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Hello fellow LPF members,
My name is Alain, and until now, my main interest has been flashlights. After looking around, I am sure many of you know about the high-end flashlight industry, I remember seeing many cool lasers with flashlight hosts. Also, I am grateful for the many knowledgeable and helpful members here for enabling me to learn a lot about lasers, even though up to now I never owned one. I learned a ton about laser safety, wavelengths, power levels, and hope to learn much more.
As a student, I am confident many of you can understand that I simply don’t have the money to spend, as such, I review flashlights for various flashlight companies (Olight, ArmyTek, Fenix), and now, thanks to CNI, I was able to get a hold of a laser for review as well:drool:.
Keep in mind that this is the first laser I have ever seen in real life, and, needless to say, have ever used. But before I say anything else, I should let you guys know that I cannot believe I never knew about lasers and this community. I am just as interested now in lasers as I am in flashlights. To me, the two hobbies and their beam elements complement each other.
I don’t want to bore you guys much longer, so on to the review,
Shipping
The CNI GLP-593.5 (GLP – Laser Pointer; 593.5 – 593.5 nm wavelength) and a pair of safety goggles (more on this further on) were shipped by FedEx on Friday September 6 over the weekend, and arrived on September 9 on Monday. I didn’t have any issues, I just signed the package as I would with a flashlight review sample. I say this because I’ve heard a few stories here and there regarding customs and fees. The lead time was around two weeks prior to September 6, however, but from I know CNI produces their own lasers when they’re ordered, so this was expected.
The box was a bit larger than what I figured, but that’s because they packed the items with lots of bubble wrap:
Here are the specs, unfortunately I know LPF usually likes technical information, but I don’t have a LPM to verify the claimed output.
Laser Safety pamphlet
I noticed that they round off the wavelength to simply 594 nm,
Presentation was alright, but I was glad to see the box also provided additional protection from the shipping process.
I know I have batteries in the following picture, but don’t worry, CNI didn’t ship any batteries with the laser,
First Impressions
When I first picked up the laser, the first thought was that it felt solid, and has some weight to it. I’d describe it as being several times heavier than a standard, cheap ball point pen. The black body felt very smooth and the gold accents were free of any blemishes. The only thing that was a bit off was the warning label on the head, which has the sides of it are slightly peeled off.
After I inserted the batteries, two AAAs, and pressed the power button, I didn’t see any light come out. Being careful with lasers, I took out the batteries and took a look at the head. I realized there was this blue sticker that prevented the laser light from passing, so I took that off, reinserted the batteries and voila! A brilliant yellow dot was finally jumping around my room. I couldn’t see the beam, however, and I figured that’s why they call them laser pointers.
I noticed after a 45 seconds to a minute though, the laser would start getting dimmer, and eventually become very dim, at which point I assume it needed a time out. But other than that, I had a lot of fun shining the beam around the house and seeing it bounce off glass and such, something I can never do with flashlights, unless its an aspheric and with the beam tightened all the way.
The clip is very strong, and I found it hard to attatch it to my shorts, but I made better use of it and attached a lanyard on the clip. I suggested to CNI that for future models, they should make a body with knurling, and an attachment point for lanyards.
The power button is a momentary on only, and that makes an audible “click” sound when activated. It requires an average amount of downward force to press it, sufficiently enough so that it won’t accidentally turn on in your pockets.
The tailcap seems to have a serial number or something marked on the inside walls. Whoever did this was hardcore, I would never be able to write in something so small.
CNI Yellow Laser Shades
As promised, I’ll cover the laser goggles they kindly sent. The goggles come in a, I suppose, a generic sunglasses case, but that opens and closes with a zipper instead.
This is irrelevant, so if you would like, skip what I’m about to say. I used these goggles to mow my lawn. The bag on the lawn mower couldn’t keep up with the large volume of tall, cut grass, and kept clogging the mower, eventually forcing the mower to shut down. So I had to take out everything, and was left with an exposed, say 45 degrees side of the lawn mower blades (I was very careful to stay clear of this part, one wrong move and a limb is gone):wtf:
This enabled the mower to cut and eject the grass shavings out onto the lawn without clogging up. Unfortunately, the line of fire for the grass clippings flying out of the lawn mower was right at my face and right side of my body.:scowl: I knew, that if grass clippings were pelting me, then any rocks or pebbles that the lawn mower will pick up will become instant projectiles that could have the potential to hit and damage my eyes. I didn’t have any safety ballistic goggles on hand that my father usually donates, so I used these laser shades instead.
If you ever use these to mow the lawn, everything will look purple, and the grass will look dead. Basically, your backyard will look like a wasteland. Fortunately, I didn’t have any angry rocks flying at my face, or at least I wasn’t aware of any. The laser goggles’ only battle damage was grass shavings all over the lenses.
The goggles, based on what I observed, protect from laser “attacks” from most angles, the only exposed area that I noticed was the nose bridge. I guess the nose mold was a bit too high for my nose, so that’s the only problem I see with it. I know even with goggles on, it’s not a good idea to get hit. Funny enough, my sister had the laser and after I made sure to tell her to NEVER point at any thing that has a pulse, when I put on the goggles to see how everything looks, she gave me a direct hit with the laser.:tsk:
It was for a fraction of a second, but regardless I don’t let anyone else use the laser now, and am glad I learned a valuable lesson, not to lend lasers to anyone whom I may consider to become a threat by giving them a laser. I will have to make sure 200% that I trust someone before I lend them a laser. :cryyy:
I’m sure the real question you guys are asking is how did it look like? Well, if you have ever seen any of those cheap, yellow key ring flashlights, and shined it at yourself, that’s kind of how it looked like. It wasn’t intense, just seemed like a weak flashlight, a phone flashlight could cause more damage, if any to eyes, I bet. I didn’t have any afterimages nor a reduced pupil diameter (from what I could see). I’m just glad they worked.
Here below I use attach a lanyard to the laser, which in my opinion, is a good add on,
Beamshots
Here are a few beamshots I got for you guys, I included a few reduced exposures because the laser sometimes overpowered the camera and made the laser look white,
Note, this shot is with the laser beam with goggles, but it looks a lot brighter than in real life, as well as the beamshot without the goggles,
Here I use a carpet to show the beam, is a cool effect,
Size Comparison
Below I compare the laser to some common objects,
Beamshots
These following pictures were the few out of the hundreds of tries that came out well enough, in my opinion, to be worthy enough to be posted here on LPF. I tried taking outdoor shots, but they were terrible. These I took indoors, with minimal aerial particles, so the exposure time were several seconds. They are brighter than what I see with my naked eye in the dark (You can see the beam in the dark when on axis), but they are mainly to show the beam, I hope you guys like them,
Note, the laser beam is perfectly circular, with two smaller dots on each side, I assume this means its TEM00, so don’t worry about the rectangular looking beam below, I was holding the laser in my hand, so understandably it may tend to shake a little,
I plan to update this review with more information and pictures, if you guys would like to request something please feel free to do so or send me a PM for any questions or comments. Also, I would loke to ask you guys what is the best way to measure the mrad on the laser,:yh:
Thanks for reading,
Regards,
Alain
-Laser supplied by CNI for review-
My name is Alain, and until now, my main interest has been flashlights. After looking around, I am sure many of you know about the high-end flashlight industry, I remember seeing many cool lasers with flashlight hosts. Also, I am grateful for the many knowledgeable and helpful members here for enabling me to learn a lot about lasers, even though up to now I never owned one. I learned a ton about laser safety, wavelengths, power levels, and hope to learn much more.
As a student, I am confident many of you can understand that I simply don’t have the money to spend, as such, I review flashlights for various flashlight companies (Olight, ArmyTek, Fenix), and now, thanks to CNI, I was able to get a hold of a laser for review as well:drool:.
Keep in mind that this is the first laser I have ever seen in real life, and, needless to say, have ever used. But before I say anything else, I should let you guys know that I cannot believe I never knew about lasers and this community. I am just as interested now in lasers as I am in flashlights. To me, the two hobbies and their beam elements complement each other.
I don’t want to bore you guys much longer, so on to the review,
Shipping
The CNI GLP-593.5 (GLP – Laser Pointer; 593.5 – 593.5 nm wavelength) and a pair of safety goggles (more on this further on) were shipped by FedEx on Friday September 6 over the weekend, and arrived on September 9 on Monday. I didn’t have any issues, I just signed the package as I would with a flashlight review sample. I say this because I’ve heard a few stories here and there regarding customs and fees. The lead time was around two weeks prior to September 6, however, but from I know CNI produces their own lasers when they’re ordered, so this was expected.
The box was a bit larger than what I figured, but that’s because they packed the items with lots of bubble wrap:
Here are the specs, unfortunately I know LPF usually likes technical information, but I don’t have a LPM to verify the claimed output.
Laser Safety pamphlet
I noticed that they round off the wavelength to simply 594 nm,
Presentation was alright, but I was glad to see the box also provided additional protection from the shipping process.
I know I have batteries in the following picture, but don’t worry, CNI didn’t ship any batteries with the laser,
First Impressions
When I first picked up the laser, the first thought was that it felt solid, and has some weight to it. I’d describe it as being several times heavier than a standard, cheap ball point pen. The black body felt very smooth and the gold accents were free of any blemishes. The only thing that was a bit off was the warning label on the head, which has the sides of it are slightly peeled off.
