Review of the 300mw S3 KRYPTON

UPDATE: 12/09/2011

Hello Everyone!

Well I decided to do a better review of this laser; I realized that my other might have been lacking some material. The laser I ordered from wicked lasers was a S3 Krypton 300mw.

Well I love this laser 10/10. It’s over spec, big time, here are the latest LPM results using the laser bee 2.5 USB. I got an Average of 500mw (it took while for the LPM to catch up and I was told to by Cyparagon to ignore the first 40 seconds of the LPM) and with a peak of 611mw, that is more than the warning label on my laser <500mw. It doesn’t tend to maintain any stability in high power mode, usually for about a minute at most, and it jumps around +/- 20 mw. But, I don’t know if that’s due to the LPM or the laser itself.



The laser does take a while for it to warm up. I suspect that is due to the cold weather here in Oregon, but the laser usually gives me a peak of 450mw and remains in 400mw range, but today I noticed it was brighter and this is what the power meter told me and I noticed that it was exceptionally brighter even with the lights on in my room.

Well since I got an Over spec laser maybe its IR? So I did a test and here is my setup.



Here are my results:



The laser is in low power (the laser is really stable in low power) and maintained about 90mw and the spike in the graph was due to the piece of paper that was in the setup getting in the way. So, with the glasses O.D 2.2 only .56 mw of green light should have passed through.

Well I let the sensor zero itself out and then later begin the test with the glasses in front of the laser, as shown it maintained zero with some weird spikes (the highest being 4 mw) but then they quickly go back down. So I think my laser might not have much IR. But, I have heard that this model struggles with small values, so I don’t know for sure.

Well the stated divergence is 1.5mrad, and the beam at aperture should be 1.5mm. Well I put a “see through” ruler and measured the dot at aperture and it came to be 1-1.5mm, a little closer to 1mm than 1.5mm. The only thing left is divergence, so I aimed my laser 3 meters away from my door and measured a dot of 5mm. Wasn’t exactly 3 meters but I made sure it was more than that, to be on the safe side. Doing some calculations the expected should have been 6 mm and it sounds about right. So the divergence passed.

The laser burns just about anything that’s not white or reflective. Burns matches like crazy. AWESOME!!

Overall, I am extremely satisfied with my laser.

Here are some pictures of the laser in action:


All the lights are turned on and I’m just amazed how well it can be seen.



Total internal reflection here, the laser was on low power and lights were off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Overall Summary~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pros:
Awesome host!
Thin beam with stated divergence met
Bright!
Powerful!

Cons:
Wish I bought the laser a little later since wicked price cut this laser and includes a tripod and lens expansion kit with every S3 model.

I apologize for my grammar/ spelling errors. I’m not a big fan of grammar. For spelling, I’ll let F7 take care of most of them.

If there are any improvements I can make please let me know.

Thank you,
Dopey

How did you say you tested for IR?
Hold 532nm blocking glasses in front and look for dim red??

Please be careful doing that. Depending on the glasses, they probably do not block IR.

To test for IR, hold the glasses between the laser and LPM. The LPM will get close to the IR trasmission.
Or, use an IR filter between the laser and thermopile.The LPM will show 532nm transmission.

I did it too ways and this caught the IR of my previous S3. I either put the special glasses that block 532 nm light in front of the laser and look for the dim red color or I shined the laser at wall then put the glasses in front of my camera and then took a picture and looked for the pinkish color of IR. But to me it seems like too much green light escapes when I put the glasses in front of them so I fear that the lpm results would not be accurate unless I could factor in green light that comes out. And if you guys got an equation for me that would be nice.

If your glasses allow green light through, then youu are correct in assuming that the reading will be *slightly* off.
I do not know any formula, seeing as every set of glasses may allow different amounts of 532 through.

This is why most prefer to use an IR filter.

You can use several layers of filmstrip negatives from old school cameras to block out the green light and let the IR through.

justdopey365 said:

it has a thin beam, it has a thinner beam than my previous model and lights matches just as fast as my S3 Arctic. Haven’t tried to pop balloons since there are none at my disposal at the moment….

Click to expand...

No offence or anything but a thin beam means horrible divergence. The better your divergence is, the thicker the beam is. You can't increase one without decreasing the other.

Btw, you could of joined in on rhd's Firedragon GB and recieved a 400mW green for 170 dollars

But, as long as your happy with it...

Thanks for the help. Divergence looks good to me . Damn that deal sounds good! Do those lasers have continuous duty cycles? And where could I get those?

romogracie said:

You can use several layers of filmstrip negatives from old school cameras to block out the green light and let the IR through.

Click to expand...

Will do! And just asking how do I get rep?

By not trying to get rep

Just try not to be an ass, make helpful/funny posts etc. You usually get rep when your least expecting it.

+1 to get you going

I don't think the firedragons have a continuos duty cycle but it's probably along the lines of 10 minutes or so max. But anyways, why do you need a laser with a continuos cycle? I only use my lasers for 3 minutes at a time MAX. Even when just admiring the beams.

Keep your eyes out for the next GB by rhd

Okay, thank you! ohh okay I just don't like the 1 minute on and 1 minute off kind of things

update: IR TEST

and how come it shows as my Rep Power being 0?

Now if only I could get my 1W tested...

justdopey365 said:

UPDATE: 12/01/2011
I like the safety features that it has, but I would like it if there was an alternate method of turning on my laser because I don’t like how it always starts in low power strobe. For that matter, I don’t like the strobe either; to me it’s a nuisance.

Click to expand...

While I can see your point for the 300 mW, I am personally VERY glad it starts in low strobe mode for my 1W S3K, as it's MUCH safer than the full 1W green beam (which is CRAZY bright and bloody difficult to look at for >.5sec) I mean if my laser started on full power every time I turned it on, it would probably surprise me and scare the crap out of anyone else in the room.

One question though, how much force did you need to get your safety pin out? I needed a couple of screwdrivers to pry it out because the thing was tighter than Dakota Fanning... OK that was bad but anyway that's my input.

ill gladly test it for you if your in the area

justdopey365 said:

update: IR TEST

and how come it shows as my Rep Power being 0?

Click to expand...

You have no "rep power" (even though someone has given you rep) until you reach 50 posts. At that time, your rep power will begin to show.

Peace,
dave

@Dave

thanks for the info dave really appreciate it!

@nevumx

I havent tried to take of the safety interlock since i always here of problems happening every time people try to take it out, i have no need to be taking it out anyways, and i just dont like the strobe function, the low power is nice handy.

Update, hope everyone enojys :beer: