517mW peak H532L-S300B skylaser review!

517mW peak H532L-S300B skylaser review!

Hey guys today I received a new goodie the 300mW model of the 16340 532nM version guess i am realy lucky :wave:

Bought here:

HL 532nm 50mW-300mW

Anyway first the shipping! First i had a problem with paypal. Looked like
laserbtb didn't receive my payment :wtf: so i claimed my money back and payed it via another paypal adress which went fine!

I payed the money on 30-03-2012. I payed 25$ for shipping. I thought damn thats expensive but now i know why! Six days after my payment DHL got my package in hands and from there thing got fast Remember this is WITH easter in between! Grade: 9



Took 4 days from hong kong! Thats amazing :beer:

Next up communication and service. I had constant mail contact with skylasers. In the beginning mailing took quite long typically 3 days for an answere. But that improved to say 1-2 days. (assuming he is a busy business man too)

I allready mailed him results of the IR output and they suggested to me that if i didn't need IR (why the hell would you need it? ) they would cut the lasers IR output for FREE with optics. That is what i call service :beer: I am not gonna do this as i don't really care about 29mW of IR! Grade: 9

Next up the package it came in a big yellow bag:



unwrapped looked like this:



And after unwrapping even more there was a really schweet leather gift box :wave:



Next i opened it up and found this: :drool:




I noticed there wasn't a 16340 i the package, i guess due to DHL and i charged a few batts real fast lol


Then i took a few pictures of the laser:






About the laser:

It DOES mode hop, I recognised different modes. But i only does this when warming up! It begins in TEM00 then TEM21 then TEM11 and then stays at TEM00

Note this is only from a cold start and it switches pretty fast! But once warmed up it stays at TEM00 (could be wrong about a mode)

More info found here:

http://laserpointerforums.com/f44/some-facts-about-mode-hopping-28456.html

So I emailed laserbtb and asked for an explanation. This is what they said: "It mode hops pretty hard when warming up, because the PCB is specially designed with current rising smoothly in 3 seconds. And the high power DPSS module needs warming up."

About the current regulation their right is doesn't go on "immediatly" and it gets brighter every sec. I only don't know if the mode hopping is due to this.. Anyway i glad it stays in TEM00 when at full power :beer:

This is the unfocused dot at 4M without goggles when warmed up:


This is the unfocused dot at 4M with goggles when warmed up:


Here is a video of the mode hopping: (not that bad actually)


The beam diameter 1m from the aperature is 4.1mm and at 9M 14.2mm ( for as far as i can tell )
Which gives : 1.2624993292317612 mRad

Next the safety. It has three key elements in safety. first is the 3.5mm jack. Next is the key switch and to top it of a apperature shutter :tinfoil: Why was skylaser at the FDA red list again?

And they make it even more safe by adding the fact that you cannot do every order of the safety feature. If you first turn the key then put in the jack and then put in the battery the laser will refuse! :wtf: the red dot will start to blink and you have to turn the key on and off.

My opinion.. VERY SAFE :san:

Now for the powahh :wave:

Here is a youtube video. In this video i demonstrate the laser and do an lpm test. After that i do an IR test! (watch in 720p for maximum experience lol)



This laser peaked at 517mW with 30mW of IR :drool: :drool: i'm so lucky I give this product a 9 not a 10 because i don't know if the part about the mode hopping is true :thinking:

Here are some beamshots note that in the video and in these pics i did not use any smoke. The only things that are reflecting are dust particals. I will upload some pictures in the night sky when it gets dark here :beer:













Grades:
Shipping: 9
Communication / service: 9
Product quality: 9

Thanks for reading! :beer:

And if you have time read my other reviews

greetings,,

EDIT: More pics and TEM00 dot!

That's great! Aye mine (>150mW + 40mW IR "100mW model") hops a ton but I'll have to do some more testing to see if/when it stabilizes at TEM00. I normally don't use anything over 100mW indoors, lol. Let me know if yours really does sit at TEM00 once warm please.

Wannaburn posted in another thread recently that if it's mode hopping, you can back off the current some and while it'll make it less power, could potentially fix/improve the mode hopping.

Very nice laser :wave: Great Price considering the others with lesser output cost twice that money!!
Definitely a must buy if you're into a high-powered green! Nice review!

Nice review. 500mW green isn't shabby. Have fun with it !

Thanks all! updated the OP with new pics :beer: and the dot when the laser is fully warmed up with and without 532nM goggles!

Sigurthr said:

That's great! Aye mine (>150mW + 40mW IR "100mW model") hops a ton but I'll have to do some more testing to see if/when it stabilizes at TEM00. I normally don't use anything over 100mW indoors, lol. Let me know if yours really does sit at TEM00 once warm please.

Click to expand...

jakeGT said:

Wannaburn posted in another thread recently that if it's mode hopping, you can back off the current some and while it'll make it less power, could potentially fix/improve the mode hopping.

Click to expand...

mmm i see less power. Nahh i like it this way and it stays TEM00 when it's warm so im cool with the hopping!

Greetings,,

EDIT: men if someone just sponsored me a good camera and i dumped imageschack i could make epic photo's..

The photo's are good. It is the man behind the camera that is important, not the camera.

I retested mine today, sat in TEM00 for less than 30sec after about six minutes of ON time. How long did you have to wait for it to stabilize and stop mode hopping? Btw, highest recorded output power was in TEM01 (197mW AFTER IR filtering).

I'm glad you got a good one from them. A couple years ago, I got a 150 mW laser from sky and I was disappointed at the 60 mW output. When the head was warmed to summer temperature, it would meet spec. Betty at Sk-y told me that I had a "Summer Laser" which wouldn't work well in cooler weather.. Go figure! Warmed up, it will output ~180 mW.
It is a Model# DPL P532F-150B-Fa Serial# 091130112
She wouldn't trade for a "Winter Laser"
I wonder if I can get a trade in now?
HMike

Well it appears that as far as output power goes SKYlasers is making sure they are up to spec. I still have doubts about beam quality and mode stability though. When you look down on the beam of mine you can clearly see two parallel beams when in the prominent TEM01. Thankfully the angular separation of the two lobes is very small and you can't see two separate spots unless pointing very far away.

I just took a nice long vid showing the mode hopping from my H523L-100B for comparisson:

SKY Lasers H532L-100B: MODE HOPPING [Boring for non Laser techs] - YouTube


Glad it appears yours doesn't do similar!

Updated OP with Mode hopping video inspired by Sigurthr :beer:



the first 30secs are the baddest after that it is almost gone and after 2 minutes completely gone This was from a complete cold start!

And Hemlock_Mike is that actually you on that picture? what are you doing on it? lol

greetings,,

Off Road.......
That old fart is ME !!!!!! I'm measuring spot diameter outdoors at about 25 feet for a divergence test. That's a caliper in my hand.
HMike

Hemlock_Mike said:

That old fart is ME !!!!!!

Click to expand...

:crackup:

You made a smile on my face... LOL

It's good to have self humor.

:beer:

snoutke said:

:crackup:

You made a smile on my face... LOL

It's good to have self humor.

:beer:

Click to expand...

verry funny indeed That picture has somekind of epicness to it :beer:

greetings,,

Someday you too may be old like me. I hope
you will also be able to accept it and laugh like
me☺ I enjoy my science yet and I wish you
the same!!! I thought my "real" picture would be
fun. Glad you like it.
HMike
PS: I don't look that hairless in a mirror! And that
damn shirt attracts humming birds........

offroadfreak8582 said:

the first 30secs are the baddest after that it is almost gone and after 2 minutes completely gone This was from a complete cold start!

Click to expand...

Thanks for the vid! I have to disagree though, there is still mode hopping throughout the entirety of your video, well through 2:26, it's just not going into the 2 or 3 lobe modes. You can see it changing between the higher modes though if you look for nulls in between lobes, it's faint, but it is there.