"True" DX 30mW Reviewed - NOT TRUE NEWWISH

OK, well, this thing has EXCELLENT beam specs, and is certainly a lot more than 5mw, and is almost the full 30mW.
Put it this way, it's brighter than my "60mW" fleabayzer. However, it is NOT NewWish!
This is determined several ways. One, the pamphlet doesn't say NewWish like genuine ones. Two, the end. A real NewWish has a sloping end face, with a hole slightly larger than the beam. A fake has a shallower angle, and a rounded bevel, rather than a slope, on the front face, and the hole is much larger.
So, if I'm not mistaken, DX are passing a clone off as a True.
But never mind, it's great anyway!
Beam specs: Diameter at aperture is 1mm. Divergence is <0.9mRad.
I guesstimate this to be outputting about 28mW of green. There is about 3mw or less of IR, as tested with a dig camera and a IR pass filter.
I did see some mode hopping to TEM[sup]01[/sup] when it's cold, but warming it in my hands for a minute cured this.
I have tried it at night, in the dark you can see the beam easily, even in dimly lit room inside. I have also tried it in broad daylight, you can easily see the dot 100m away on a bridge, in bright sunlight.
As for burning etc, none of it. Even with sharpie and a lens, this wouldn't pop a balloon. I don't consider this a great disadvantage, though, for the price.
The above sentence is no longer true!!! It just popped a sharpied balloon in less than 1sec!
One downside is that in the dark, even the dot is dangerous to look at, but the price doesn't really justify buying lasershades... paying more for the shades than the laser. In will probably buy some nes-ds shades.
PIX ARE HERE!!!

Final verdict:
Great laser in terms of $$ per mW, great value, EXCELLENT beam specs, and well worth it as the highest power laser I think you can still call a pointer. And it can pop a balloon!!!
Not for serious lasering but well worth it as a intro to lasering or just for pointing with. I'm happy with it.
Buy it.

And since this is my first review, please let me know if there's any aspect I've forgotten or should add.

Pictures! Need pictures!

that's interesting, when compared to the 30mW newwish (or clone) i just reviewed... mine also doesn't say newwish on the leaflet, but i did manage to pop a black balloon with a lense. mine hasn't mode hopped at all, luckily, and there's pics in my review for you to compare yours to, i'm wondering if it's the same type of clone or not is it really dangerous to look at a 30mW+ dot though?

A real NewWish has a sloping end face, with a hole slightly larger than the beam. A fake has a shallower bevel on the front face, and the hole is much larger.
So, if I'm not mistaken, DX are passing a clone off as a True.

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I bought a 'true' dx30 just like that, havent really looked for newwish branding, but it sounds like its equal to yours. Also, it works very well and has the same thing with warming up.

These may not be new-wish brand, but they seem to turn out at least as good. Only problem i had was a dodgy spring contact (see other thread here), apart from that it now as a few hours of burntime on it, and still works great... so enjoy yours!

marianne said:

is it really dangerous to look at a 30mW+ dot though?

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Most certainly, in the wrong conditions. I looked at the dot on a white wall, 1m away, in complete darkness, and had vision spots for 2 hrs +...
It's mainly in low light conditions, the light has time to do minor damage in the time it takes your eyes to adjust.

Im glads your happy with it, even if it isnt a true.
Sounds good, get some vids done

BlueFusion said:

[quote author=marianne link=1193403763/0#2 date=1193408678] is it really dangerous to look at a 30mW+ dot though?

Click to expand...

Most certainly, in the wrong conditions. I looked at the dot on a white wall, 1m away, in complete darkness, and had vision spots for 2 hrs +...
It's mainly in low light conditions, the light has time to do minor damage in the time it takes your eyes to adjust.[/quote]


With eyes that sensitive, I would strongly recommend safety goggles. Not necessarily for safety, but for comfort. I can look at a 1W dot at that distance and only have spots for maybe 10 minutes. Looking at the dot from a laser is no different than looking at a bright light. It won't damage your eyes. It's far safer to look at the dot from a 500mW laser than to look into the beam of a 1mW laser.


Also, When your eyes adjust to darkness (as in scotopic vision, not as in pupil dilation) it will only change your sensativity to light. It will not make your eyes more susceptible to light damage.

Cyparagon said:

[quote author=BlueFusion link=1193403763/0#4 date=1193412534][quote author=marianne link=1193403763/0#2 date=1193408678] is it really dangerous to look at a 30mW+ dot though?

Click to expand...

Most certainly, in the wrong conditions. I looked at the dot on a white wall, 1m away, in complete darkness, and had vision spots for 2 hrs +...
It's mainly in low light conditions, the light has time to do minor damage in the time it takes your eyes to adjust.[/quote]


With eyes that sensitive, I would strongly recommend safety goggles. Not necessarily for safety, but for comfort. I can look at a 1W dot at that distance and only have spots for maybe 10 minutes. Looking at the dot from a laser is no different than looking at a bright light. It won't damage your eyes. It's far safer to look at the dot from a 500mW laser than to look into the beam of a 1mW laser.


Also, When your eyes adjust to darkness (as in scotopic vision, not as in pupil dilation) it will only change your sensativity to light. It will not make your eyes more susceptible to light damage.[/quote]
even though looking at either the dot from a laser or a bright light can and will damage your eyes, 30 mw might not be much, but all i have to say is that if you look at the dot of any single watt laser of any wavelength from a meter away on a white wall your eyes are going to be damaged to incredible lengths, just because you dont see spots in your vision doesnt mean your eyes arent damaged, you'll see that when your eyes fall apart 20 years before the rest of you.

spreading information like that is incredibly dangerous and irresponsible, just because your condemning your eyes to death doesnt mean you have to put other people too ignorant to make that decision for themselves through the same thing.
also the dot from a 500 mw laser will do much more damage to your eyes then looking into the beam of a 1 mw laser, unless your 1 mw laser is pumped with a infrared diode more powerful then the 500 mw laser and is lacking an infrared filter

who told you that looking at a bright light wont damage your eyes? lol

are lasers more damaging to ur eyes than regular lights at the same brightness?

No, a laser will cause no more harm than an light bulb if it were truly of equal brightness at the cornea.
Using I = P/4pir^2 since a light bulb can be considered a point source.

e.g. a 30mW laser
Assume no loss so P = 30mW;
If P = 0.03W over say 5mm of your eye (radius = 0.0025m, area = 2pir = 0.0157m^2)
I(intensity) = 190.99 Watts per square metre..

Now for the sort of power light bulb you would need(lol):
Lets say you were standing 10m from the light bulb...
P = I4pir^2
P= 190.99x4xpix(10)^2 = 240000W light bulb at 10m

Hence why lasers are so dangerous ;D

BlueFusion said:

OK, well, this thing has EXCELLENT beam specs, and is certainly a lot more than 5mw, and is almost the full 30mW.
Put it this way, it's brighter than my "60mW" fleabayzer. However, it is NOT NewWish!

...

Click to expand...

Same with me mate, they sent me 50mW not new wish too... Disapointed, now I will buy 30mW I hope it wont be as yours! (I mean not new wish)

Chris. said:

No, a laser will cause no more harm than an light bulb if it were truly of equal brightness at the cornea.
Using I = P/4pir^2 since a light bulb can be considered a point source.

e.g. a 30mW laser
Assume no loss so P = 30mW;
If P = 0.03W over say 5mm of your eye (radius = 0.0025m, area = 2pir = 0.0157m^2)
I(intensity) = 190.99 Watts per square metre..

Now for the sort of power light bulb you would need(lol):
Lets say you were standing 10m from the light bulb...
P = I4pir^2
P= 190.99x4xpix(10)^2 = 240000W light bulb at 10m

Hence why lasers are so dangerous ;D

Click to expand...

Exactly. Also because it's 'coherent' you end up with a 30mW laser being significantly brighter than a 30mW optical output LED, and because it's collimated you end up with every single bit of that 30mW in a very small place. 30mW is insignificant if it were omnidirectional.

It's like sunlight. Hold your hand out in bright sun and it might get slightly warm. Use a 10CM magnifying glass, and 78.53 cm[sup]2[/sup] of sunlight on a spot only 5mm (ish) in diameter burns worse than most handheld lasers.

I can hold my hand in the focal point of my red laser ~190mW (slightly overdriven) and barely feel it. If i sharpie my skin, the dot @ ~1cm is burning. If I do it on the sharpie in the focal point, it burns like F*&K and I get a little wisp of smoke before I withdraw my hand by reflex.

Now consider that no matter what the beam diameter is, if it's smaller than your pupil your eye will pretty much focus it onto a single point in the centre of your vision (or close to a point). You think that even my 30mW, with a lens to focus it, smokes sharpied skin, and a little amount of laser light seems like quite a lot. I would not want to take a hit to the eye with even a 5mW laser, for me even a 1mW red with flat batteries gives me vision spots for hours (i was dumb enough to try lol)


One problem with your calculations though... Area is Pi Radius squared or [ch8719]R[sup]2[/sup]. Not 2[ch8719]R. So its 0.0000196m[sup]2[/sup] making 1527W/m[sup]2[/sup]. Correct me if i screwed up, it's late and I'm tired.
Meaning, not much. AFAIK what you should be working out is the amount of power a lightbulb is putting out, over 5mm[sup]2[/sup]. Which I can't think of how to do right now. But I think that means you would need a lightbulb capable of putting 30mW onto that area, or 1527 watts per square metre.
OK thinking, surface area of a sphere. Pi R Cubed. So at 10M... thats 392 square metres, assuming this lightbulb emits all round. Sorta. So ~350m[sup]2[/sup], and 1527w per m[sup]2[/sup], I do believe that's a simple multiplication. Gives 534,450W lightbulb. That's half a million watts of lightbulb equating to a 30mW laser in the eye. Hmm, see?

are lasers more damaging to ur eyes than regular lights at the same brightness?

