Comments on CNI/DL Labbies?

While portable lasers are cool, I feel I have enough to stop spending big money on them. I have a 200mW green, 40mW blue and am soon working on a red and violet build. Besides a yellow laser, I don't see any reason why I should buy any more pointers. Sure they're good for portability, but try leaving them on for more than a minute and there use is far from over (temporarally). It makes sense at this point to start focusing on the real deal and get my self respective labbies.

But where to shop is the big question. You've got places like DX, where the prices are low but the quality is (figuratively speaking) bad and the shipping is even worse. Then you've got places like OEM where the prices are high but the quality raises the roof. I don't want a crappy system, but I don't want to spend a lot of money either. The place in my mind that meets right in the middle is Dragon Lasers (CNI/?), which is why I was wondering if people could comment on the products.

The three colours that everyone should have are blue, green and red. I thought it would be sensible to start with blue and get the big spender out of the way first, while I still have plenty of time to mess around with my current lasers and optics. But blue is one of those colours where the money is so high, it's a complete waste to get something that could be so much better for a little more money. In the end (a long way off) I want to be able to construct a true RGB set up, so getting something that's up to specification is a must.

I remember andy_con saying that Analogue Modulation is a must? Is that the only principle rule you should follow? Because DL sell pretty powerful modules at a very low price and analogue modulation is an option. $1300 is a GOOD price for 100mW 473nm and I've delt with DL twice now so I know it's quality service. But are there better options out there? Or could I really settle with one of those?

Any input is appreciated...

Analog modulation is a must that much is true for what you want to do. However, just having analog modulation is not enough. You have to have the responsiveness to be able to with it what you want. A very high end professional setup could have modulation on its laser systems upwards of 100kHz. Whereas 30-60kHz might suffice for medium to large indoor venues. What I'm saying is do your homework and figure out just what you need for the responsiveness of the modulation. Prices climb with higher modulation frequencies.

This is to be an affordable, yet effective unit. I don't want to pay figures of 3$$$ for a blue, my basolute limit would be $2000. But surely that should be enough to get the job done?

I was about to recommend an argon-ion laser until I got to the part where you mention an RGB. Still, it would probably be cheaper to get an argon laser and a standalone TTL blanker unit than to buy a solid state blue with modulation built in. Then again, argons are huge and unwieldy space heaters, and I've never built a scanner or even looked into it much yet. But the cost per mW is alot less if you wait for a good deal on eBay.

So nobody got any comments on the lasers them selves? Or comments on any other distributors/prices? I don't think Argon would be a possability in this situation as I still want the individual units them selves. I don't think I'm quite ready for an argon just yet lol.

Yeah, I'm afraid I don't have any information on other lab style modules at all. All I have are a couple red 70mW modules from DX, which work great but produce a wide beam, and the argon. I don't think it's ever too soon to get an argon laser though!

Having a beam from green to light blue is pretty cool, but my main interest is one day having a full colour system.  I've always loved laser systems, at night clubs, shows, concerts or whatever, but never got to the point where I wanted to get one.  Now I've at least stepped my foot into the laser world, I know where I'm heading and that's a full colour set up.  It's of course a long way off, but the mean time is perfect for starting on work with motors, mirrors, splitter cubes and any other cool thing that's part of the process of cunstructing a scanner. But with blue being by far the most expesive colour out of the three, I need to know straight off the bat what I should and shouldn't be thinking about buying.

Actually the DX 35mW labby is pretty good for the green, you could safely push it to 75mW, or you could get one of those aixis greens that daguin reviewed, they are probably even better.

As for the labbys from DL i have no idea.

Diachi

My 500mW green labby from CNI gets here Tuesday and I will be doing a full review of it. According to the test results from them it averages 682mW. I'm sure the blues have similar quailty so my green will be at least a partial view on what you may get from them. As far as service goes, the sales lady Ava has been nothing but helpful throught the process.