guess it is to do with absorbtion of the wavelength.
Well that is it for the lasers. My thanks to Merl for coming to visit and for bringing all his toys along (did I mention the tritium and the LED watches?) . Another time perhaps.
Oh yes I almost forgot the pictures. All lasers are on except for the IR.
From left to right
Lanling red
Spyder
Envee
Pseudr IR
Advanced
Core
Core
Pulsar
Lanling green
4 Dragon cases and the 140mW scanner in the background.
Enjoy.
Jase
After formal introductions and a couple of beers , we got down to the task at hand (Dinner) ;D ;D
Between us we assembled a collection of lasers to play around with (Pics to follow) .
The plan was this: After a quiet night at the local drinking establishment, we would grab some photos of the laser collection in action for you to enjoy at your leisure.
The reality was: After a couple of drinks , I bumped into a couple of old friends and the Jack Daniels and coke started to flow. We were both armed with a Core, but to be honest, they didn't really see the light of day (or night, to be correct).
We stumbled home and fell asleep, forgetting all about the pictures for you guys to enjoy.
However , we redeemed ourselves and had a great show the next morning. We laserchecked each and every one of them over both days, several times, using Merl's Coherent lasercheck at the appropriate wavelength settings.
Laser lineup is as follows:
SPYDER II GX
ENVEE 125mW
LANLING lab 50mW (green)
WL ADVANCED 35mW (green)
WL CORE X2
LANLING lab 100mW (red) X2
WL PULSAR 125
PSEUDO 808 IR laser <400mW
THE VERDICT:
SPYDERII GX:
Holy s**t, this is bright. In a word, awesome. The beam and especially the dot is super bright. It has a great feel about it, sadly the mode issues bar this from being excellent. The mode hopping is not really visible looking at the dot, as it is so bright, but by expanding the beam using a lens, or viewing the beam in smoke shows it up quite well.
The TEC cooling transfers the heat from the diode into the body of the laser and it got very warm to the touch after 10 minutes of constant on.
Put through the spiro scanner, the results are amazing (Merl has some pics of that) ;D
Laserchecked it peaks at about 247mW , with an average of over 200mW over a ten minute period.
It is just a shame about the mode issues.
ENVEE 125mW
The only fully compliant FDA laser of the bunch. Aperture cap, dongle and 2 second delay. The feel of this laser is the best of the bunch. Very bright and very solid. The button is the best of any laser I have used (well it has to be with the 2 second delay) , due to its excellent divergence and narrow beam, it almost rivals the Spyder when both are shone, side by side into the night sky. This is also known as the Nova Alpha series. Great laser and very much recommended.
Laserchecked it peaks at 137mW and settles down to a healthy 122mW on used batteries.
LANLING 50mW lab green
Well this one surprised us somewhat. AC powered driver board to a big heatsinked module, labeled at 50mW. The beam and stability of this is excellent. 2mm initial beam diameter and still 2-3mm as far as my indoors let me measure. Duty cycle on this is 4 hours constant on, 30 minutes off. I don't believe this model has an IR filter as residual IR leakage at aperture measured 11.7mW. The unit is advertised as having a 10 minute warmup time to achieve full power
Lasercheck reading were taken at up to 3 feet from the aperture to avoid any IR contamination. The unit peaked at 167mW with an average over 20 minutes of 155mW , with a varience of +- 5mW (not bad for a badged 50mW unit) ;D
WICKEDLASERS ADVANCED 35mW:
Nice little laser, Nothing special, but at least overpowered on the rated spec. Batteries make a huge difference on this particular laser. Rechargeables gave around 45mW sustained, Alkalines around 49mW but with lithiums it held about 67mW. This laser will mode hop after about 2 minutes constant on, to a classic TEM01 (2 very distinct beams)
WICKEDLASERS CORE X2
Great little lasers, perfect for taking out to the pub in a dragon case and showing the power of a green. beam is visible indoors in low light. Button however is a little cheap (I managed to remove one accidently - sorry Merl :'( )
Laserchecked on rechargeables , they both clocked in at around 4.2mW.
WICKEDLASERS Pulsar 125
Not much to say about this one. Great distance burner but useless closeup, without an external focusing lens. It has a natural focus of about 20 feet but with an initial beam diameter like that of the space shuttle, it is little more than a showpiece for reds. The Chrome barrel is very nice though. Laserchecked on alkalines this one hits a nice steady 137mW and on rechargeables 123mW. Lithiums are not recommended for the pulsar as it is not regulated.
LANLING 100mW lab red X2
Well these were the best surprise of all. AC powered driver board fed into a 18mm brass housing. Fantastic burners and very powerful. they are focusable but they have been factory set and sealed with an epoxy substance, however this can be removed and refocused using a pair of needle nosed pliers. The 18mm brass housing makes a pretty good heatsink and they can be powered up for maybe 10 minutes at a time without getting warm. I have made a big 2" ally heatsink for mine to give it 100% duty cycle. Laserchecked (wait for it) ..........
197mW and 207 mw
constant.PSEUDO 400mw IR 808
Well I have never used an IR laser before, so this was a bit of a novelty. Merl has laserchecked it at over 500mW , so that makes it class IV
. The dot is a very dim cherry red and the divergence is awful. It has a quite strange dot profile, almost a square, with rounded corners. Burning wise it is awesome, shine it onto anything plack at the correct distance and it will smoke instantly (and I mean instantly). Pseudo included a pair of IR goggles with the deal and really should be used with something of this power.Something of interest to note, it wont burn skin very well (I tried) greens seem to work better. I guess it is to do with absorbtion of the wavelength.
Well that is it for the lasers. My thanks to Merl for coming to visit and for bringing all his toys along (did I mention the tritium and the LED watches?) . Another time perhaps.
Oh yes I almost forgot the pictures. All lasers are on except for the IR.
From left to right
Lanling red
Spyder
Envee
Pseudr IR
Advanced
Core
Core
Pulsar
Lanling green
4 Dragon cases and the 140mW scanner in the background.
Enjoy.
Jase
