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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Another Warnlaser victim

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Feb 22, 2011
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Wish I'd perused your forum a little sooner than I did. Ordered a 300mw 808nm from WarnLaser. First Delay: "Spring Festival, back in office by 08 Feb.", plausible since it was the Chinese new year. Second Delay: "Didn't receive the money". Complete horse crap. Only way they knew of an order was by PayPal notification, which includes the funds. Sent the necessary documents to straighten them out. Third Delay (on 13 Feb.) "Spring Festival". Hmmmm-- not good. Waited 1 week for the shipper's reference number to show up on DHL's site. Package arrived today, 21 Feb. Didn't even bother to box it. Just a case in a plastic bag. Cheapest possible packaging. And inside the case... Well, the only document said 532nm, 5mw, definitely not what I ordered. Inserted batteries, and out comes red, not green light. Well, sort of light. Can't see the spot in a lighted room beyond 2 feet. The absolute cheapest, shoddiest, red pointer imaginable, something you could get for $5 anywhere. So you can add my feeble suckerhood to the collection of WarnLaser cautions in your cache.

I'd be mighty thrilled to see a list of reputable suppliers. Basically want the most reliable mw I can get for $200-400, red, 532nm, or 450nm. TIA

StandingWave
 
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Fill a dispute with paypal.. that could help..
Thanks for writing all of this to us.
 

Plan B

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Ordered a 300mw 808nm from WarnLaser. Inserted batteries, and out comes red, not green light. Well, sort of light. Can't see the spot in a lighted room beyond 2 feet.

I'm confused??? 808nm is an infrared wavelength not red (630-670nm) or green (532nm). I've never played around with a 808nm laser but with it being out of the visual spectrum I imagine 300mW would look similar to what you described. Does the dot look pinkish to you? Please do be careful!!! There could be 300 very dangerous mW's of light coming from that pointer that you can't really see. It's very easy to flash yourself or others when you can't see the light. I'm not surprised at all by the packaging. It's pretty typical for this style of company.
 
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He bought a 300mW 808nm laser, received a 5mW labelled 532nm laser, and turned it up, a 1mW 660nm laser showed up. That is called scam. :(
 
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Nov 17, 2009
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Leodashan : Are you sure he isn't just seeng the very dim 808 red emission? I'd bargain on that more, since that's what he ordered...

StandingWave --

-- You ordered 808nm.. You do realize thats "Near IR", not red, right? 808nm is a very dim red light.

That pointer may very well be doing 300mW of 808. If so, you also may be hurting your eyes...

For actual red you're going to want 680-635nm.

Here's how to test what you've got. Use a cel phone camera and look at the beam. If it's bright and pink, you've got essentially what you've ordered: a high powered 808nm laser.

Now what I do know, is that included instructions AND descriptions on websites are often inaccurate on the chinese sites. So they may have claimed it was "red" and not IR.

If it really IS an 808nm 300mW laser, it's not really worthless; just not what you wanted. You could probably sell it here if that ends up being what it is, and if you can get the output measured.
 
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Dec 12, 2010
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WELCOME to the LPF Community


808 nm is IR, so your eye can't see that wavelength very well, But what your seeing is typical. And Ware Goggles for that Exact nm that your using. Don't blind yourself.

Did You mean 445 nm instead of 450 nm? 635 nm - 650 nm is red. 532 nm is Green. And the 445 nm is Blue.

Use the Search Bar and you should find out anything else you need. But If you still can't find it then post the question.
 

burner

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Dec 31, 2010
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It's always risking ordering from overseas. There are plenty of good sellers that won't burn you. Live and learn i guess.
 
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@burner
Live and learn, or live and be a member of LPF. I've never got scammed buying overseas. Thats just me tho.
 

burner

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@ Leodahsan
Exactly. I figured since they found LPF to post this, they are now facing in the right direction. Its tough having to learn through getting burned or by other costly mistakes. It's great having a forum or people that care and are down to help with questions and problems.
 
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Unfortunately (IMO) people come to LPF searching a review of a ~100mW laser, and goes out with a 2W laser in their hands. Most the times, first timers. That is pretty nasty imho...
 

Plan B

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He bought a 300mW 808nm laser, received a 5mW labelled 532nm laser, and turned it up, a 1mW 660nm laser showed up. That is called scam. :(

Ya Leo, I saw the part about the improper labeling. I figured maybe it's something the company slaps on all their lasers to get them by USA and other sticky customs offices. If the label said 300mW he might not have got it at all.
 

Plan B

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Unfortunately (IMO) people come to LPF searching a review of a ~100mW laser, and goes out with a 2W laser in their hands. Most the times, first timers. That is pretty nasty imho...

That's pretty much how it happened for me... In a little over a month I upgraded from a 5mw astronomy pen to a 1.2w 445 with a few other stops on the way up. I respect the dangers of all my lasers but anything over 1w in the hands of a beginner is just asking for trouble. It's seems most people on LPF have a good head on their shoulders and would practice safety procedures. I worry for the naive and the stupid.
 
Joined
Sep 19, 2010
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I'd be mighty thrilled to see a list of reputable suppliers. Basically want the most reliable mw I can get for $200-400, red, 532nm, or 450nm. TIA

StandingWave

Some reputable suppliers I can think of off the top of my head are.

CNI
DragonLasers
Novalasers
Jetlasers
Laserglow

o-like (cheaper than those listed above)


If you can wait a bit you should wait for a group buy. You can get a very nice laser at a discounted price.
 
Joined
Feb 22, 2011
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This is no 300mw laser. Spot is bright red, not pink, beam not visible and spreads out to greater than 25mm width in just a few feet. 808nm is at the edge of visibility, and would be very easy to see on white background at 300mw. Not sensible on skin at point blank range, and uses 2 AAA batteries, not an 18650. Like the dude says-- it's a scam. Shame on me.
 
Joined
Sep 16, 2007
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This is no 300mw laser. Spot is bright red, not pink, beam not visible and spreads out to greater than 25mm width in just a few feet. 808nm is at the edge of visibility, and would be very easy to see on white background at 300mw. Not sensible on skin at point blank range, and uses 2 AAA batteries, not an 18650. Like the dude says-- it's a scam. Shame on me.


Just so you know, "808nm" refers to the laser's wavelength, which corresponds to it's "color." 808nm is near infrared. 660nm is red. 532nm is green.

That sounds like an 808nm laser to me.

808nm appears to be a dim cherry red. At 300mW it would be dimmer than a red keychain pointer. Humans' eyes are not very responsive to 808nm.
The beam is usually very elliptical or rectangular.
Also, as mentioned, if you view the laser's beam with a cell phone camera or other digital camera, it will usually appear on the LCD as a pink, purplish, or white.

For your own safety, check to be sure.
 
Joined
Jan 9, 2011
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If it was really 300mw, it will immediately feel as hot on the skin. It does not. Even a 50 mw laser can be felt producing a significant amount of heat.
 




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