Trevor
0
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2009
- Messages
- 4,386
- Points
- 113
Okay, so at this point I’m pretty sure most of you are aware that I’ve been working with Ian of AwesomeLasers, trying to get the company on track again. This actually culminated in me making a trip up to their facilities this past weekend. I’d like to provide a brief, relatively disorganized summary here so that people know where the company is, and where they’re trying to go.
First things first, Dave is gone. He’s reached the point of being a really bad joke among the employees there. The company is definitely not any sort of front for Mr. Todeschini.
I spent a few hours working with the designer of their “pill,” discussing things like heat management, drive current, lifetime expectations, and many other unrelated things. He’s quite an interesting guy – he’s been in embedded development for some thirty years, so I found talking to him especially interesting and informative.
One of the things that I was particularly curious about was the driver. When I talked to Tom (the designer / engineer type), he told me that the driver was a buck driver. This, of course, means that instead of delivering more current the more voltage is supplied, it just draws less current from the supply to give longer battery life. However, every time I talked to Ian he talked all about how the lasers would get more powerful when you added a third battery.
This always troubled me, as these two things I thought were mutually exclusive. From talking to Tom more in-depth, I found that it’s a buck driver that has some linearity to it. So, when you add 50% more supply voltage you get about 5-10% more power out. I let Ian know that a large sample of lasers will need to be tested and graphed according to Vin and Pout so that the “more batteries means more power and more battery life” can be properly noted.
I also briefed him extensively on what the hobbyist community is looking for out of a laser and how easy it is to lose one’s reputation as a seller of lasers. I told him that every reputable company we deal with – Laserglow, Optotronics, CNI, Viasho, Laser Wave, and many others – always delivers lasers slightly or very overspec. Plus or minus is not acceptable – it MUST stay at or above the rated power over the rated duty cycle.
I made sure that he knew that even playing the card of natural variations in laser diodes is not going to be an acceptable excuse for a laser coming in under rated power – they need to be binned for output so that a customer always gets what they pay for.
I explained that the hobbyist community cannot be won over by a few up-to-or-over-spec review units – especially if it surfaces later that an underspec laser has been shipped to a customer. I explained that many people do own LPM’s – LaserBees, Kenometers, meters by nospin, and even a handful of professional systems by Coherent or Newport – and that people can and will test lasers themselves or send them to people who can.
I explained that as little as one negative review can uncover what’s really going on or what’s really being shipped out – and that that one negative review can completely destroy a company’s reputation. I explained that keeping those negative reviews from happening means delivering a product that is qualitatively and quantitatively up-to-par.
I also sold him my Kenometer Pro with LumenOS installed. So, he is now completely equipped to deliver a product that meets rated specifications – in fact, with such equipment there is no excuse not to.
Conclusions / TL;DR
I took a hard line with Ian and explained exactly what our expectations are as hobbyists. He knows that in order to function within this market, he must meet and exceed these expectations. He knows that if he does not, the talk here about his company will be quite negative – and since LPF is highly ranked in Google searches, it will eat away at or altogether cease sales.
He’s now equipped with the right knowledge and tools to perform at the level that we require, but it is his responsibility to run with it.
I’m sharing all this so that people at least know what’s going on if or when the name “AwesomeLasers” starts to crop up more than it used to. Since we know what used to be the deal with them, it’s helpful to know what is now the case and where it seems they’re trying to go.
-Trevor
First things first, Dave is gone. He’s reached the point of being a really bad joke among the employees there. The company is definitely not any sort of front for Mr. Todeschini.
I spent a few hours working with the designer of their “pill,” discussing things like heat management, drive current, lifetime expectations, and many other unrelated things. He’s quite an interesting guy – he’s been in embedded development for some thirty years, so I found talking to him especially interesting and informative.
One of the things that I was particularly curious about was the driver. When I talked to Tom (the designer / engineer type), he told me that the driver was a buck driver. This, of course, means that instead of delivering more current the more voltage is supplied, it just draws less current from the supply to give longer battery life. However, every time I talked to Ian he talked all about how the lasers would get more powerful when you added a third battery.
This always troubled me, as these two things I thought were mutually exclusive. From talking to Tom more in-depth, I found that it’s a buck driver that has some linearity to it. So, when you add 50% more supply voltage you get about 5-10% more power out. I let Ian know that a large sample of lasers will need to be tested and graphed according to Vin and Pout so that the “more batteries means more power and more battery life” can be properly noted.
I also briefed him extensively on what the hobbyist community is looking for out of a laser and how easy it is to lose one’s reputation as a seller of lasers. I told him that every reputable company we deal with – Laserglow, Optotronics, CNI, Viasho, Laser Wave, and many others – always delivers lasers slightly or very overspec. Plus or minus is not acceptable – it MUST stay at or above the rated power over the rated duty cycle.
I made sure that he knew that even playing the card of natural variations in laser diodes is not going to be an acceptable excuse for a laser coming in under rated power – they need to be binned for output so that a customer always gets what they pay for.
I explained that the hobbyist community cannot be won over by a few up-to-or-over-spec review units – especially if it surfaces later that an underspec laser has been shipped to a customer. I explained that many people do own LPM’s – LaserBees, Kenometers, meters by nospin, and even a handful of professional systems by Coherent or Newport – and that people can and will test lasers themselves or send them to people who can.
I explained that as little as one negative review can uncover what’s really going on or what’s really being shipped out – and that that one negative review can completely destroy a company’s reputation. I explained that keeping those negative reviews from happening means delivering a product that is qualitatively and quantitatively up-to-par.
I also sold him my Kenometer Pro with LumenOS installed. So, he is now completely equipped to deliver a product that meets rated specifications – in fact, with such equipment there is no excuse not to.
Conclusions / TL;DR
I took a hard line with Ian and explained exactly what our expectations are as hobbyists. He knows that in order to function within this market, he must meet and exceed these expectations. He knows that if he does not, the talk here about his company will be quite negative – and since LPF is highly ranked in Google searches, it will eat away at or altogether cease sales.
He’s now equipped with the right knowledge and tools to perform at the level that we require, but it is his responsibility to run with it.
I’m sharing all this so that people at least know what’s going on if or when the name “AwesomeLasers” starts to crop up more than it used to. Since we know what used to be the deal with them, it’s helpful to know what is now the case and where it seems they’re trying to go.
-Trevor
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