D
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Hello everyone again.
Today I'm writing to do another review. Taking profit of the laserlands.com promotion, for which I could get this unit at half price if I did this review, so here it goes. As always, although I've got a discount from them, this hasn't affected in any way my opinion and article, I ensure you this review would be exactly the same if I had paid all of the price. For this reason, I call this a 100% unbiased review. Feel free to comment or to ask
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First we are going to look at how is this laser advertised on their website.
30mw 3in1 Portable Disco Laser Projector/ Drawer/Pointer
And the photos they provide:
So, all in all, what would a customer expect from this laser? In my opinion, someone buying this laser already has a pointer and looks for something different to have fun. It's important to consider that this laser ISN'T intended to be a high quality laser pointer, but a funny "laser gadget". Keeping that in mind, I'll go on with the review itself.
The laser arrived in more or less 2 weeks, as all the Hong Kong packages I receive. Classic "Chinese envelope", with bubble wrap. Inside, two smaller envelopes, one containing the Disco laser and another containing the caps. A normal box which will serve me perfectly to storage it.
The laser was way smaller than I expected, it feels solid and comfortable in your hand and although it's pure plastic, it has that "soft touch" sensation that we all like. The button is big and easy to press and so is the switch.
At first I was a bit surprised at how this this laser work. I thought the "disco mode" was a spirograph because of the photos, my 3 motor spirograph produces similar paterns. I was worried about how could 3 motors go inside there and be powered from 2 AAA batteries, and what I surprise I got. "It's just a mirror attached to a spring!". I have to admit that at this point I was a bit disappointed, but without thinking more about it, I plugged the batteries and turned it on. The results were way better than I would have ever expected from such a simple structure.
It produces really impressive patterns, and the best part, you just need to shake the laser to change them. I can't understand how, but it truly produces 3D patterns!
The normal mode turns all the laser in a simple 30mW pointer. Someone interested in this laser shouldn't be worried at all about the laser specs themselves, but anyway, here are the results of some simple tests:
Divergence: 1.4 mRad
Beam profile: Clear TEM 00 for at least 3 minutes (didn't test longer)
IR filter: No, the 26% of the power is IR.
Power: Peaks above 60mW, then goes down slowly to 35mW for about 30 seconds, to stay on 35mW after one minute (26% of all measurements is IR.
Unboxing and demonstration (go to youtube to see it in HQ):
The caps included with this laser are this ones:
4 Star Caps/4 Patterns for Back-Open 2in1 Laser Pointer Pen
I have to say they do really produce interesting effects. I do specially like the one based in 2 line generating diffraction gratings
I didn't take pictures of this laser because I don't feel there's nothing else to show that isn't showed on their photos / my video already. The only picture I've taken is one of the laser inside for you to understand how does it work. It's really simple: When pushing the side switch to the disco mode, a small mirror appears and goes into the beam path, aiming it at the second mirror, which is attached to a spring. Here's the picture:
Higher resolution picture can be found here:
http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/3016/cimg2440.jpg
Now looking at the picture, there are two interesting things. The laser features a normal pen pointer module with it's own driver and it's switch bridged. This means, that you can change this module for the one you want and turn your 30mW green Disco laser into any other power / color in a matter of minutes. Also, if you look at the photos, if you drill a hole where the module is, and take out the module, you could adapt it to put your pointers in it!
And secondly, the main switch can be bridged easily too. But, why would you want to do that? Do you remember an old project here in LPF which consisted on attaching a mirror to a speaker so that you could get a sound controlled show? Well, so, I used a small peg to keep it turned on, and without the plastic cover aimed a small speaker at it. I do ensure you the show was following the music.
As a last thing, the description says you can take it to a bar or a Disco. Although at the high speed the mirror oscillates (certainly something like 100 hz or above) when in disco mode I believe the risk to get any damage is really low, taking it to a party is a bad idea IMO.
So well, all in all I'm satisfied with this laser, and keeping in mind you get a 30mW green module (15$), the caps (7$), and the host, for 25$, I have to say the price is very acceptable.
Pros:
Does what it has to do perfectly.
Light.
Small.
Functionality.
Potential DIY project
Price.
Different and cool gadget
Cons:
Not the best power (doesn't really matters)
Storage box hasn't space for the caps
Not a good idea to call it Disco Laser and to say you can take it to pubs and bars. 30mW is dangerous.
All in all, I give it a 8/10.
I hope you enjoyed reading the review.
