Reke Mini-10RGB

I got the Reke Mini-10RGB from Dino Direct using my $90 gift card I received because the other projector I got from them did not have the ILDA port it specified having. Getting this projector "free" (or rather $30 in shipping, after discounts) was never the goal of getting that other projector from Dino Direct. Still, here I have it, and to Dino Direct's credit, they sent it out in a timely manner and were forthright with their customer service.

Anyway, the Reke Mini-10RGB is a $97 100mW red, 40mW green, 150mW violet (not RGB) small laser projector that uses galvos and a chip with animations for a a video show (note that these are just ratings of the power, not the actual measured power; see below). It also has a sound mode that I never tested.

Exterior:



The projector has only one button switching between auto and sound modes, and an external power adapter. There is no on-off switch. Overall it feels like a solid projector and nothing was loose. I like its build-quality more than the L-86.


Interior:



The interior features a pot, probably for the projected image size (maybe intensity?) I didn't test that. The beam combining is pretty standard as well.

I also like the fact that those Red and Violet modules above are held by fixed up-rights set to hold 18mm housings. This is actually very useful if you use those 18-mm housings from O-like, and I intend on using the parts from this projector to experiment with some knife-edging (for another day). Build quality is quite nice and everything is screwed in and solid.

Power measurements:
The power ratings by Dino Direct and other websites state that the respective lasers (RGV) are (100mW, 40mW, and 150mW). On the green, a 20mW label is attached; on the red, no label; on the violet, a 200mW label.

Power measurements were found to be:

Red: 120mW
Green: 80mW
Blue (violet): 250mW

So this is an over-spec laser system running about 450mW. The red appears to be a 650nm laser, not a 635nm laser like in the L-86.

While the lasers are over-spec, I can't say the same about the galvos, which brings in the next subject:

Animations:

This doesn't cover all the animations, just a few. As you can see the animations are pretty lame, and sloppy. I could tolerate sloppy, but those animations are so damn cheesy and hard to make out.

In the video, the purple on the screen is actually a lot darker looking than it shows up on the camera. I did notice that sometimes the color reproduction was different for different animations. The yellows would, for example, look orange instead of yellow. This might have to do with how quickly the green can be modulated. I was impressed by the white balance on the screen. On the L-86, the white seemed too bluish.

Overall, the projector is about as expected for its price. I do think it'll be a good "parts" projector, and it would probably be fun at parties. Right now it is entirely in pieces, and not functioning as a projector anymore, so I can't do any more tests on it other than power tests.

I like the Reke brand, and they seemed to do a good job with this one. However, if you want a projector that doesn't do crap animations, or not just for parts, or not to get "something" because of some misquoted specs, I would go for the 500RGB Reke, as that seems like a nice projector.

Nice review of that projector... I was wondering how
the animations would look....

Jerry

Certainly not great, but for a projector that costs less than a cheap pair of galvos, it's decent. I just don't like the animation selection.

Very neat, great price! Would this be easy to convert into a projector with ILDA comparability?

I can't see much from the photos but it looks to me like it would be an easy swap to take the modulation input from the chip that controls the animations to a DB-25 adapter.

Like the other pre-built projectors with the "auto" mode, there is a control board connected to the galvos and TTL inputs that sends all the signals. I think you could just remove that control board and directly connect the galvos and the TTL inputs of the lasers up to the ILDA connector/correct amp inputs just like any galvo-based projector.

I'm not sure if it'd be worth the time though. Still, it's worth a shot because you could easily just move your ILDA adapter to other projectors like these, or other projector setups in general.

Nice review.
Yeah those galvos are crap and I thought the 500RGB was slow also those built in animation suck and those galvos are super noisy.

Reke generally does a decent job of assembly, sometimes they seem to leave screws loose but for the most part their build quality is quite high.

Let's bump this thread

Here is another Video of REKE-10 Mini Laser Projector.

Well is not bad for the Price, but the 405nm module Is CRAPPY! It's around at ~50mW, is not visible on the Video!:wtf: I'll report this to DinoDirect.:na:

I'll replace it with an 445nm Diode at 300mW, Should be cool:yh:

I dunno, my 405nm diode was about 150mW, but it was still not that impressive. The 445nm should be better, but I'm not sure if it's really worth the effort.