rhd
0
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2010
- Messages
- 8,475
- Points
- 0
I figured I'd jump in front of the train and be the guinea pig for another run-of-the-mill cheap chinese gadget site. A few months back I took the plunge on a (then) $126 "power certified 300mW" 532nm green laser from DinoDirect. I didn't expect much, and was blown away when the laser beat it's advertised spec. The same seems to have proven true for subsequent purchases in that particular line of DD lasers.
Today I stumbled upon a similar scheme called "true power guaranteed" from a site called aHappyDeal dot-com. I've never ordered from them before, nor am I aware of any laser-related feedback about their items here on the forum. Like DinoDirect, not all of the lasers on aHappyDeal.com are power guaranteed. It appears to be a specific designation given to some of their lasers. Of course I'm sceptical, and go into this without any expectations. But at the very least, they seem to be aware of the need to measure output power, and are conscious of the fact that laser enthusiasts may purchase their lasers and meter them. From their product listing page:
It doesn't say anything about IR, so the first alert flag goes up.
My position is as follows:
- If the 532nm measures within 10% +/- of the claimed power, I'll consider the sale and their listing to be a legitimate success.
- If the 532nm + IR measures within 10% +/- of the claimed power, I'll consider the sale to be a failure, but I'll keep the laser and move on with life.
- If the 532nm + IR does not measure within 10% +/- of the claimed power, I'll seek an exchange or refund, and document the process here.
The Purchase:
* I've intentionally broken their URL, just in case they regularly google their own product URLs. This isn't foolproof of course, but I wanted to try and avoid them stumbling across this post, and then treating my order any differently.
http://www.ahappydeal-dot-com/products/product_31584.htm
"True Power Guaranteed 200mW 532nm"
- Typical host, we've all seen it before. Takes 1x 16340, included. Side clicky (my fav) host.
http://www.ahappydeal-dot-com/products/product_32316.htm
"True Power Guaranteed 200mW 532nm"
- Silver pen-styled hold. Takes 2x AAA. I'm left seriously questioning whether 2x AAA can provide the current required to produce 200mW of resulting 532, but we shall see.
Huge note: Shipping is not free with these guys. For the two lasers, shipped via EMS to Canada, it was $28. That's on top of the purchase price. They had a cheaper shipping option for $21, and one for $24. Total bill for the two lasers, all said and done, was $160. Basically $80 each. It's funny, my first reaction to the shipping charge was annoyance. "Argh, way to tack fees on at the end". However, in fairness, they never give you the impression that there won't be shipping fees, and were it not a cheap chinese gadget site, you'd expect to pay for shipping in any other situation.
Here's where I'll track the chronology:
May 23 - Order placed.
Today I stumbled upon a similar scheme called "true power guaranteed" from a site called aHappyDeal dot-com. I've never ordered from them before, nor am I aware of any laser-related feedback about their items here on the forum. Like DinoDirect, not all of the lasers on aHappyDeal.com are power guaranteed. It appears to be a specific designation given to some of their lasers. Of course I'm sceptical, and go into this without any expectations. But at the very least, they seem to be aware of the need to measure output power, and are conscious of the fact that laser enthusiasts may purchase their lasers and meter them. From their product listing page:
"The range of our laser pointers'power of the True Power Guaranteed series on our website is the true laser power tested by a professional tester, the range of this series's products power error is strictly controlled within 10%, laser enthusiasts can trustingly buy our this series's products. The following are the power tested scenes of a 200mw green laser pointer and a 500mw green laser flashlight."
It doesn't say anything about IR, so the first alert flag goes up.
My position is as follows:
- If the 532nm measures within 10% +/- of the claimed power, I'll consider the sale and their listing to be a legitimate success.
- If the 532nm + IR measures within 10% +/- of the claimed power, I'll consider the sale to be a failure, but I'll keep the laser and move on with life.
- If the 532nm + IR does not measure within 10% +/- of the claimed power, I'll seek an exchange or refund, and document the process here.
The Purchase:
* I've intentionally broken their URL, just in case they regularly google their own product URLs. This isn't foolproof of course, but I wanted to try and avoid them stumbling across this post, and then treating my order any differently.
http://www.ahappydeal-dot-com/products/product_31584.htm
"True Power Guaranteed 200mW 532nm"
- Typical host, we've all seen it before. Takes 1x 16340, included. Side clicky (my fav) host.
http://www.ahappydeal-dot-com/products/product_32316.htm
"True Power Guaranteed 200mW 532nm"
- Silver pen-styled hold. Takes 2x AAA. I'm left seriously questioning whether 2x AAA can provide the current required to produce 200mW of resulting 532, but we shall see.
Huge note: Shipping is not free with these guys. For the two lasers, shipped via EMS to Canada, it was $28. That's on top of the purchase price. They had a cheaper shipping option for $21, and one for $24. Total bill for the two lasers, all said and done, was $160. Basically $80 each. It's funny, my first reaction to the shipping charge was annoyance. "Argh, way to tack fees on at the end". However, in fairness, they never give you the impression that there won't be shipping fees, and were it not a cheap chinese gadget site, you'd expect to pay for shipping in any other situation.
Here's where I'll track the chronology:
May 23 - Order placed.
Last edited:
