- Joined
- Mar 27, 2008
- Messages
- 478
- Points
- 28
I've had me LaserBee I for a solid 7 months now, and overall, I'm impressed.
First of all, its deadly accurate. I took it along with a few lasers of mine to school and tested it against a Coherent LPM worth at least a grand. All the LaserBee readings were within 2mW from the Coherent meter for lasers under 200mW, and within 3mW on lasers in the 5-700mW range. Great accuracy for such an inexpensive unit.
The data logging software is also pretty nifty. I don't use it all that much because the nature of the thermopile sensor prevents it from accurately seeing quick variations. Like when I shine a 70mW laser at the sensor, the displayed power level rises from zero to 70mW over about 3 or 4 seconds. The backlight is extremely useful for this device. At first I didn't really see the need, and so I left it off, but when you are working in poorly lit environments (for taking beamshots for example) or when you are wearing dark safety goggles, the backlight makes a fantastic addition to the device.
The LBI is also great for modding into an enclosure. The display is detachable so you can run wires to it, and both the main board and the display board have spots for each pin that you can solder to. I mounted my LBI into a plastic project box and it looks pretty nifty considering I've never actually built anything into an enclosure before.
By event_horizon
The Printed circuit boards are of high quality and components are all professionally attached. I don't know if LaserBee is assembling these at his house or what, but he's doing a darn good job of putting them together. Also since the sensor is a thermopile, it's wavelength independant. To the sensor, 40mW of violet looks exactly the same as 40mW of infrared.
The only downside to the LaserBee is that it can't see laser powers less than 5mW. So you can't test a 3mW laser to see if it's really 3mW. I did find a workaround though. If you take a different laser which has a nice and stable power output, you can "add" the powers by shining both of them at the sensor at once. I use my argon laser, set to 30mW, aimed at the sensor. Then I can take a 2mW HeNe and shine it at the sensor as well and the power jumps up to 32mW. Handy!
Overall, a great thing. If you need a laser power meter but can't afford one of the name-brand meters, then I would definitely recommend the LaserBee I.
First of all, its deadly accurate. I took it along with a few lasers of mine to school and tested it against a Coherent LPM worth at least a grand. All the LaserBee readings were within 2mW from the Coherent meter for lasers under 200mW, and within 3mW on lasers in the 5-700mW range. Great accuracy for such an inexpensive unit.
The data logging software is also pretty nifty. I don't use it all that much because the nature of the thermopile sensor prevents it from accurately seeing quick variations. Like when I shine a 70mW laser at the sensor, the displayed power level rises from zero to 70mW over about 3 or 4 seconds. The backlight is extremely useful for this device. At first I didn't really see the need, and so I left it off, but when you are working in poorly lit environments (for taking beamshots for example) or when you are wearing dark safety goggles, the backlight makes a fantastic addition to the device.
The LBI is also great for modding into an enclosure. The display is detachable so you can run wires to it, and both the main board and the display board have spots for each pin that you can solder to. I mounted my LBI into a plastic project box and it looks pretty nifty considering I've never actually built anything into an enclosure before.
By event_horizon
The Printed circuit boards are of high quality and components are all professionally attached. I don't know if LaserBee is assembling these at his house or what, but he's doing a darn good job of putting them together. Also since the sensor is a thermopile, it's wavelength independant. To the sensor, 40mW of violet looks exactly the same as 40mW of infrared.
The only downside to the LaserBee is that it can't see laser powers less than 5mW. So you can't test a 3mW laser to see if it's really 3mW. I did find a workaround though. If you take a different laser which has a nice and stable power output, you can "add" the powers by shining both of them at the sensor at once. I use my argon laser, set to 30mW, aimed at the sensor. Then I can take a 2mW HeNe and shine it at the sensor as well and the power jumps up to 32mW. Handy!
Overall, a great thing. If you need a laser power meter but can't afford one of the name-brand meters, then I would definitely recommend the LaserBee I.
