Laserglow "RIGEL-6" 593.5nm Pen (LPF 5th anniv. Ed.)

Hi everyone, I have for your viewing pleasure, some photos of one of my newest laser aquisitions.
I don't always show the lasers that I purchase as a complete finished product, but I think this beautiful Laserglow Rigel-6 is worth sharing a few select photos with you.

This is not a review, just some photos and a little information on my purchase.

THE PURCHASE:

My purchase started out as no more than an afterthought; while I was buying another fine laser (J/L Ti) from "Whodunit 13579", I noticed that he also had this sweet Rigel up for sale, although it was well out of my price range.
I happened to mention to Andrew that I had wanted a 593.5nm for quite a while, but the cost had always been too high, and before you know it we had arrived at a price that I couldn't refuse.
Now that I've bought it, I'm so glad that I didn't pass this one up, it's definitely a keeper as far as I'm concerned!

As soon as the package arrived in the mail, I had a good feeling about this deal; super quick two day shipping, and packaged safely enough too withstand a bomb blast. :yh:

THE LASER:

My first suprise upon opening the USPS box was that this Rigel was still packaged in its original white cardboard box with the Laserglow information sticker on it, showing Model #, Serial #, and metered output.
Inside this plain box was Laserglows unique and beautiful protective presentation case, which is hinged and latched for secure carrying.
Best of all though was seeing the inscription on the pen when I opened the case.
This Rigel happens to be a LPF 5th anniversary commemorative pen; inscribed, or more likely, painted on it, in gold is "LASER POINTER FORUMS 2006-2011", very cool indeed!
Upon some searching for info. about these, I found that of 11 pens bought in the 2011 L/G group buy,this is the only one that was a Rigel, all the others were 532nm Lyras. AFAIK, that makes this pen a one of a kind.

The only testing that I've done so far, is an LPM check with the batteries that the pen came with. I'm getting 5.5mW average, with 6.7mW peak so far.
It is a bit cold blooded, taking about 5-10 seconds to stabilize on a cold start (room temp.)
So far, I've been trying to stick with the recommended (30 seconds on - 15 seconds off) duty cycle.
I was curious about some alternative batteries for higher output, but after contacting Scott Browes at Laserglow who recommended nothing except 2 x aaa 1.5V batteries, with a max. of 1.6V each for a 3.2V total.
I think I'll stick with the recommended batteries; I don't want to prematurely kill this baby!

REVIEW REFERENCES:

As I mentioned earlier, this isn't intended to be any kind of review, but if you want some good information on the L/G Rigel / CNI pens, here are a couple of very informative reviews; one, a new unit from Laserglow, and the second one, a well travelled CNI version of this pen which I believe is still lasing away.

• Review: Laserglow Rigel-6 >5mW 593.5 Laser Pointer with video! (by Sigurthr)
  
• Review Rigel 593.5nm Pointer (CNI GLP-593.5) (by Trencheel 303)

And now for some photos. :drool:

PHOTOS:














This is cool!


<500mW, yep much, much less!


Batteries go in (-) first, (+) towards the tail cap.


This is the by far the nicest pushbutton that I've seen on a pen.


IMO, this is a pretty acurate rendition of the 593.5nm wavelength as produced by my Rigel.






A real suprise when viewed through a fan diffraction grating, a second 532nm wavelength is visible!





That's all I've got for now, I hope you enjoyed them! :beer:

P.S. - A big thank you to Andrew (Whodunit13579), he was a pleasure to deal with. I wouldn't hesitate to buy from him again!

Also, a thank you to Sigurthr for some valuable advice.

Congratulations Bowtieguy! I have the same laser (without the Laser Pointers Forum logo), though now it puts out maybe 2mw on a good day. You will notice when it is warming up it will produce a green dot until warm, then it turns orange. I also have the same case and spec sheet, which is also nice. I rarely use it anymore since I got the CNI 593.5 30mw. Best of luck with it!!

