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*NOW HAS PICS!*Rayfoss Waterproof Laser Reviews

IsaacT

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Aug 25, 2010
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I JUST GOT MY FIRST LASERS!

I got the:
200mW Red Waterproof Rayfoss
50mW Green Waterproof Rayfoss

50mW Green

Okay, so first off, I decided to not notify my parents of the 200mW since they might not like it too much....so the first one I opened was the 50mW Green. It arrived in a Yellowish bag that was very well padded. I was very glad, because I did have some worry of damage in transit. I opened it up and put the instructions to the side and picked up my very first laser(first >5mW, cuz they don't count). First impression of it was that the host was a lot sturdier than I imagined....it has the look of a slim flashlight but it is very solid and honestly beautiful. I then took out the battery, and after quadruple checking the polarization, I put them in and took it into my living room. My Mom and Brother wanted to see it so I took them outside and explained to them the basics of laser safety to make sure that they understood it isn't a toy and that you cannot just go pointing it at anything. After the safety lesson I pointed her toward the night sky and turned her on. I was instantly amazed. I had NEVER seen something that awesome before. All the beamshots and videos in the world could not compare to beholding it in person. It looks like it never stops! I am VERY impressed with the brightness of the beam of this laser. So far, haven't been able to burn anything, but I wasn't expecting much from a 50mW. We'll see how balloons fare when I get them. Oh! There was however one problem I noticed when I put the batteries in. That was that the tailcap o-ring was split and would no longer function as an o-ring should. However, I contacted Faona and she is shipping them to me free of charge!

Overall rating out of 10: 8.5
For the price I paid($40 USD), I love this laser. The downside to it is the broken o-ring, but Faona is shipping that and even gave me the measurement so I can get another for the meantime. The only thing I would do different next time is get a more powerful green.

200mW Red

Here is where the craziness starts...so I finally get done messing around with the green and decide that it is high time to un-box the red that I had slipped into my room on the guise of getting a knife to open the package. Just so everyone knows I got the black host. I pulled out the instructions, and was confused when I saw that the negative went towards the tail-cap, instead of the positive(the green had positive to tail-cap), but TTerbo assured me that they were right(THANKS AGAIN!). When I turned it on for the first time the size of the dot was a little ridiculous, but after focusing it(:banghead:) the dot was much more acceptable. There is however a little thing where when you focus it over a distance it shows that there is a very thin line that protrudes on each side a small ways....but I am not too worried about it, the focus is great and so I decided it was time for a burning test. I had a battery charging for a little while, so I took it out of the charger and put it in so that it would have more power. I aimed it at my cobalt blue bedsheets and focused it to a point. About that time I smelled something burning and jerked the laser off of my bed quite fast. There is a minuscule singe dot on my bedsheets now but I think every laser enthusiast probably has one....or ought to lol. Excited now, I pulled out a match and focused the beam on the head....and a couple seconds later it ignited! I was very excited and if you could take a look at my *once* pristine binder, you would see that I kind of got carried away. The beam of this one is visible at night, but not nearly as solid as the green. Nothing was really wrong with the red, which I am glad of.

Overall rating out of 10: 9
For the price I paid($50 USD), this is truly a great buy. I rate it a 9 out of 10 because I think the divergence could be better. But you get what you pay for.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Customer Service is always something to take into account, and as such I feel it is my duty to post my experience with Rayfoss and their quality of service......The company was more than a pleasure to work with. I did what many members here suggest, which is e-mailing her your order instead of working through the site. Faona made the whole interaction a very enjoyable one, and I feel she is the best business person I have EVER dealt with. I will be writing her a review for her site if she wishes and will definately look into purchasing future lasers from her. I rate this company 12 out of 10.

All in all, the cost was 115 USD, and the lasers shipped out on Sep. 1st and arrived at my house Sep. 3rd. I placed my order and paid for it around the 27th, but they couldn't ship out for a few days due to complications and it being a weekend.

Would I recommend these lasers to someone wanting to buy a laser like one of these? YES!

Only thing, if you are thinking about the green, and you have the cash to spare, I would go up to at least 100mW...or 200mW if you really want a powerful green....because while I like the 50mW, I semi-wish I had saved a little more and gone up a power bracket.

Sorry for the very long post, but I hope you enjoyed the read and it maybe helped you if you were questing to find another laser or just thinking about doing business with Rayfoss.

EDIT* Finally managed to get my hands on a camera, beamshots here

Working on embedding them but they are at the above link for now

Box it was sent in
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Size comparison with Battery/Cd case
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Prism Shots
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Dot Shot
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Beamshots
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Burn Video
 
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Re: Rayfoss Waterproof Laser Reviews

After the safety lesson I pointed her toward the night sky and turned her on. I was instantly amazed. I had NEVER seen something that awesome before. All the beamshots and videos in the world could not compare to beholding it in person. It looks like it never stops! I am VERY impressed with the brightness of the beam of this laser.

Wait till you see a high power green; my most powerful green (rayfoss rated at 350mW) peaks right at 500mW - it's pretty amazing (and somewhat scary).
 
Re: Rayfoss Waterproof Laser Reviews

Nice first review.

Question, though- you DID get red-blocking goggles for the red laser, right?

Also, red lasers have never had good divergence. 1.5-2mRad is normal, especially with an additional focusing lens.
 
Re: Rayfoss Waterproof Laser Reviews

Wait till you see a high power green...peaks right at 500mW - it's pretty amazing (and somewhat scary).

^^Jealous :p

Nice Review...:gj:

Thank you! :D

About the goggles, they haven't arrived yet...they weren't put in the parcel, but Faona has assured me they are on the way. So I am just making sure to keep my precious optical muscles away from the scariness of those 200mW's of coherent light....although I am definately guilty as charged of viewing the dot unprotected a few brief times :/ Good to know about the divergence, puts my mind at ease knowing it isn't a big problem.
 
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Re: Rayfoss Waterproof Laser Reviews

You got yours in 3 days?! It's been 6 and I paid for quick shipping. Six since they shipped I mean. Damn
 
Re: Rayfoss Waterproof Laser Reviews

Where are you having it shipped? Because I live in a major city so it is faster than if you live in a small town....
 
Re: Rayfoss Waterproof Laser Reviews

+ rep for GOOD FIRST REVIEW--but we want photos --OK?
 
Re: Rayfoss Waterproof Laser Reviews

Thanks!....I am working on getting the camera to not dim the laser brightness.....

An update for the green laser though, the tail cap clicky has a short in it I believe...it works when I put the tail cap from the red on it so I know it is the tail cap that is the issue....if anyone knows how to fix something like that I would REALLY appreciate it. And again, I will work on those beamshots

EDIT: Faona spoke to her engineer(?) and told me to tighten the white plastic part of the switch using tweezers....well, tweezers didn't work, but torx screwdriver heads fit in the 2 holes very nicely and I was able to tighten it and it works now! A :beer: to Faona for more AMAZING customer service! And I will get beamshots up within 2 days.

EDIT: Work called me in a bunch so I have had trouble getting anything together on it. I WILL get them up, its just taking longer than I expected
 
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Re: Rayfoss Waterproof Laser Reviews

Thanks for this review. I'm about ready to order from them now. Do I understand correctly that they ship by USPS? I hate the hassles of UPS and FedX.

Ed
 
Re: Rayfoss Waterproof Laser Reviews

Nice first review.

Question, though- you DID get red-blocking goggles for the red laser, right?

Also, red lasers have never had good divergence. 1.5-2mRad is normal, especially with an additional focusing lens.

The common red lasers (LOC/LCC diode with aixiz focusable lens) usually will have very good divergence around 0.5mRad with 0.5mm beam diameter @ aperture.
 
Re: Rayfoss Waterproof Laser Reviews

When measuring divergence, should it be focused to infinity?

And by the way, I don't know when I can grab pictures of any kind of quality. I apologize, but my mom is a teacher and has started keeping the camera at her school for clubs and such. I unfortunately, do not own my own.
 
Re: Rayfoss Waterproof Laser Reviews

Yea You want to focus for infinity or there about. Focus for the best spot on the target where You will do the Divergence test. Measure the Beam Diameter at the aperture, and the spot size on Your target. Then plug the numbers into the formula.
 
Re: Rayfoss Waterproof Laser Reviews

I am plugging it into a calculator I found on the web and it says 13.something.....that cannot be right....or do I have to divide by 10?
 
Re: Rayfoss Waterproof Laser Reviews

at aperture: 5mm
1 foot away: 1mm

that is with focusing to the best dot I can.

PS-thats the one I used
 


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