Laserbtb 5mW 515nm pointer

Another brief one since it's a simple device. It is also glued together so disassembly isn't going to happen. I want it to work afterwards. Product link

Package arrived in three weeks. Note: the list price does not include shipping. I want to say it was something like $15 but I don't remember for sure. It wasn't cheap. The price went down since I bought mine, and they've also added a 15mW pointer for a couple dollars more I see... oh well.

They put my username on it? It's also got stickers for FDA, CE, and RoHS compliance, model number, and warnings. There is a checkbox for various wavelengths, but none of them are checked because 515nm is not an option. There is a red LED ON-indicator next to the button.





Measurements:

Temperature rise: negligible. It can be left on until the batteries die.
Focus: fixed. The lens is set in a threaded insert, but the insert is glued in place.
Beam diameter: ~2mm x 4.5mm
Beam divergence: 1.8mRad (measured at 12m). This is because they have it focused at ~2m which is arguably a good thing for close-range pointing. It might be different from unit to unit. Spot size is about 1mm at this focal point.
Power: 6mW

Beam profile:





Driver is a boost driver. It will stay in regulation down to 2.2V which means NiMH rechargeables will work best. I also ramped the supply up to 4.2V and saw no problems.





Some pictures are worth a thousand words. This is only worth one: 511nm. Some people like seeing these anyway, so here ya go.





And while I have the spectrometer booted, here's the on-indicator. Why not.





It's got a key interlock on the tail-cap. All three dots are selectable but there is absolutely no difference between green and yellow. Even the resistance is identical, so... not sure what that's about.





Again I have to stress, 511nm looks green to me. The camera does not pick it up properly - it just looks less limey than DPSS. Here is a comparison to the wickedlasers core (4mW) and AliExpress pointer which is the same 511nm but at 23mW.




equipment used:
Science-Surplus spectrometer
Tenma 72-6908 bench power supply
Fluke 8810A digital multimeter
Gentech TPM-310 laser power meter

Can you tell its not 532nm without a DPSS green next to it? Nice review btw

I'm almost buying one for the low wavelength. It should be at least somewhat different from the 520nm ones.

@Serpant: I have a 520nm and I can tell very easily. The color looks very different. After you see one 532nm looks very yellowish.

@ serpant as can I

how is the on/off switch quality? solid or cheap made like in all other pens?

I'd say it's typical, although that's subjective.

How well can you see the beam at night outside, or in a dark room no fog?

I see that this laser was 6mw and it was listed as 5mw. Are laserbtb lasers usually overspec?

JayC said:

I see that this laser was 6mw and it was listed as 5mw. Are laserbtb lasers usually overspec?

Click to expand...

Yes, generally most laser which come from laserbtb are over-spec.

-Alex

I hate to necro an old thread, but is there any chance that it could be verified that this laser is the same thing as the ones currently available? This particular laser is EXACTLY what I'm looking for in a 515nm laser, in both wavelength and power. However, the ones on the website are listed as 520nm and switchable from a higher output to a lower one, but look exactly the same (but we all know that the guts could be quite different). Any help in this would be wonderfully useful!

Chicxulub said:

I hate to necro an old thread, but is there any chance that it could be verified that this laser is the same thing as the ones currently available? This particular laser is EXACTLY what I'm looking for in a 515nm laser, in both wavelength and power. However, the ones on the website are listed as 520nm and switchable from a higher output to a lower one, but look exactly the same (but we all know that the guts could be quite different). Any help in this would be wonderfully useful!

Click to expand...

laserbtb used to sell 515nm pointers but stopped awhile back, not sure why. Maybe the lack of sales?

As for the 520nm ones they are currently selling, I doubt you would get one which would read as low as 515nm, although diodes can change wavelengths depending on temperature/power they are driven at it would fall on luck.

If you're interested, laserbtb has a 30mW 515nm handheld for $80(excluding shipping): HL 520nm 30mW-500mW

-Alex

Thanks for looking out! And thank you very much for the clarification. A LOT has changed in this hobby since I got out of it in 2010, and I appear to have missed quite a few steps in the process of these new direct greens.

I really appreciate the link to that 515nm sample, but unfortunately it's way higher power than anything that I'd want.

Chicxulub said:

Thanks for looking out! And thank you very much for the clarification. A LOT has changed in this hobby since I got out of it in 2010, and I appear to have missed quite a few steps in the process of these new direct greens.

I really appreciate the link to that 515nm sample, but unfortunately it's way higher power than anything that I'd want.

Click to expand...

Haha, lasers change quickly indeed! Not a problem, maybe someone else will have a solution for you

-Alex