WickedLasers Arctic G2 Spyder III, small review/overview by mikeeey

I got my Arctic just 4 days before my 19th birthday, hooray! Too bad I bought it 3 months prior.

The laser's "package" was like a grey garbage bag. Inside this grey plastic bag each item was nicely fit into bubblewrap like tetris pieces.

Each day I envisioned myself opening up the box and seeing each lens side by side, but instead they forgot to give me my expanded lens set, so I was disappointed to only see the training lens.

(these 4 picture were taken with my cell phone at my friend's house, I opened it there before I bought it home and took the below pictures with my camera)




The host really feels nice, the tailcap button is sturdy, the tailcap itself unscrews and screws back in like butter. Everything about the outside feels perfect, except for the fact that it's WAY too big.
If you look at the yellow sticker it says it was manufactured in June.

PICS:
ImageShack(TM) slideshow (click this slideshow or the below link if you don't wanna click each picture)
ImageShack Album - 18 images

(each picture is clickable. Click the larger picture on imageshack to view the full-res picture)







YOUTUBE VIDEO:
this video shows the smartswitch, the first 2 times slowly shows it, the 3rd time shows how fast the user is able to turn it on, making it less annoying


EDIT: it's dead, well, not really, the wires to the diode pins just came loose, but I'm already starting to dislike it, I'm not gonna try and fix it, I'm just gonna send it back and get the Spartan. I thought about selling it for profit, but there's the possibility that it was killed when the negative wire came loose and start touching everything else. Then the positive wire came loose. If it managed to kill itself while the wires came apart I wouldn't wanna try and sell that, I'm just gonna send it back.

PROS:
+Looks awesome, feels nice
+Interchangeable lens's
+Included laser shades are NICE
+light up smartswitch and battery indicator
CONS:
-smartswitch is annoying, can't simply just turn it on to quickly point
-3 second delay after entering smarswitch combination
-not 1W, probably a little over 700mW
-the inside is a MESS, the soldering was poor, it came loose
-customer service sucks, they also forgot my expanded lens kit
WAY too big, it's taller than a water bottle.

Burning tests:
White paper - Made a hole, no fire... failed
black magazine - Made a hole, no fire... failed
candle - smoked... failed
skin - OUCH... success
(not too long after is when it wouldn't turn on and I unscrewed it to look at the inside)

For 1W I'm not going to try the basic tests like lighting a match and popping a balloon, I'm going to do the tests that should be expected of it's advertised output.

overall rating:
It's alright, but I'd expect much more, and I am returning it.
Rating: ★★★☆☆

DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TRY TO UNSCREW THIS PIECE IF YOU WAN'T YOUR LASER TO CONTINUE WORKING


Mine came undone from a poor soldering job and a tight negative wire. I then unscrewed it to troubleshoot the problem and found the positive had also came off in the process. There should be no reason to take the G2 Arctic apart anyway because I assume you can't change the current now due to the smartswitch.

WTF?!?! Already? Those things are probably the worst lasers ever built. I'm so glad I canceled my order.

I just bought a 1W spartan. Now I'm gonna try to return this Arctic ASAP.

I'm very sorry to hear that it's dead already, I really am after you waited all that time for it to finally arrive. As for taking it apart, I haven't touched a thing on my G1 or G2 even though a few asked to take it apart some and show pictures of it; noop not me.

Still though it shouldn't have broken like that on you and Yes I would agree send it back for a refund.

I'm just curious how much they will refund me.

I bought:

The Arctic $199.99
shipping $29.99
Expanded Lens kit $24.99 (didn't even receive it)
2 year warranty $29.99

that totals to $284.96.

When/if they respond to my email I just sent them I will reveal these numbers to them.

I'm not sure if anyone's done a refund after receiving an Arctic yet, can't recall it; so I'm hoping they will make good on the Refund policy they have. As for not receiving the lenses yea that stinks, twice now I've been told they are sending out my free goggles & lens cleaning kit.......never happened!

^A friend of mine did, but he said it took them forever...

I am sorry to see crap like that after waiting for it. Makes me happy that I canceled my order.

Thank you, I am so glad I cancelled mine. Wicked Lasers just scammed everyone. They took a 1 watt diode and built the cheapest garbage they could around it to get everyones money. I hope the company goes under when everyone reverses the charges on there credit cards!

mikeeey said:

DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TRY TO UNSCREW THIS PIECE IF YOU WAN'T YOUR LASER TO CONTINUE WORKING

Click to expand...

