Review of $170.00 445nm Lvyi Electronics Laser

Well.... I received my 1 Watt Laser on Sept 13/10... I did not
pay anything extra to UPS... but they may send me a Brokerage
invoice later..

Opening the Package

The Laser in a black "gift box"... charger and Safety Goggles
were wrapped in some Bubble wrap and placed into a plastic
UPS shipping bag... Nothing was broken but the corners of
the "gift box" were traumatized.. Lucky this is not a gift for
someone...

On removing the Bubble wrap we found a pair of Focal Price
Red tinted Safety Goggles for 532nm that we already had in
the shop..

Opening the "gift box" we found the laser and a spare tail
cap switch... nice touch.. hope I don't need to change it..

Instruction Sheet

The instructions say that 2pc CR123A or 16340 batteries are to
be used but the charger is good for only 1 battery...:thinking:

The instructions state that the Laser is CE and FDA "authenticated"..
I didn't find any labels on it stating the FDA accession number.

There are a few other minor errors on the instruction sheet that leads
me to believe it was meant for some other Lasers..

The Host

Unscrewing the battery cap I noticed that it was grinding metal to
metal sightly and under further observation noticed aluminum chips
in the threads and also on the inside sides of the barrel.
I unscrewed the 2nd barrel joint to clean all the chips out and gave
the parts a compressed air blast,

I straightened out the crooked spring that could have shorted to the
side of the barrel and saw an inductor on the Driver PCB.. leading me
to believe that the driver is a Boost Driver...
As we all know... Linear Drivers don't need an inductor.

It seems the adjustable lens is installed from the inside of the front
of the host and the Knurled knob is epoxied to the protruding lens
housing. Then the Laser and Driver get screwed in from the rear of
the front host section locking the Lens assembly in place.

The lens and front window are not removable without unscrewing
the LD/Driver assembly...

There is a 6 months manufacturers guarantee which is long enough
for someone to find any defects..

There was a RED Laser Warning label that had the Wavelength and
Power cut off and quite amateurishly I might add..

The specified batteries fit loosely in the host... but do not rattle..
The host inside diameter was 0.753" and the batteries outside diameter
is 0.650".... The host more suits a larger 16650 battery.

Tested Specs

The tests were done with our Newport 1825C LPM with Thermopile
Head... and freshly charged batteries...

Current Draw at batteries ------- 570mA
Power Output ---------------------- 742mW
Beam Profile @ 30' ---------------- 19mm X 1.5mm
Length ------------------------------- 6.450"
Diameter ---------------------------- 0.950"
Empty Weight ---------------------- 105 grams


Jerry

Started to laugh at the 3rd paragraph.

Nice one!, It doesn"t seem as bad as the Artic.
-Greg

+1 on a thorough review .

Jerry, how does the unit "feel" ? does it feel cheap & tacky?

Regards.

When i saw the $170 dollar topic I wasn't sure what to expect. It is one of the cheapest "1w" lasers out there. I think I would of been happier with that than my arctic that was $20 more and 2 months longer shipping,.

lasersbee said:

I didn't find any labels on it stating the FDA accession number.

Click to expand...

Fun fact - in my contact with the FDA I learned that an accession number is confidential. Confidential is not quite the right word, but it's not something that the FDA encourages distributing. But that's not to say it actually is "FDA authenticated."

Great review. For the price though, I think I'd rather stick with a DIY.

-Trevor

ped said:

+1 on a thorough review .

Jerry, how does the unit "feel" ? does it feel cheap & tacky?

Regards.

Click to expand...

No... it feels a little light without the batteries
but once the batteries are in it.. it feels right
like a quality Laser for the price...
Remember the shipping was free for $170.00
and a Charger and Goggles are included..

@ twhite... I was my way of saying... I don't believe it has
one..
For one thing there is no power interlock and there is no
indicator light to show the Laser is ON as required by the
FDA minimal compliance..
Even the Warning Label wasn't FDA approved...


Jerry

Glad you actually got it, was looking somewhat iffy for a while there. For the money, it doesn't seem all that bad - give or take the issue with the switch. I wouldn't order one personally, but >700mW for $170 is still a reasonable deal IMO.

What is the effective duty cycle? can it run continuous or does it over heat at any point. in testing my two arctics i found they can run non-stop until the battery drains because, i believe, the beefy host does a good job dissipating the heat. just wondering about this one because of the smaller host. in practice we tend not to run our pointers for long periods but a test will give a sense of the heat dissipation which may have an effect on laser life and certainly average power and the power output drops in proportion to heat.

Waiting time was a lot shorter that WL, I actually got it! I am still waiting on my batts.
I wish I had an lpm to see if it is the same as Jerry's. I didn't have metal shavings or a crooked spring.

Hey Jerry did you try the focus?

At least when they said they would ship... they actually
shipped it... Only took 11 days from ordering to get it
into my hands...

I've left it on for a tested 5 minutes from room temperature
and you can feel the head getting warm but not hot...
I then turn it off for ~a minute or more before turning it on
again..

The focus works fine and once adjusted does not move
on it's own.. I'm not a burner guy so I haven't tested the
<1 Meter focused burning thing...

BTW... I bought my batteries before the Laser Arrived...:na:


Jerry

edit


Post size comparison with other lasers.
-Greg

lasersbee said:

[snip]
I've left it on for a tested 5 minutes from room temperature
and you can feel the head getting warm but not hot...
I then turn it off for ~a minute or more before turning it on
again..
[snip]
Jerry

Click to expand...

Thats not too bad. I'd like to see a plot of how much heat is dissipated off the nichia 445 1W LD vs power input - it seems like it gets quite exponential over a certain limit.

plexus said:

Thats not too bad. I'd like to see a plot of how much heat is dissipated off the nichia 445 1W LD vs power input - it seems like it gets quite exponential over a certain limit.

Click to expand...

Yeah... I'd like to see that too...

Jerry

So all in all not looking too bad? i think i'll order one once iv'e read back and found out what batts it uses, im also going one of thier 200mW 532's.

lasersbee said:

At least when they said they would ship... they actually
shipped it... Only took 11 days from ordering to get it
into my hands...

I've left it on for a tested 5 minutes from room temperature
and you can feel the head getting warm but not hot...
I then turn it off for ~a minute or more before turning it on
again..

The focus works fine and once adjusted does not move
on it's own.. I'm not a burner guy so I haven't tested the
<1 Meter focused burning thing...

BTW... I bought my batteries before the Laser Arrived...:na:


Jerry

Click to expand...

I tried to get some local but struck out, I didn't know that I had to get some until I got that message that it only came with a charge.

I just tracked my batts and it says that they are out for delivery.:san:

I just wish that there was someone local that had an lpm.

After seeing the Idiotic outbursts towards their customers and
Forum members that are genuinely trying to help him...

http://laserpointerforums.com/f41/1w-handheld-170-445nm-diode-20-a-55117-10.html#post785747

I would strongly advise against doing business with Lvyi Electronics

I for one will not buy another Laser from them....


Jerry