Dragon Lasers 400mW Spartan, now with pictures

Got my 400mW Spartan today from the post office, and picked up some Energizer CR123A batteries as my LiFePo4's from Lighthound haven't come yet.


Unpacking: Laser seems to be fairly well protected, as do the laser goggles I got with it. Neither was damaged in shipping.




Goggles: Take down the beam quite a bit, although I don't have enough experience with goggles to say whether they're safe or not. I find that if I'm looking off to the side somewhat, they can let light in, including laser light, which I can directly see. I have some other goggles coming from LaserGlow though that should protect better around the edges.



The goggles are rated for OD4+ @ 190-533nm, OD3+ @ 534-540nm, and OD2+ @ 541-548nm. The view in a room lit by incandescents is below.



Laser: Has a nice heft to it. Looks like a slightly oversized Maglite. Clicky switch on the back, no other safety features, no aperture.



Came with some sort of blue felt adhesive cover on, presumably to keep stuff out of the lenses. Easy enough to remove.



Size comparison with 2AA Maglite. Maglite measures in at 6 1/2" long, Spartan at 7 5/8" long.



Batteries used:



Beam: Quite bright, and a nice deep blue. My eyes can't quite focus on it. The beam isn't visible in sunlight, but it is visible in my basement with the lights off. No smoke was used in any of these shots.

Beam hitting a dark brown wooden cabinet, from around 5' away.


Looking towards the cabinet again, but across the beam this time.


Laser as viewed from beside the cabinet, around 5' away.


Beam as viewed from the laser through the goggles, around 5' away.


Beam as viewed from around 4" away through the goggles.



The beam isn't quite powerful enough to set a match head on fire by itself, although it will get it smoking. With a magnifying glass, I can set the match head alight almost immediately, and with a bit of patience and 10 minutes, I can also cut that match in two. I haven't tried anything else in terms of burning/power tests.


I won't get any runtime readings from the laser until my rechargeables get here, because I wan't to only have to buy one pair of Lithium disposables if I can manage it.


I also managed to get the end cap off. Got it off with a pair of vise grips through a rubber glove. I did manage to nick the cap a bit, but not too much, so it's still in nice condition.

View down the barrel.


Beam on a wall from 5' away, with end cap.


Beam on a wall from 5' away, without end cap.



So I'm not sure if the Spartan uses corrective optics or not. Hopefully someone here can answer this, or ask for more photos.

EDIT August 22, 2010: I can confirm that the Spartan does *NOT* use corrective optics. I managed to get the driver out, although I killed the laser in the process. Shouldn't be permanent, but we'll have to do some soldering...

So, the order of what you take out:
1) The end cap
2) The brass ring at the top has to screw out. I used a tip from the Fenix TK-11 maintenance manual for this, and used a pair of needle-nosed pliers in the holes opposite each other. Scratched up the ring a bit, but I'm not worried about that as it's within the laser itself.
3) The heatsink for the diode and the driver itself is a press fit, I believe. DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I DID AND ATTEMPT TO UNSCREW IT! I tried to use the two small holes within the heatsink itself to do this, which turns out is the mount for the collimating lens. I knocked it off in the process, and don't know how to remount it again. Maybe someone can suggest something?

After you have the heatsink and driver out, you can unscrew the diode heatsink, but do this very carefully. I was a little too hasty in this, and managed to break the wire for the positive connection, although the negative connection stayed intact. I've replaced the positive connection on the driver, but haven't been able to resolder the wire to the diode. I'm hopefully meeting up with billg519 next week to get this fixed, and to get a proper measurement of the output.

WARNING: First two images are 1024x768, last 6 are larger for detail.
Brass ring to remove
Top of the diode heatsink (scratches are caused by me attempting to unscrew it, they weren't there when I first got the brass ring off)
Diode heatsink
Heatsink/Driver view 1
Heatsink/Driver view 2
Driver side view
Positive wire broken off diode


I don't have an LPM (waiting on this one, Kenom... :na, or even another laser to check power against, so I'm in the dark on this one. I'll be checking divergence later tonight, as well as the dot shape from 50-60' away (request by Prototype).
ADDENDUM August 22, 2010: Should be getting a proper measurement on this next week hopefully. Divergence has been measured at 0.48mRad on the slow axis, and 1.45mRad on the fast axis from 6.2m (244") away.

And lastly, a big thanks to twhite828 for hosting these images for me, as I am ATM ill-equipped to do so. :thanks:

Re: Dragon Lasers 400mW Spartan

Can you post size comparision with other lasers?.

Re: Dragon Lasers 400mW Spartan

Uploaded as IMG_5746. Comparison between a Maglite with 2x AA batteries and the Spartan. The Spartan goes out to about 7 5/8", while the Maglite measures in at 6.5".

Re: Dragon Lasers 400mW Spartan

Could you look at the dot about 10meters away and maybe
also a pic thru goggles for the dot profile.
There's one review of the 1W Spartan and I'm very interested if the 400mW does have a better beam profile,
As DL says on their website the 400mW has a circular dot and the 1W rectangular.

Re: Dragon Lasers 400mW Spartan

Sweet! I ordered mine last night!

Re: Dragon Lasers 400mW Spartan

Images added!

The beam looks good. It would be good to see the dot as far from the laser as possible. 5' is not too much.

I tried to take a picture of it last night, but it didn't really turn out. But I was in my backyard pointing at a fence 36' away, and was able to see the dot clearly.

It's a line of 5 closely spaced dots., ringed by about 5 closely spaced concentric rings. It's not quite perfect circle, more like 5 overlapping circles in one. I'll try and draw up what I saw in an image program.

Here's what the laser profile sort of looks like. I don't remember it perfectly, as I've now been asleep for 8 hours since then, but that's what I remember seeing.

Very interesting .. How big was it that distance ?

You know, I was measuring for divergence at the time, but I never got an actual reading. It was about 8mm on the short axis if I remember correctly. At the aperture, it was 5.5mm. I'll verify once I get home (I'm currently at work).

it is possible to put 1x18650 battery?

No, it isn't. The driver doesn't get enough voltage and the laser won't run.

You have to use 2 CR123As.

It's not physically possible either. The AW protected 18650's I have are just too big around to fit.

ok thanks

i picked my spartan up today i looked around for these cr123a batteries and the only ones i could find were the sanyo advanced lithium2 . are these the correct batteries??



Type: High Power Cylindrical Type Primary Lithium Battery
Nominal voltage 3
Nominal1 capacity (mAh) 1400
Standard Discharge Current 10
Maximum Discharge Current (mA) Continuous2 1500
Maximum Discharge Current (mA) Pulse3 3500
Operational Temperature -40°C to +60°C
Maximum dimensions (mm) Diameter 17, Height 34.5
Weight (g) 17

Note: CR123ASBP incorporates a PTC device to prevent overheating and excess discharging current.

1. Nominal capacity is determined to an end voltage of 2.0V (4.0V for 6V models) when the battery is allowed to discharge at a standard current level at 23°C.
2. Current value is determined to be the level at which 50% of the nominal capacity obtained with an end voltage of 2.0V (4.0V for 6V models) at 23°C.
3. Current value for obtaining 2.0V cell voltage when pulse is applied for 15 seconds at 50% discharge depth (50% of the nominal capacity) at 23°C. For CR123ASBP, CR2BP and CR3VBP however, the current values for obtaining 1.0V are listed.

thanks