KMitch
0
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2015
- Messages
- 56
- Points
- 18
I wanted to write a review for awhile, but I decided to hold off until I had access to a LPM. That opportunity came this weekend at the Texas Petawatt Laser Facility where I got to meter my 3 portable lasers. This review of the Optotronics Premium +10mW green laser is my first review on this board, so please be gentle :beer:
Shipping was extremely fast. I ordered directly from the Optotronics website on June 26. On June 27, my order was shipped out and on June 29 it arrived at my apartment. The laser was shipped in a small box, and was well-protected from shock. Printed on the manual was a handwritten note with the tested power of the laser, which was noted at 15mW. The laser takes (2) AAA batteries that you insert with the positive end towards the tail cap, and it turned on without issue.
The build quality is decent, but I have a few complaints. The button is not too sturdy, and sometimes I need to press down while slightly pulling back to get a stable beam. The threaded ring that you unscrew to insert the batteries actually came off after a couple weeks (see picture), and I had to put it back in place with epoxy. The lens is housed deeply (approx. 1 cm) inside plastic, which is nice for protection, but I prefer to have access to the lens so I can wipe it off when it gets dirty. After awhile of use, I started to get "wings" on my laser, and while a quick blast with compressed air reduced them, I'll need to do an alcohol clean at some point.
The crystals like it hot, and the laser takes about 2 minutes to fully warm up. When it does, the beam is clearly visible at night, though my camera couldn't seem to pick it up. I could even see the beam indoors in the daytime (see photo). However, this lasted for only about 10 minutes with fresh Alkaline batteries. This quickly got frustrating, so I built a dummy battery by drilling a hole into a wooden rod, pushing a copper tube through the middle, and wrapping the outside in tape as you saw in the first picture. The real battery was changed to a 10440 3.7V Li-ion to give it an extra boost of 0.5V. This worked remarkably well, and the beam remained bright until the battery was fully discharged.
Beam quality is great with a measured divergence of 0.656 mRad (5 mm diameter at 3.048 m, and 13 mm diameter at 15.24 m) that I measured several times against some fine grain black sandpaper. I was confused about the power because Optotronics metered this at 15mW, yet I could smoke electrical tape and put tiny pinholes through it (see picture). I could also burn through a nitrile glove in my laboratory, but could not light a match that was painted black. I metered the laser using a Scientech LPM and was surprised to see it read 54.5mW.
Overall, I'd say excellent experience with purchasing, lightning fast shipping, decent host with some build quality issues, excellent divergence, and way overspec though this might be the result of my battery modification.
Shipping was extremely fast. I ordered directly from the Optotronics website on June 26. On June 27, my order was shipped out and on June 29 it arrived at my apartment. The laser was shipped in a small box, and was well-protected from shock. Printed on the manual was a handwritten note with the tested power of the laser, which was noted at 15mW. The laser takes (2) AAA batteries that you insert with the positive end towards the tail cap, and it turned on without issue.
The build quality is decent, but I have a few complaints. The button is not too sturdy, and sometimes I need to press down while slightly pulling back to get a stable beam. The threaded ring that you unscrew to insert the batteries actually came off after a couple weeks (see picture), and I had to put it back in place with epoxy. The lens is housed deeply (approx. 1 cm) inside plastic, which is nice for protection, but I prefer to have access to the lens so I can wipe it off when it gets dirty. After awhile of use, I started to get "wings" on my laser, and while a quick blast with compressed air reduced them, I'll need to do an alcohol clean at some point.
The crystals like it hot, and the laser takes about 2 minutes to fully warm up. When it does, the beam is clearly visible at night, though my camera couldn't seem to pick it up. I could even see the beam indoors in the daytime (see photo). However, this lasted for only about 10 minutes with fresh Alkaline batteries. This quickly got frustrating, so I built a dummy battery by drilling a hole into a wooden rod, pushing a copper tube through the middle, and wrapping the outside in tape as you saw in the first picture. The real battery was changed to a 10440 3.7V Li-ion to give it an extra boost of 0.5V. This worked remarkably well, and the beam remained bright until the battery was fully discharged.
Beam quality is great with a measured divergence of 0.656 mRad (5 mm diameter at 3.048 m, and 13 mm diameter at 15.24 m) that I measured several times against some fine grain black sandpaper. I was confused about the power because Optotronics metered this at 15mW, yet I could smoke electrical tape and put tiny pinholes through it (see picture). I could also burn through a nitrile glove in my laboratory, but could not light a match that was painted black. I metered the laser using a Scientech LPM and was surprised to see it read 54.5mW.
Overall, I'd say excellent experience with purchasing, lightning fast shipping, decent host with some build quality issues, excellent divergence, and way overspec though this might be the result of my battery modification.
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