Ebay Lasers

Dear all,

I am worried that people are purchasing green laser pens on ebay based upon false ratings, and to clarify everything, I contacted the manufacture in China responsible for the pen encased lasers. The representative informed me that only 2 different pen models are manufactured each with 2 different ratings, 1 at true 5mw and another at true 20mw adjustable via potentiometers to give different ratings. So whether you buy the £5 or the £100 version, you are buying only one of the 2, possibly with their potentiometers/circuitry re-adjusted. The manufacturer sympathized with the false advertising on ebay also stating that their (ebay sellers) method of mW is different to the true ratings. The manufacturer also offers the same laser pens to large retailers with boxes, packaging and labels to match their brand (in other words, you may get the same thing, with a Walmart box).

He also stated they have high power lasers, but not in pen enclosures "Pen lasers are for presentations and astronomy uses, we have higher power models but not in pen case". All the 50,80,100, 200 or 240mw ratings are lies in regards to the ones encased in a pen. There is another pen style laser manufacturer which I haven't contacted, so this statement only goes for the ones in the attached picture.

Also, there are lasers sold on ebay that have non-pen enclosures in chrome and others in a military style casing. The ones that are in black plastic shells similar to the aluminum military cases are from the same manufacturer as the aforementioned and are rated at 50mw. The other non-pen style lasers on ebay range from true 5mw to true 50mw. Overall, none of the ebay handheld lasers surpass 80-90mw. If you see any higher than 80mw, the chances are you are wasting your money. I hope someone makes this a sticky, so anyone thinking of buying an ebay laser knows what they are getting.

Hope this has helped guys, and I also hope less threads are started in regards to ebay pen lasers.

Regards
PG

yea its been said here numerous times not to buy anything over 5mw from ebay cuz theyre usually crap.

Oh yeah, we know all the dangers of eBay lasers

Generally we agree that anything under about 30mW is okay. Pretty much if you want a laser for burning, you need power. And as eBay isn't accurate, you won't get anything good. But if you just need a weaker laser for pointing and shining, then eBay tends to be alright.

Great first post

Yeah, but I thought i'll clarify it further by stating the true ratings they are buying so they don't keep asking what their ratings are. Also that not all ebay lasers are bad by highlighting the manufacture opposed to generally claim all ebay lasers are bad.

I had a hard time tracking down the manufacture... and even when I did, the guy couldn't speak english properly, and he was meant to be the sales manager. Anyway, I hope anyone wanting to buy ebay laser, reads this first so they know what to look out for.

There's nothing inherently wrong with Ebay - there are plenty of 'legit' sales channels selling crap too. The problem, in any venue, is when a buyer is uninformed - and that, perhaps, is Ebay's weak link: it makes it easier for buyers to be uninformed, when an unresearched sale is just a click away. They can be uninformed because they didn't do their homework, or because the seller is being actively devious, but "caveat emptor" either way... you need to be a 'defensive buyer', just like you need to be a 'defensive driver': always assume they are out to get you, take responsibility for being informed, and if you can't get informed to your satisfaction, move on - there will be other sellers, other deals, other times.

The problem with the knee-jerk "omg ebay sux lol" attitude is that it implies that if you go elsewhere you aren't going to get screwed. You can get screwed anywhere. Capitalism is an adversarial system - the seller is trying to maximize profits, the buyer is trying to maximize quality while minimizing cost. Predatorial sellers can make an easy meal of buyers who don't do their homework, whether you shop at Ebay or Saks 5th Ave. I actually find Ebay to be very educational, because in general if you can find an item for cost X, you can usually find the exact same item for both 0.5X and 2X. So which is the 'true' cost of the item? It's whatever you are comfortable paying. If you've got more money and impatience than time and sense, there will always be someone there to help relieve you of your money. (Case in point: when there are multiple auctions for some cheap gadget, there will often be more bids on the higher-priced item... people assume that if it costs more (or if somebody else wants it too), it must be better. This leads to ridiculous scenarios where a bidding war starts on one item, while the same seller has other listings for the exact same item with a 'Buy It Now' price lower than the current bids. Those buyers aren't trying to buy a better product with that extra cash. They are trying to buy peace of mind. They usually won't get it.)

The thing that really gets me about the 'Ebay sux' chanting is that Ebay is only accessible on the web, and the rest of that web is full of information that can help buyers come to an informed decision. There are review sites, a gamut of sellers selling the exact same things for a broad spectrum of prices, and many places you can ask questions (like here) if it gets too confusing. But in the end, the responsibility for being informed lies with you... nobody is making you buy anything from Ebay. It's just one more choice in a sea of choices, and quite often it's not the worst you can do. You just need to pay attention, which isn't bad advice regardless of where you choose to do your shopping.

persiangulf said:

Dear all,

I am worried that people are purchasing green laser pens on ebay based upon false ratings, and to clarify everything, I contacted the manufacture in China responsible for the pen encased lasers. The representative informed me that only 2 different pen models are manufactured each with 2 different ratings, 1 at true 5mw and another at true 20mw adjustable via potentiometers to give different ratings. So whether you buy the £5 or the £100 version, you are buying only one of the 2, possibly with their potentiometers/circuitry re-adjusted. The manufacturer sympathized with the false advertising on ebay also stating that their (ebay sellers) method of mW is different to the true ratings. The manufacturer also offers the same laser pens to large retailers with boxes, packaging and labels to match their brand (in other words, you may get the same thing, with a Walmart box).

He also stated they have high power lasers, but not in pen enclosures "Pen lasers are for presentations and astronomy uses, we have higher power models but not in pen case". All the 50,80,100, 200 or 240mw ratings are lies in regards to the ones encased in a pen. There is another pen style laser manufacturer which I haven't contacted, so this statement only goes for the ones in the attached picture.

Also, there are lasers sold on ebay that have non-pen enclosures in chrome and others in a military style casing. The ones that are in black plastic shells similar to the aluminum military cases are from the same manufacturer as the aforementioned and are rated at 50mw. The other non-pen style lasers on ebay range from true 5mw to true 50mw. Overall, none of the ebay handheld lasers surpass 80-90mw. If you see any higher than 80mw, the chances are you are wasting your money. I hope someone makes this a sticky, so anyone thinking of buying an ebay laser knows what they are getting.

Hope this has helped guys, and I also hope less threads are started in regards to ebay pen lasers.

Regards
PG

Click to expand...

Great post
There really should be a sticky about why green lasers on ebay are crap 95% of the time.

I have two ebay green pen lasers. Get ready to laugh, one is labled <100mw and the other is labled <240mw. The 100mw one can pop balloons and cut electrical tape easily, the 240mw pen can't do anything but shine a pretty green light much weaker then the 100mw pen. My neighbor has what was advertised as a 5mw green pointer, his dot is very, very weak compared to my 100mw pen.

Now I am not dumb, neither of my pens are what they say they are. They were cheap though. I took both apart and found non-adjustable driver boards in both. I bought these from two different sellers and the hosts are different too. The driver boards are exactly the same though. They are non-adjustable, no pot at all. I posted closeup pics in another thread hopeing someone can firgure out the driver board and which SMD resister I can fool with to turn these up a little.

This is my take on ebay lasers. They are cheap, yes. They are fun to chase cats, yes. They shine a pretty beam at night to impress the neighbors, yes. They are what they say they are, no.

lol.. yeah... they only make 2 versions, i guess the false 100mw is the higher model, and the 240 is the lower... but since you say they do not have pots, then it must a different manufacture. But common sense is golden, why would a strong laser that can burn holes in presentation screen be put in a pen enclosure. Out of almost 40/50 laser pens, ive only seen 3 that are high powered, and they normally have gold plated metal parts. Anyway, the stickers they use can be bought by anyone... alibaba.com sells roll's of such warning stickers with all types ratings. If anyone wants the email of the manufacture to raise concerns, pm me.

Whilst the statement of ebay lasers are crap is true, the case of the pens is not.
There are manufacturers that sell just the casings with no circuit drivers/modules etc. So its is very easy for other companies to pick them up and put their own lasers in them. You have only included one model of a laser pen, when there are plently more. Not just two. But the main statement is ebay lasers are crap!

I'm sure there are plenty of companies that make laser pens... but you could be right, even the company I contacted, could be contracting the enclosures to another company.