I'm sorry your Arctic died.

You said it died when the wire came off. How did you know the wire came off without unscrewing the diode module? No way to see it otherwise.

If you try to unscrew the black piece "top hat" you pictured, you will simultaneously unscrew the module, then you twist the wires to the diode.
Yes, that will probably pull the wires off the diode.

You have to hold the module in place with something like needle nose pliers while you loosen the "top hat". I had to do that with my Arctic, the module turned with the "top hat", so I know.

Maybe I"m wrong, but this sounds like user error.

Quick question guys, Why take the "top hat" off in the first place?

electron said:

Quick question guys, Why take the "top hat" off in the first place?

Click to expand...

To focus the lens.

ZapU said:

I'm sorry your Arctic died.

You said it died when the wire came off. How did you know the wire came off without unscrewing the diode module? No way to see it otherwise.

If you try to unscrew the black piece "top hat" you pictured, you will simultaneously unscrew the module, then you twist the wires to the diode.
Yes, that will probably pull the wires off the diode.

You have to hold the module in place with something like needle nose pliers while you loosen the "top hat". I had to do that with my Arctic, the module turned with the "top hat", so I know.

Maybe I"m wrong, but this sounds like user error.

Click to expand...

When it wasn't working I decided to unscrew it. I had broken lasers enough in the past by unscrewing the top piece and twisting the wires, so I've been very careful about doing so since then. I slowly began to twist it, and felt no "give" from two wires, but it took until it was almost all the way unscrewed that I felt there was even a wire pulling back. I slowly began to twist a little more, and it just continued to twist with that little pulling feeling, but nothing too bad. I got it off and saw the black wire already way back there in the barrel disconnected. The red wire was still connected, and that's why I didn't feel much give while unscrewing it. Strangely enough, they give the red wire lots of extra length, but the black wire had to of been pretty tight.
I then took my needle nosed pliers and decided to see if I could pull the black wire any closer but it wasn't going anywhere, so I started to put the black piece back in position and the red wire came off from the LD. So it looks like they were just barely hanging in there with the tiniest bit of solder.

Yes I can see how this could be user error, and the red wire probably was me (although it was barely on there), but the black wire had come loose without me having to do anything. Do you think heat could have loosened it?

electron said:

Quick question guys, Why take the "top hat" off in the first place?

Click to expand...

The changeable lens's or the black thing I told people not to unscrew?

Mikeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey, I added the review as neutral since you gave it a 3/5 rating.

mikeeey said:

When it wasn't working I decided to unscrew it. I had broken lasers enough in the past by unscrewing the top piece and twisting the wires, so I've been very careful about doing so since then. I slowly began to twist it, and felt no "give" from two wires, but it took until it was almost all the way unscrewed that I felt there was even a wire pulling back. I slowly began to twist a little more, and it just continued to twist with that little pulling feeling, but nothing too bad. I got it off and saw the black wire already way back there in the barrel disconnected. The red wire was still connected, and that's why I didn't feel much give while unscrewing it. Strangely enough, they give the red wire lots of extra length, but the black wire had to of been pretty tight.
I then took my needle nosed pliers and decided to see if I could pull the black wire any closer but it wasn't going anywhere, so I started to put the black piece back in position and the red wire came off from the LD. So it looks like they were just barely hanging in there with the tiniest bit of solder.

Yes I can see how this could be user error, and the red wire probably was me (although it was barely on there), but the black wire had come loose without me having to do anything. Do you think heat could have loosened it?

Click to expand...

You didn't mention it died before you unscrewed it. Just a big warning not to take it apart in a way that could disconnect wires.

Did you check the lockout switch before you tried looking at the wires? There were several reports of poor contacts causing the laser not to work. It could also have been a problem with the smart switch or the lame OEM battery.

It's certainly possible the black wire came off before you unscrewed it. It's also still possible that it came loose when you pulled out the module. Having a short wire makes it difficult. Apparently they didn't intend for it to be taken apart. Pictures of a G1 unscrewed (I can't locate them now, maybe it was a deleted thread) showed enough wire. Maybe it's shorter because of the smart switch. Hope it doesn't void the warranty.

I wouldn't think heat would cause the wire to come off. Mine seems to transfer heat very well. Poor soldering, tension or twisting on a short wire, or impact could. It's a very small, brittle connection.

This is the "top hat", removed normally:

Man that's painful after 3 months of waiting. I just got my Spartan today it's amazing. Great build quality Just no safety features.