After I inserted the batteries, two AAAs, and pressed the power button, I didn’t see any light come out. Being careful with lasers, I took out the batteries and took a look at the head. I realized there was this blue sticker that prevented the laser light from passing, so I took that off, reinserted the batteries and voila! A brilliant yellow dot was finally jumping around my room. I couldn’t see the beam, however, and I figured that’s why they call them laser pointers.
I noticed after a 45 seconds to a minute though, the laser would start getting dimmer, and eventually become very dim, at which point I assume it needed a time out. But other than that, I had a lot of fun shining the beam around the house and seeing it bounce off glass and such, something I can never do with flashlights, unless its an aspheric and with the beam tightened all the way.
The clip is very strong, and I found it hard to attatch it to my shorts, but I made better use of it and attached a lanyard on the clip. I suggested to CNI that for future models, they should make a body with knurling, and an attachment point for lanyards.
The power button is a momentary on only, and that makes an audible “click” sound when activated. It requires an average amount of downward force to press it, sufficiently enough so that it won’t accidentally turn on in your pockets.
The tailcap seems to have a serial number or something marked on the inside walls. Whoever did this was hardcore, I would never be able to write in something so small.
CNI Yellow Laser Shades
As promised, I’ll cover the laser goggles they kindly sent. The goggles come in a, I suppose, a generic sunglasses case, but that opens and closes with a zipper instead.
This is irrelevant, so if you would like, skip what I’m about to say. I used these goggles to mow my lawn. The bag on the lawn mower couldn’t keep up with the large volume of tall, cut grass, and kept clogging the mower, eventually forcing the mower to shut down. So I had to take out everything, and was left with an exposed, say 45 degrees side of the lawn mower blades (I was very careful to stay clear of this part, one wrong move and a limb is gone):wtf:
This enabled the mower to cut and eject the grass shavings out onto the lawn without clogging up. Unfortunately, the line of fire for the grass clippings flying out of the lawn mower was right at my face and right side of my body.:scowl: I knew, that if grass clippings were pelting me, then any rocks or pebbles that the lawn mower will pick up will become instant projectiles that could have the potential to hit and damage my eyes. I didn’t have any safety ballistic goggles on hand that my father usually donates, so I used these laser shades instead.
If you ever use these to mow the lawn, everything will look purple, and the grass will look dead. Basically, your backyard will look like a wasteland. Fortunately, I didn’t have any angry rocks flying at my face, or at least I wasn’t aware of any. The laser goggles’ only battle damage was grass shavings all over the lenses.
The goggles, based on what I observed, protect from laser “attacks” from most angles, the only exposed area that I noticed was the nose bridge. I guess the nose mold was a bit too high for my nose, so that’s the only problem I see with it. I know even with goggles on, it’s not a good idea to get hit. Funny enough, my sister had the laser and after I made sure to tell her to NEVER point at any thing that has a pulse, when I put on the goggles to see how everything looks, she gave me a direct hit with the laser.:tsk:
It was for a fraction of a second, but regardless I don’t let anyone else use the laser now, and am glad I learned a valuable lesson, not to lend lasers to anyone whom I may consider to become a threat by giving them a laser. I will have to make sure 200% that I trust someone before I lend them a laser. :cryyy:
I’m sure the real question you guys are asking is how did it look like? Well, if you have ever seen any of those cheap, yellow key ring flashlights, and shined it at yourself, that’s kind of how it looked like. It wasn’t intense, just seemed like a weak flashlight, a phone flashlight could cause more damage, if any to eyes, I bet. I didn’t have any afterimages nor a reduced pupil diameter (from what I could see). I’m just glad they worked.
Here below I use attach a lanyard to the laser, which in my opinion, is a good add on,
Beamshots
Here are a few beamshots I got for you guys, I included a few reduced exposures because the laser sometimes overpowered the camera and made the laser look white,
Note, this shot is with the laser beam with goggles, but it looks a lot brighter than in real life, as well as the beamshot without the goggles,
Here I use a carpet to show the beam, is a cool effect,
Size Comparison
Below I compare the laser to some common objects,
Beamshots
These following pictures were the few out of the hundreds of tries that came out well enough, in my opinion, to be worthy enough to be posted here on LPF. I tried taking outdoor shots, but they were terrible. These I took indoors, with minimal aerial particles, so the exposure time were several seconds. They are brighter than what I see with my naked eye in the dark (You can see the beam in the dark when on axis), but they are mainly to show the beam, I hope you guys like them,
Note, the laser beam is perfectly circular, with two smaller dots on each side, I assume this means its TEM00, so don’t worry about the rectangular looking beam below, I was holding the laser in my hand, so understandably it may tend to shake a little,
I plan to update this review with more information and pictures, if you guys would like to request something please feel free to do so or send me a PM for any questions or comments. Also, I would loke to ask you guys what is the best way to measure the mrad on the laser,:yh:
Thanks for reading,
Regards,
Alain
-Laser supplied by CNI for review-
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