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FrozenGate by Avery

PGL-III-A-589nm

DJNY

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Nov 2, 2009
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I bit the bullet twice and ordered a PGL-III-A-589nm directly from CNI two weeks ago. I prefered the GLP host first and was shortly before buying a Rigel-30 from LASERGLOW. In the end I commissioned a very special built which includes the advantages of the GLP (slim, smooth, no safety features) and the pros from the PGL hosts (shutter, often overspec). I can say right now, it was a pleasure to deal with CNI again!



The laser itself
At first some general specifications copied from the LASERGLOW homepage (CNI doesn´t list this laser):

Dimensions (mm):199 x 23
Battery Type: CR-123A Lithium
Wavelength: 589 nm
Output Type: CW
Cooling Method: Air
Beam Color:Bright Yellow
Transverse Mode:TEM00
Beam Diameter: <1.5 mm
Beam Divergence: <1.5 mrad


The safety features as key-switch and remote controller are deactivated. It has a rotating shutter to cover the lense from any dust and it has a 3 seconds delay before the beam is coming out. A nice decent red light shows that the laser is activated. The PGL-III-A-589nm has a momentary, high quality side switch.






Specifications
I never saw a laser with a better divergence before (and I had a lot of lasers in my hands). Divergence is 0.97mRad and runs in TEM00 mode. I bought this PGL-III-A-589nm in the 50mW version, but it is more a 70mW 589nm! I saw a peak at 89mW what is quite impressive for a yellow at this size. The uploaded vid below is the laser from a cold start with a CR123A battery voltage at 3.63V. Second vid shows the laser on a match with a little help of a simple lense.








Pics

Pointing at an object ~700feet away


Same cam and laser position including a short breath


Laser was 8feet away, balloon popped milliseconds after the pic was taken


Inside my room without adding any steam/smog




Conclusion
This laser is absolutely awesome. I never expected to get such a PERFECT laser, not even for the high price. The only con is that the battery runtime is relatively limited. But it runs on 1x CR123A rechargeables, which can be charged several hundred times!

-----------------------------------------------------

Update: Like some of you know, I got a NEW 589nm cause the other had a permanent small wing around the dot. It was only visible from a short distance when shining on a white wall, doesn´t influenced the beam/dot at all. Anyway, I got a new one. This also performs a bit better (can´t really complain about the older one :crackup:). I was told that this is the highest output possible in a PGL-III-A, which is IMO much more beautiful than the fat PGL-III-C.

For the small wing during the power up process (it´s like mode-hopping, but the dot itself is always clean TEM00) Ava told me:

As to the 589nm laser, please confirm that if you use it 25-45s-




More updates soon.
 
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That is a very very sexy laser, nice buy. I'm going to shudder and guess $,$$$.$$?
 
Yeah, how deep of a hole did this laser burn into your waller Phi?
 
Didn't even go into 4-digit figure. Man, these things are getting cheaper by the day.

Nice review!
Have some rep!
 
Beautiful beam.

I've never seen a yellow beam in real life. Must be something special.

Regarding the specs taken from Laserglow's site, should we take that as a rough guide considering that they often claim and prove that their lasers are not necessarily the same as those you can buy from CNI directly?

Still, lovely laser :)
 
Regarding the specs taken from Laserglow's site, should we take that as a rough guide considering that they often claim and prove that their lasers are not necessarily the same as those you can buy from CNI directly?

There is a optical difference between the PGL-III-A and the Rigel HV Pro ; the activation button position is directly above under the LED signal at the PGL-III-A, the Rigel´s LED is off-center. According the specs and the inside working, I´m sure that there is no difference between these two 589nm lasers. Mine has the deactivated safety features as key-switch and remote controller, what is a big PLUS IMO.
 
I hate you DJNY,

that is simply optical pornography.


+rep :)



EDIT , maybe after ive "spread some around"


Further edit, jesus that thing burns like a 1w 445nm !!
 
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Great review.
This must not set too well with all those involved with the CNI GB who have been waiting many months and still have nothing to show for their investment.
I'm not sure what's going on with that, but like you, in all my CNI dealings it's only taken 2-3 weeks at the most to get orders from them (once payment has been made to them).
 
I just have to pop up out of lurker status for a minute to comment so this gets saved in my user cp. Great post, great laser. I NEED to get another yellow. :'(
 
That is one of the most beautoful colors ive ever seen on a laser. 589 rocks, though I'm also partial to the 473 wavelength.
 
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OMG.:drool: That is such a nice color i can stop looking at the last 2 pictures.

Nice Buy.:beer

You are one Lucky Son of a :rolleyes: right now.:)
 
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Thank you guys!!



You are one Lucky Son of a :rolleyes: right now.:)

HEY I´ve spent the whole money I earned in my 6 weeks vacation job as a postman for this unit :tsk:

Btw, sooner or later I have to sell this unit anyway, I´m not able to afford keepin it. At least I´m a student who wanted to see a 589nm laser in real life :beer:
 
Very nice laser with a very cool wavelength! I'm glad you managed to buy the laser in spite of the broken RPL. Thanks for the review!
 
That is too sweet. I would settle for one of the 1-2mW versions.

I was sure that a low powered 589nm wouldn´t make me happy. I just came back from a 5 days trip and the first thing I did is to look after the 589nm and test it on my LPM. I read 75mW from a cold start with a 87mW peak and no value under 72mW over 70seconds :beer:
 





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