Click to expand...

Essentially no, but you'll never find a lightbulb that equates to the same brightness!

Even with a 1mW laser... that's ... 16,667 watts ish of lightglobe.

BlueFusion said:

[quote author=Chris. link=1193403763/0#9 date=1196802050]No, a laser will cause no more harm than an light bulb if it were truly of equal brightness at the cornea.
Using I = P/4pir^2 since a light bulb can be considered a point source.

e.g. a 30mW laser
Assume no loss so P = 30mW;
If P = 0.03W over say 5mm of your eye (radius = 0.0025m, area = 2pir = 0.0157m^2)
I(intensity) = 190.99 Watts per square metre..

Now for the sort of power light bulb you would need(lol):
Lets say you were standing 10m from the light bulb...
P = I4pir^2
P= 190.99x4xpix(10)^2 = 240000W light bulb at 10m

Hence why lasers are so dangerous ;D

Click to expand...

Exactly. Also because it's 'coherent' you end up with a 30mW laser being significantly brighter than a 30mW optical output LED, and because it's collimated you end up with every single bit of that 30mW in a very small place. 30mW is insignificant if it were omnidirectional.

It's like sunlight. Hold your hand out in bright sun and it might get slightly warm. Use a 10CM magnifying glass, and 78.53 cm[sup]2[/sup] of sunlight on a spot only 5mm (ish) in diameter burns worse than most handheld lasers.

I can hold my hand in the focal point of my red laser ~190mW (slightly overdriven) and barely feel it. If i sharpie my skin, the dot @ ~1cm is burning. If I do it on the sharpie in the focal point, it burns like F*&K and I get a little wisp of smoke before I withdraw my hand by reflex.

Now consider that no matter what the beam diameter is, if it's smaller than your pupil your eye will pretty much focus it onto a single point in the centre of your vision (or close to a point). You think that even my 30mW, with a lens to focus it, smokes sharpied skin, and a little amount of laser light seems like quite a lot. I would not want to take a hit to the eye with even a 5mW laser, for me even a 1mW red with flat batteries gives me vision spots for hours (i was dumb enough to try lol)


One problem with your calculations though... Area is Pi Radius squared or [ch8719]R[sup]2[/sup]. Not 2[ch8719]R. So its 0.0000196m[sup]2[/sup] making 1527W/m[sup]2[/sup]. Correct me if i screwed up, it's late and I'm tired.
Meaning, not much. AFAIK what you should be working out is the amount of power a lightbulb is putting out, over 5mm[sup]2[/sup]. Which I can't think of how to do right now. But I think that means you would need a lightbulb capable of putting 30mW onto that area, or 1527 watts per square metre.
OK thinking, surface area of a sphere. Pi R Cubed. So at 10M... thats 392 square metres, assuming this lightbulb emits all round. Sorta. So ~350m[sup]2[/sup], and 1527w per m[sup]2[/sup], I do believe that's a simple multiplication. Gives 534,450W lightbulb. That's half a million watts of lightbulb equating to a 30mW laser in the eye. Hmm, see?

[quote author=stackingmont]are lasers more damaging to ur eyes than regular lights at the same brightness?[/quote]
Essentially no, but you'll never find a lightbulb that equates to the same brightness!

Even with a 1mW laser... that's ... 16,667 watts ish of lightglobe.[/quote]

Yeah, diddn't spot that!
It is indeed pir^2 making the the laser even more powerfull than I first calculated.(relative to a light bulb)
Thanks for clearing that up!

It was late for me too

if you wanna try, out of interest I created a little JS calculator that determines teh light your laser is equivalent to. http://bluefusion13.googlepages.com/lasercalc.html

or just use the formula 1mW = 16,666.67 W. Multiply 16,666.67 by your mW.

oh and also, you can do [sup]superscript[/sup] by clicking the [sup]sup[/sup] button or typing

interesting thing... if you managed to get 68 centimetres away from a 1,500 watt globe, it's the same as 30mW. Or 68cm from a 50 watt globe is the same as 1mW. Amazing how much distance changes it.