Laserlands 5mW 520nm

Laserlands 5mW 520nm



Hello everyone, it's been a long time.

For the record, all I had was my phone camera to review this at this time but I don't want to keep anyone waiting... quality is not up to par with my older reviews

A short while ago, laserlands received a complaint from one of their customers showing a 520nm laser that appeared to be way under spec, which led to them asking the forum members to receive and test the product to make sure it was performing properly -- free of charge.

I opened mine one week ago -- and this review will be my thoughts on the laser.

The host isn't anything too flashy, though it does feel a little heavier than I expected it to be. Overall, I'd say it feels pretty sturdy.



The front end is also focus adjustable, and it does turn into place fairly well.



And the back features a glow-in-the-dark button.



The beam itself is less visible on the camera than it is in reality, I may take some more pictures tonight.





Did I mention the spot size is pretty nice even at 6ft (2m)?



For the most part, it works really well... except for one thing, though I'm certain it's the cheap batteries I have for it. If it gets bumped or shaken in such a way that the batteries have a bad angle, the power will either be extremely dim, or it just flickers between dim and bright rapidly.

This is about as dim as I can get it in a nearly black room:



And here's a video showing what I mean by the flickering:


To top the review off, I also have some thermal images of the laser in action.

I don't have a completely cold start with the thing after handling it for a while (didn't plan that out, your hands throw quite a bit of heat into the equation.)

Starting up right after handling it:



15 minutes (you can even see it cooled down now that I wasn't touching it, minus the operating end):



1 hour:



Basically, the head remained around 84 F, while the rest of the host went down to about 82ish. So this thing does not really care how long you leave it on.
_______

Overall though, I'm pretty satisfied with this laser. It's been a long time since I've been in the hobby ($$$$$$), and it's nice to get something that isn't insanely bright while still being portable.

Thanks for the review, looks reasonably decent! Might be worth ordering another set of batteries to see if that fixes the flickering?

Still waiting on the one they sent me...

^ Yeah, I'm thinking I should order a set of panasonics since (in my experience) they hold up pretty well. Plus, I'll probably eventually get some more once I'm out of college and my loans are cleared out.

ZRaffleticket said:

^ Yeah, I'm thinking I should order a set of panasonics since (in my experience) they hold up pretty well. Plus, I'll probably eventually get some more once I'm out of college and my loans are cleared out.

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Worth a shot, and doesn't hurt to have them around!

Wish I had seen this before it was filled, but by the time I did, Laserlands had six people and That was one more than they had asked for. If you snooze you lose. Looks like it is not bad for the money they are asking for it. Nice review.

Relevant necro post. Laser is as dead as it gets.

At first, the tailcap started having issues. It would only work if it were screwed in so far, but not too far... then it got even pickier and would dim when it was slightly off... then suddenly it wouldn't turn on at all and I figured "oh great the tailcap is toast"

Turns out, even using a wire to complete the circuit does nothing. Fresh batteries don't mean anything either...

So yeah. There it is; lasted a solid 7 months. RIP 520nm

im sad these 520s are like this. i got one and it died on arrival so laserlands did a random giveaway but oh well there went $20. but i guess alot of people got free lasers because of me so thats nice i guess.
check it out i was subtly mentioned in the OP too so thats neat

ZRaffleticket said:

Relevant necro post. Laser is as dead as it gets.

At first, the tailcap started having issues. It would only work if it were screwed in so far, but not too far... then it got even pickier and would dim when it was slightly off... then suddenly it wouldn't turn on at all and I figured "oh great the tailcap is toast"

Turns out, even using a wire to complete the circuit does nothing. Fresh batteries don't mean anything either...

So yeah. There it is; lasted a solid 7 months. RIP 520nm

Click to expand...

That sucks! Are you still interested in the 515/520 range Z? I'm selling a 515 pointer on the same thread as the Rigel. I can give you a couple bucks off if you want. Works pretty well. Got a peak of 12mW's off of it

Let me know! op:

-Alex

ZRaffleticket said:

Relevant necro post. Laser is as dead as it gets.

At first, the tailcap started having issues. It would only work if it were screwed in so far, but not too far... then it got even pickier and would dim when it was slightly off... then suddenly it wouldn't turn on at all and I figured "oh great the tailcap is toast"

Turns out, even using a wire to complete the circuit does nothing. Fresh batteries don't mean anything either...

So yeah. There it is; lasted a solid 7 months. RIP 520nm

Click to expand...

Didn't you pot mod that one? I have one that is still set at whatever current they set them for. It measures almost exactly 510nm. I paid $17.00 for it, so I am happy.

Aye I did pot mod it. Take it for what it's worth... I'm not terribly upset since I paid nothing for it, though since they gave these out because one went bad it should be worth noting one they gave out also went bad.

And hap, sorry to say that I'm more so in the market for a constant on than the pen (already have a 532 in a pen). Too difficult to take good pictutes with

Thanks for the offer though!

ZRaffleticket said:

And hap, sorry to say that I'm more so in the market for a constant on than the pen (already have a 532 in a pen). Too difficult to take good pictutes with

Thanks for the offer though!

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Not a problem at all Z. I understand. Best of luck on your search :yh:

-Alex

That's a shame, wonder how long they'll last without the pot mod? How many hours do you think it lasted with the pot mod?

Can't comment on the longevity of mine, I don't really use my lasers a whole lot seeing as I can't really use them outside. Here's why:




My apartment building is at the blue dot on the bottom right. My balcony faces the direction of the arrow. The other apartment building is directly in front of me. If I point left I cross the flight path for runway 16/34, if I point right I cross the flight path for runway 10/28. Only 2km from the end of 16/34 and 2.5km from the end of 10/28. Bummer.

Considering where you live, diachi, I'd have never guessed you were so close to an airport. I wouldn't have guessed there was an airport there. But, I guess if you want to go there, flying would be the best option.

paul1598419 said:

Considering where you live, diachi, I'd have never guessed you were so close to an airport. I wouldn't have guessed there was an airport there. But, I guess if you want to go there, flying would be the best option.

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Most of those far Northern towns have limited access to them. If located by the coast, the only ways in really are by air or during the summer, while the ice is free, by boat. If you're more inside the continent, flying is pretty much the only way in or out.

Of course, with being so far from everyone & everything, food prices are insane. Think like $10 for a gallon of Milk. Right diachi?

-Alex

I gave my pot a 1/4 turn and so far so good, it does look more like 515nm than 520, that said my 50mw 520 from DTR is brighter and I will probably put an Osram from DTR in mine if it ever gives out because I like the threads that fit the 3X BE

paul1598419 said:

Considering where you live, diachi, I'd have never guessed you were so close to an airport. I wouldn't have guessed there was an airport there. But, I guess if you want to go there, flying would be the best option.

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Yup, you can drive it, but of course flying is considerably quicker. The nearest "big" southern city is Grand Prairie and that's nearly 1200km by road. Edmonton is 1450km by road. 15 hours driving or ~2 hours flying.

Hap said:

Most of those far Northern towns have limited access to them. If located by the coast, the only ways in really are by air or during the summer, while the ice is free, by boat. If you're more inside the continent, flying is pretty much the only way in or out.

Of course, with being so far from everyone & everything, food prices are insane. Think like $10 for a gallon of Milk. Right diachi?

-Alex

Click to expand...

Yup, many of the towns are fly in only in the summer, or by ice road in the winter. Some have a ferry for the summer. Some don't even have ice roads going in (or any other roads for that matter), Cambridge Bay doesn't IIRC, that's all by boat or air. Bunch of environmental researchers going up there soon actually. We had some from NASA here in town too this year, probably still here.

Yellowknife is expensive but not nearly as bad as the small communities, especially the extremely northern ones. I paid $25 for a frozen pizza in Cambridge Bay. A one way ticket to Cambridge Bay was something like $1500 when I went a couple years ago.

Anyway, I'm going to move this discussion to another thread, seeing as it's completely irrelevant to this one.

RedCowboy said:

I gave my pot a 1/4 turn and so far so good, it does look more like 515nm than 520, that said my 50mw 520 from DTR is brighter and I will probably put an Osram from DTR in mine if it ever gives out because I like the threads that fit the 3X BE

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Mine measured ~513nm on the spectrometer, so I imagine yours would be similar. Oddly enough my PL515 build does somewhere around 525nm.