GB #2: LaserMan (Dinodirect) FireDragon 250, 300, 500mW GroupBuy - CLOSED

AlexL said:

Hi all,
As you may see i'm new to this forum.
I already played around with lasers in the late 90th.
I remember when i owned a 632nm helium-neon laser for 300$. I sadly don't remember the power.
I'm going to tell you more about it my hello world thread.

But now my question:
Is there any chance left to get the discount of the groupbuy?

Click to expand...

There may be a chance to get in on GB#3 when someone organizes it... but this GB is closed. You would probably have a better chance talking to Lasersman's representative LPKath for a discount.

-Adrian

AlexL said:

.

But now my question:
Is there any chance left to get the discount of the groupbuy?

Click to expand...

This one is closed but if you hang around a while I am sure there will be another in the near future. Also, PM LPKath and ask about current coupon codes...I think they have one now for about 10% off.

Yeah, I remember when my HS science dept got a HeNe (I am pretty sure that's what it was) in 1985, I remember them saying it cost about a grand (today's adjusted for inflation dollar would be around $2500 I bet). It was about the size of an elongated shoebox and made about 3-5mw. The dot at the end of the hallway around fifty yards was a good 10" or so....we have sure come a long way....

Looks like we all responded about the same time...at least you know there's plenty of people willing to help around here!

Jmillerdoc said:

This may seem like a stupid question but....I have a LaserBee USB and I want to know how you guys are able to post the screenshot of the graph without actually taking a pic of the screen itself....please edjumucate me....I should be getting my 500mw today and I want to give everyone here my results as well...packaged in a pretty graph like above.
Thanks,
Jeff

Click to expand...

I just screenshot - and it's annoying as heck.

AlexL said:

Hi all,
As you may see i'm new to this forum.
I already played around with lasers in the late 90th.
I remember when i owned a 632nm helium-neon laser for 300$. I sadly don't remember the power.
I'm going to tell you more about it my hello world thread.

But now my question:
Is there any chance left to get the discount of the groupbuy?

Click to expand...

I think I'd be up for helping with a 3rd round, but I want to see more of the results from this one first. Particularly, I'd like to see more of the results from the 500s. If they're all on-spec, that's a great starting point. But if they're not as awesome as the 300s, then it might be worth changing up the variety for a 3rd round. It also doesn't seem like there was much interest in the 250, so maybe we'd want to drop that from the list.

I'm also open, in theory, to a groupbuy on some cheaper greens. I have one on order that looks nice, but is probably less likely to be much more than just "a reasonably good deal on a fairly low powered ~100mW". Anyway, as long as this GB works out for everyone, I'd be on board for helping Kath / LM structure another one. I just want to wait about a week to see more results come in. Slow and cautious is still key

plexus said:

I may have a laser like the ones in this group buy for sale. PM me. I bought one in the same host from o-like and it tests out very well. I want to see what the one from the GB is like and i will sell one of them once I determine which I want to keep.

Click to expand...

I PM'ed LPKath i'll contact you if i don't get a coupon.

Jmillerdoc said:

Looks like we all responded about the same time...at least you know there's plenty of people willing to help around here!

Click to expand...

I've been browsing this forum for around two weeks. Today i registered it seems to be a very friendly place on web. In this two weeks i haven't seen any unfriendly posts.

Sorry for the long delay. I realy found a TV channel that broadcasts Star Trek on a wednesday evening.
Live long and prosper

JAYAubrey said:

Hey, you guys join the GB may share your coupons and see if we can use it again? it that possible? maybe there is surprise. Hope that won' break any rules here.:shhh:

Click to expand...

Please don't. If Kath wants to give you guys more coupons at the GB rate, then that's awesome!

But don't try to post coupons, or re-use coupons, without getting their consent.

We're asking LM to respect our community, behave well, sell us products that arrive on spec, give us good quality customer support, and basically treat us like the enthusiast community that we are. So treat them with respect in return. If people try to "sneak" something extra out of them, that doesn't exactly show that we're worth of the respect I articulate above

My two cents.

All the coupons that were issued for this GB are one use only. I found that out when having my payment problems

lpkath tells me mine hasn't even shipped yet. i hope this is going to be worth the wait.

Are these lasers CE labled? There's no law against high power lasers in germany. But sometimes the german customs confiscate it because of missing CE lables.

AlexL said:

Are these lasers CE labled? There's no law against high power lasers in germany. But sometimes the german customs confiscate it because of missing CE lables.

Click to expand...

WRONG. There is a 1mW limit in Germany.

My 500mw will be delivered today so i will measure it on my ophir kenometer pro. thing is the measurements are going to be a little different compared to your laser bees. but its better than nothing.

Can't wait to see another 500mw LPMed

My 500mw just arrived...I am charging a fresh battery as we speak. Soon I will have some LPM results (LaserBee USB) and with some luck I will be able to use your advice to get a screenshot posted...

Just for anyone looking here at this thread and wanting a decent green laser...I bought one of LaserPointerpro's "1watt" greens about a month ago knowing for $217 it wouldn't be a watt...turns out it consistently averages around 370mw and peaks right at 400mw. I was going to return it but they are giving me the runaround...they want the original envelope it was mailed in and a bunch of photos of it before they will issue an RMA...I'm fed up with them so I've decided to just unload it for best offer. Soon I will post it over on the appropriate "buy, sell, trade" thread. It looks very similar to the Firedragon.

I should have a well charged battery in about an our and some results for everyone soon.

Cheers!

I just ran my 500mw through some tests. Graphs below. Graph descriptions above the graph. Tested with Kenometer Pro + Ophir

Bottom line: out of spec. Looking at the first graph, the average is 471mw and you can see the last half of the run its just under 500mw. The start-stop graphs shows again its running just under 500mw. And the last graph a 60s run its just under 500mw.

Take into account about 33mw of IR and the laser is definitely out of spec. Based on the beam output (see last photos) it appears not be running TEM00 or there is some kind of optical degradation.


This is a cold start with the laser at room temp and a brand new never used fully charged AW 18650 2900mAH. 5 min run. I find these lasers in this host never over heat and in fact benefit from warming up, as per my O-like OLNG review.



When I tested the OLNG (same host and likely the same laser design) I found that duty cycle allowed for interested peak powers. here is a test run with the laser turned off for periods of time:



Now an IR test. The methodology here was to measure the laser through a lab quality IR filter that passes non-IR. However the filter has a lot of reflection around the 532nm area. The first graph is through the filter at 90 degrees. The second graph is the back-reflection of 532nm off the filter. The 3rd graph is without the filter.

From these graphs, we can add the output from the first graph and second graph to get an approx non-IR output. Then we can subtract this from the non-filtered average from the 3rd graph. This gives us an average IR output of: 33mw

I would say this is typical of a DPSS green without an IR filter so I don't think they are using an IR filter in the design. The OLGN had an IR filter glued to the output lens which is the same design as the Firedragon but I don't see a filter glued in place.

Graph 1: output after passing through IR filter


Graph 2: back reflection from filter


Graph 3: no IR filter



Beam output. The right dot is the O-Like OLNG, the middle is the Lasersman Firedragon 500 and the left dot is a 100mw Ultralasers 532nm that has the smallest beam waist and lowest divergence of any 532 I have see so far. This is at a distance of about 10m. The second shot is through a filter.





I believe this is the power-culprit - its not running in TEM00. This dot pattern is consistent and persistent, its not even mode hopping just staying in, what is this? TEM01?

I have emailed Lasersman and LPKath about it. Looking for a refund or some reasonable customer service.

OK, really bummed about this....ran several runs with mine on my LaserBee USB with multiple well charged high quality batteries....best I got with my "500" was 420 PEAK, 370 average and very unstable output. Also the button is fiddly....i have to keep it pressed down hard to get that peak otherwise it only goes to about 350 with an average of 290! In fact the crappy 1 watt I got from LaserPointer Pro for $217 actually out performs it on average and is more stable. I will be talking to them about returning it or a partial refund as I think they sent me one of their 250mw rigs....this is definitely not a 500mw torch.

still trying to get my computer to print the graph....

seems like the 300mw model was the way to go. i pm'd lpkath asking her to make sure i was shipped a good laser and told her about the negative reviews on the 500's received so far.