Does anyone know anything about Drlava?

I ordered a flexdrive almost 3 weeks ago, and still no answer from anywhere...i guess one orders from the same website as before, right?(http://hacylon.case.edu/ebay/laser_diode/Micro_FlexDrive.php)

and for the v5, should i take the right resistor out for 1A or not? Because the manual i got with my first v5 said i had to take it out and jump the connections...but the one on the website now says u dont need to...the only thing i know is that i fried my flexdrive and i didnt take the resistor out...

now i ordered one with the current preselected, so i wont make any mistake.


thanks for reading

Dr Lava is trustworthy guy so there is no need to be concerned
Im in no doubt that your receive your driver, just give it a little more time

he is very busy (as I read) and the driver should reach your house soon

I noticed the manual discrepency, too. My older v5 manuals were as you said showing the last resistor removed and now the new ones show it in place... very strange.

I've always found it best to set my drivers as per the specification on the current manual. I've never had problems with a FlexDrive that weren't my own fault.

Also, sometimes it does take a little while for the drivers to ship (although I have never waited more than a week) but the Dr. is a trustworthy guy. If you have any concerns just send him an e-mail and I'm sure he'll get back to you.

I ordered a batch of flexdrives on Monday and he shipped them yesterday. I did not order through his sales page but through his Paypal account.:beer:

I had some conversations with him about two weeks ago and he said he has been very busy with some projector project he has been working on over @ PL.

^I would imagine he is busy, and that's fine, but it's bad business to ship immediately for some people and take nearly forever for others, ignore their PMs and emails, and offer absolutely no explanation. I must have messaged, emailed and PMed him six times before I got a single response. I was told he would combine shipping on my items and ship them off as soon as he was able. 3 days later, still no shipment or any indication that they would ever ship. It's a bit disrespectful if you ask me. Sorry, I'm not going to kiss any ass. I'm going to call it as I see it.. (not saying anyone in this thread is kissing ass).

I guess the bottom line is that it's his business. He can hold up shipping orders for as many people as he likes as long as the lost business doesn't bother him. It would bother me, but I'm just lil old me.

I was just letting people know how my last order went and the info from my last conversation from him. Not making excuses. I would be pissed as well if I were in your position. I was also going to suggest email as I have had better luck in contacting him that way. But it appears that you have already gone down that road.:beer:

To my knowledge I'm not the only person having issues, as is evidenced by the OP. I don't know if it matters what system you use to pay or what.

I'm happy for those people who have had stuff shipped out within a few days or even a week.. but 3 weeks to a month or more? Come on..

Who knows.. maybe I'm overreacting. The last time we spoke drlava seemed more than happy to fix the situation, but then I waited a few more days and nothing happened whatsoever. It's just frustrating. Maybe in the future he'll find more time and this will all be long forgotten. Until then my money goes only to paypal sellers.

Well this seems odd, I do hope things get worked out for you EF and others,
sometimes things just fall through the cracks no matter how hard we work to make it other wise.
I trust Dr.Lava will make it right for everone !

I'm of two minds on this one.
One one hand his product is fantastic, well packaged, fast shipping (once it GETS to the postal system) and he seems like a decent sort.
On the other hand, I had a defective flexdrive and was told "I can't help you", he uses google instead of paypal (to avoid fees, I get it) and he takes FOREVER to respond to emails.
I saw his product in a laser website and they were the same price.
The longest he took to ship was 2 weeks from payment (xmas, can't fault him for that)
The longest he took to answer the problem I had with the flexdrive (which wasn't an answer so much as a "your problem") was almost 3 weeks....
Strikes me as the interwebs should be faster than the postal system :na:
The only complaint I really have is the driver, I understand that they are a component and the laser built with it can't be warrantied but the component specifically was the problem.
~4V in, dummy load out: nothing.
Tested everything with probes/DMM: Zero continuity on the negative side.
By the time I tested and tried everything, the driver was toast (always have a load connected kiddies)
This wasn't my 1st BBQ and I take ESD precautions.
Electronic components aren't perfectly built 100% of the time but for $26USD I expected him to stand behind this product.

I don't want to be misunderstood. Drlava has done right by me MANY times in the past, and he's always nice and professional whenever we correspond. It's unfortunate that he's so busy ATM. It seems like it might be affecting his business, and being on the receiving end of it can be frustrating.

It's too bad he doesn't sell through o-like, rayfoss, etc.
It would free him up to work on the great projects he has.
I need to find a way to become independently wealthy so that I can work on MY projects XD

I too have had a lot of trouble with orders being slow to ship, and inquiries taking several days to be responded to (or it taking several inquiries to get a response).

In the end, the products have always shown up, and what great products they are. I will of course continue to buy them since they're pretty much the only game in town.

I'm currently waiting on 50 FlexDrives ordered on Dec 22nd. Google Checkout tells me they shipped out yesterday (Friday the 7th), only after I asked about them on the 5th.

I will definitely be anticipating more lead time when it comes time to order another round.

He just shipped my flexdrive!! Now im really expecting it to arrive in portugal next week or so, and then my parents wil have to ship it to germany...damn! i just want to see the 445 lase!

I understood it was Xmas vacations, so i waited longer...i really did not bother much...its just i knew he was normally a very fast shipper, and it was strange for not hearing really anything... And as i read (but it was old...like middle 2010) that maybe dr lava would stop doing V5s and start working on some new ones, that i asked if the website was there but no orders could be made...but then i found some people had received some right at the beggining of Dec so i really dunno what to think.

But its coming now

I was a bit worried when I ordered mine too, took him a little more than a week to ship, didn't answer my PM or contact via google checkout, but he did ship it. I am sure it will be here, he is probably a really busy guy, after all this is a hobby. He probably has a family/job and all that, besides, where else will you get a v5 flexdrive for less than $26 shipped?