I got my Kenometer about a week ago, and it is now time for a review. I wanted to post this earlier, but school was crazy this week.

I received my meter last Friday October 23rd. I was anxiously awaiting it's arrival, and every time my dogs barked at the window, I ran out to see if the mailman was here. After about 6 false alarms, the package came!

So here it is!





Has a nice Green LED display.




(from left to right)
Zeroing pot, display selector switch, power switch, connections for data logging)

Ken did some modifications on mine. I already had a DMM with a PC interface, so Ken was nice enough to give me connections on the back so that I could use my DMM and my PC to record graphs. The connections allow for standard banana leads to plug right in, or there is some smaller holes so that the probes can be inserted as well. Also, with the normal LED display, I get 1mW resolution and 1W max. When I use my DMM, I get 0.1mW resolution, and it can handle up to 10W.

Here's my pro's and cons for this meter:

Pro's:

• Great price
• Uses a Coherent Thermopile detector head
• Detector head is a good size, about 1.5" in diamater
• Uses a Coherent power meter board
• Can meter up to 10W
• Has connections for data logging
• Very good accuracy for the price

Con's:

• Took a little while to get here. Ken's a busy guy, and I was fully aware of the wait before I purchased.
• Enclosure is rather simple. I may do some sprucing up a bit. IE, it wasn't offered in pink

Since I got it, I've graphing lasers pretty much non-stop. I actually forgot about a few eBay auctions that were ending that same day, I was too busy with my new meter.

Like I said, Ken is a very busy guy, and I knew I was last on the list for these meters (bought the last one available ). In the meantime, I thought I'd try making my own meter. Mine wasn't very accurate, but it served me well in waiting for the Kenometer. EDIT: No I will not be marketing these, please no more PM's about it



WHAT DO YOU MEAN 0.00mW?????

Maybe it just didn't like 532nm, let's try 650nm:


Needless to say, I'm not very good at building meters, but Ken is!

Here are some lasers that got tested when the Kenometer arrived:
(from bottom to top: Optotronics RPL Blue 473nm, RPL style green 532nm, 1mW HeNe 632.8nm, Mystery PHR in Ehgemus host, LOC at 300mA in Husky host, Silver PHR leadlight at 80mA, True 5mW module in Rayfoss waterproof host, 2 DX true 5mW's, 1mW cheapy red, 50mW Focalprice)


I call that the "Mystery PHR in Ehgemus host", because I got the PHR when I bought that RPL style green laser. The PHR came already soldered to a rkcstr driver, so I just threw it in the host and turned it on. This thing does about 165mW with an aixiz 405 glass lens. This thing is obviously being over driven, and I don't expect it to last long.

Here's a graph of the "Mystery PHR" with fully charged batteries:

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Here's a pic of that laser, the batteries were getting low unfortunately:



^ I knew I'd find a use for that math textbook

I'll be starting a new thread in the experiments section, where I will post tons of graphs including goggles testing and lens testing.

Here's a video of the Blue RPL being tested. This laser seems to need to be in a colder climate to work well. As you can see from the video, there is significant splash around the dot. I flipped the switch on the side of the kenometer, so that I could use my DMM for data logging. Here's the graph that corresponds with this video:

CLICK TO ENLARGE



Here's a video of the green RPL style laser being metered. This was done last friday, when it was about 85 degrees in my room (Arizona heat along with two computers running in the room). It's performance isn't great at that temperature as you can see.



We've had some recent cold weather here, the video below was shot when it was about 65 degrees in my room (early in the morning). As you can see, it is putting out significantly higher output. Both tests were done with a full charged battery, the only difference was the temperature of the room. It's kinda hard to tell from the video, but the entire dot IS hitting the detector head.

The placeholder was hilarious, bryce007!

Congrats on the meter. You have plenty of stuff to test!

Reserved for funny pics spam.


Also, adding to RT!

Hey bryce007...

nice clean Review of your Kenometer...

Jerry

Videos added. Still more to come (after The Office of course)

Glad to see that everything is working well. Have fun.
Ken

Thanks Ken! My grades have dropped significantly since getting this meter, maybe I should add that to the con's.

Nah

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

I have always wanted a kenometer, and was thinking of selling my laserbee to get one, and you tell me this now?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!

Nice meter, Jerk (jk)

Good review too

lol I love you too. I was talking to Ken today, he said that he's out of the coherent thermopile detector heads. I'm pretty sure if you find a working head on eBay or something, he could probably build you a meter, but you'd have to ask him about that. Jump on laserchat, he's usually there.

I loooove my Kenometer. Easy to use, bright green display and complete single-box design.

I use it often. I actually like the simple, no-frills design.

Yea I kinda do also, but I had to put something in the con's section

hahahah I'm sure he had to think really long and hard to come up with some con's. I've tried doing the label thing with vinyl from jayrob and it just didn't work out very well. I've also labeled some with hand writing and a silver sharpie.

Rob, I can make you a meter if you can find a thermopile head. It's just a matter of adjusting the thing to work with the different head.

Kinda like my review of the Jayrob 18650 kit here:

Jayrob 18650 Kit Review

I pretty much was agreeing with you though. Kenom makes a great piece of equipment.

rofl, thx for the fun review
Well actually, Ken did offer to paint mine... pink wouldn't have been my first choice, though...

He offered on mine also, I'm just being a smart a$$

There's actually a very good reason that these are left black. Not to disagree with everyone's fun filled play. I chuckled. boy the image of a pink Kenometer! Wooooo.

but seriously, they are black so they don't reflect the really bright light back from the meter if you miss with the laser.

Gah, hot pink would have been worse especially with bluray! BAM! HERE'S BRIGHT IN YOUR EYE! hehehehehehehe