Yours,
Albert
Today I'm writing to do another review. Taking profit of the laserlands.com promotion, for which I could get this unit at half price if I did this review, so here it goes. As always, although I've got a discount from them, this hasn't affected in any way my opinion and article, I ensure you this review would be exactly the same if I had paid all of the price. For this reason, I call this a 100% unbiased review. Feel free to comment or to ask
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
First we are going to look at how is this laser advertised on their website.
30mw 3in1 Portable Disco Laser Projector/ Drawer/Pointer
And the photos they provide:
So, all in all, what would a customer expect from this laser? In my opinion, someone buying this laser already has a pointer and looks for something different to have fun. It's important to consider that this laser ISN'T intended to be a high quality laser pointer, but a funny "laser gadget". Keeping that in mind, I'll go on with the review itself.
The laser arrived in more or less 2 weeks, as all the Hong Kong packages I receive. Classic "Chinese envelope", with bubble wrap. Inside, two smaller envelopes, one containing the Disco laser and another containing the caps. A normal box which will serve me perfectly to storage it.
The laser was way smaller than I expected, it feels solid and comfortable in your hand and although it's pure plastic, it has that "soft touch" sensation that we all like. The button is big and easy to press and so is the switch.
At first I was a bit surprised at how this this laser work. I thought the "disco mode" was a spirograph because of the photos, my 3 motor spirograph produces similar paterns. I was worried about how could 3 motors go inside there and be powered from 2 AAA batteries, and what I surprise I got. "It's just a mirror attached to a spring!". I have to admit that at this point I was a bit disappointed, but without thinking more about it, I plugged the batteries and turned it on. The results were way better than I would have ever expected from such a simple structure.
It produces really impressive patterns, and the best part, you just need to shake the laser to change them. I can't understand how, but it truly produces 3D patterns!
The normal mode turns all the laser in a simple 30mW pointer. Someone interested in this laser shouldn't be worried at all about the laser specs themselves, but anyway, here are the results of some simple tests:
Divergence: 1.4 mRad
Beam profile: Clear TEM 00 for at least 3 minutes (didn't test longer)
IR filter: No, the 26% of the power is IR.
Power: Peaks above 60mW, then goes down slowly to 35mW for about 30 seconds, to stay on 35mW after one minute (26% of all measurements is IR.
Unboxing and demonstration (go to youtube to see it in HQ):
The caps included with this laser are this ones:
4 Star Caps/4 Patterns for Back-Open 2in1 Laser Pointer Pen
I have to say they do really produce interesting effects. I do specially like the one based in 2 line generating diffraction gratings
I didn't take pictures of this laser because I don't feel there's nothing else to show that isn't showed on their photos / my video already. The only picture I've taken is one of the laser inside for you to understand how does it work. It's really simple: When pushing the side switch to the disco mode, a small mirror appears and goes into the beam path, aiming it at the second mirror, which is attached to a spring. Here's the picture:
Higher resolution picture can be found here:
http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/3016/cimg2440.jpg
Now looking at the picture, there are two interesting things. The laser features a normal pen pointer module with it's own driver and it's switch bridged. This means, that you can change this module for the one you want and turn your 30mW green Disco laser into any other power / color in a matter of minutes. Also, if you look at the photos, if you drill a hole where the module is, and take out the module, you could adapt it to put your pointers in it!
And secondly, the main switch can be bridged easily too. But, why would you want to do that? Do you remember an old project here in LPF which consisted on attaching a mirror to a speaker so that you could get a sound controlled show? Well, so, I used a small peg to keep it turned on, and without the plastic cover aimed a small speaker at it. I do ensure you the show was following the music.
As a last thing, the description says you can take it to a bar or a Disco. Although at the high speed the mirror oscillates (certainly something like 100 hz or above) when in disco mode I believe the risk to get any damage is really low, taking it to a party is a bad idea IMO.
So well, all in all I'm satisfied with this laser, and keeping in mind you get a 30mW green module (15$), the caps (7$), and the host, for 25$, I have to say the price is very acceptable.
Pros:
Does what it has to do perfectly.
Light.
Small.
Functionality.
Potential DIY project
Price.
Different and cool gadget
Cons:
Not the best power (doesn't really matters)
Storage box hasn't space for the caps
Not a good idea to call it Disco Laser and to say you can take it to pubs and bars. 30mW is dangerous.
All in all, I give it a 8/10.
I hope you enjoyed reading the review.
Yours,
Albert
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