Sweeeeeeeeet! I much preferred the old style LaserGlow casing then the ones they currently sell. You know, the one which showed the actually branding of the laser!

Hope you enjoy such a beauty!

-Alex

Nice. These pens are super finicky in my experience. Mine will have an extremely unstable output and sometimes fade out entirely until the laser gets warmed up. Then it puts out a relatively steady ~3mw.

Nice makes me ant a 10 year pen.
I saw that go for sale and Trevor told me there is only one of those 593.5 engraved from that GB.

Thanks for the comments guys !
@ Brucemir, so far I haven't noticed the green on start up, only in the grating, I have heard that as the batteries get weaker, there is more of a tendency to see green.
@ Razako, yes, I've noticed instability during power up when cold.

@ lazerman, that's what I noticed also, this one seems to be a one of a kind, I better take good care of it.

BowtieGuy said:

Thanks for the comments guys !
@ Brucemir, so far I haven't noticed the green on start up, only in the grating, I have heard that as the batteries get weaker, there is more of a tendency to see green.
@ Razako, yes, I've noticed instability during power up when cold.

@ lazerman, that's what I noticed also, this one seems to be a one of a kind, I better take good care of it.

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Yea definitely. You bringing it to selem :crackup: Had to put that out there :tinfoil:

Beautiful color!

And i also like the old style logo of lpf.

Congrats and finally can REP you for what it's worth.
Really dissapointed that the 10th year anniversary pen went nowhere
How much did one of those cost back then for the 5th?
The picture on the snap-on shows a range of color that I have seen with my 589nm depending on environment.
I love the case and that the pen has the gold accents. Am curious why you say that about the switch. Is it just a really solid click like it latched or something else? It's interesting to me having handled so many pen units.

Whoah, really nice find! Great pictures and write up too, really cool pen style too. :beer:

Thanks Cel, EP, and Pete! I really appreciate your comments and +rep!

@ Pman, It looks like the Rigel sold for $361 total including fees, at least that's what's listed in Trevers post #1in my link to that G.B.; right now Laserglow wants $599 for a <5mW Rigel.
I said that about the button because it does have a good solid "feel" to the click, and also it's a soft rubber, oval shaped button in an oval cutout, and there's no rocking or wobbling like a lot of pens have.
I am also disapointed that the 10th year deal didn't go anywhere. I guess it could still happen.

I know I'm a few months late here, but I just saw this post (I periodically log in and search for "Laserglow" to see what's the latest). I'd just like to verify that the Rigel-6 in your possession is indeed the only one with that engraving. And it IS engraved - with a CO2 laser - and not painted. I know this, because I engraved it myself.

Event_Horizon said:

I know I'm a few months late here, but I just saw this post (I periodically log in and search for "Laserglow" to see what's the latest). I'd just like to verify that the Rigel-6 in your possession is indeed the only one with that engraving. And it IS engraved - with a CO2 laser - and not painted. I know this, because I engraved it myself.

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Now there's a username I haven't seen in a long time. :beer:

Event_Horizon said:

I know I'm a few months late here, but I just saw this post (I periodically log in and search for "Laserglow" to see what's the latest). I'd just like to verify that the Rigel-6 in your possession is indeed the only one with that engraving. And it IS engraved - with a CO2 laser - and not painted. I know this, because I engraved it myself.

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Excellent! You're never too late to add something positive, and this is definitely positive.
Thank you so much for chiming in to verify that this is a "one of a kind" commemorative pen, and that it is actually engraved and not painted! :beer:

:thanks: again for sharing this information, it's greatly appreciated!

Who sells a 593.4 higher than 5mW these days?

Pman said:

Who sells a 593.4 higher than 5mW these days?

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Nobody, really. Almost nobody sells 593.5 period.
I tried to buy one from a member and it ended up either being confiscated by AU customs or being an outright scam.