Wicked Laser report - 10/17/11

I know there's not a lot of love here for WL, but I wanted to post my experience in case anyone is interested in my perspective.

I ordered an Arctic S3 on 9/28 when the system indicated they had 27 in stock. After refreshing the screen later in the day, the stock said "Out" and an estimate of 1-2 weeks before it would be replenished. Contacted WL to verify that my order was received before stock ran out, of course - I got the standard chain letter reply thanking me for contacting them, and no answer to my question. LOL

After two weeks, wrote to one of their customer service reps that now handles RMA returns, he said order looked to be on-track and should have it by the end of October. Oct 11, I get an e-mail from WL with a USPS priority mail, delivery confirmation tracking number. Oct 17, laser arrived.

So, 3 weeks from China to my door. That's not bad!

Build quality seems good, no marks or scuffs anywhere, lenses are clean and beam looks OK. A little on the "oval" side at range, a variable-focus lens attachment would be a nice to have.

No comments on power output, my LPM hasn't been ordered yet.

Greg

This will give you a little insight as to what we have
experienced and the consensus on the Forum....:beer:

33 Reasons NOT to Buy From Wicked Lasers


Jerry

Yeah, I've read through that list before. I've built my own 405nm and 650nm project boxes, but I saw a S3 in person and wanted it for the host as much as anything else. If the thing ever croaks I'll gut it and make a 2W out of it. =)

Some of the posts on that 33 and counting list are legitimate product quality gripes, but some are old (>1 year) shipping delay issues, some aren't related to the laser at all (e.g. battery problems, explosions in the chargers, etc) - Same stuff I've seen with other China manufacturers.

To be honest, when I ordered on 9/28 I didn't expect to get it before 1/1/2012. hehe

So, you're the LaserBee guy right? I'm going to be ordering a LB II or 3 soon. =)

Greg

No thread about a new WL purchase is complete without an lpm reading. Make sure to post it when you receive it.

magmabeam said:

No thread about a new WL purchase is complete without an lpm reading. Make sure to post it when you receive it.

Click to expand...

And try to make it several minutes long to test its long term stability.

If anyone is local to Baltimore/Washington area with a LPM, I could meet for a test. Any takers?

hammong said:

Some of the posts on that 33 and counting list are legitimate product quality gripes, but some are old (>1 year) shipping delay issues, some aren't related to the laser at all (e.g. battery problems, explosions in the chargers, etc) - Same stuff I've seen with other China manufacturers.
Greg

Click to expand...

While WL may not have made the batteries they are the ones who included cheap as dog shit batteries in there product. Then when the guy with the exploding batteries contacted WL they blew him off.

sopark4000 said:

when the guy with the exploding battery contacted WL they blew him off.

Click to expand...

Nice pun.

hehehehe I couldn't help myself

Mine came with a red-skinned Sanyo 18650, and a generic chinese Li-Ion charger. Not sure what the capacity of my cell is, didn't look up the part number yet.

Can this laser burn?You didn't buy the 1w one did you?

BTW said:

Can this laser burn?You didn't buy the 1w one did you?

Click to expand...

The S3 Arctic only comes as one model, advertised as 1W. The consensus on the WL forums and elsewhere of course is that they tend to run 640-750 mW when tested.

Yes, it burns well - on high power it will scorch leaves and ignite dark paper and plastic unfocused at six feet in my tests. Focused it's like a small torch.

One more question
Is the "1w" arctic the same power as the "300mw" krypton?
(I like green better) :drool:

The S3 Arctic is going to burn better with it's approximately 750 mW of output than the approximately 300 mW outout of the lowest level Krypton. The Krypton, however, is going to appear much brighter. The human eye sees 532nm green with better response than 455nm blue. No doubt about it. Arctic = more powerful, Krypton = brighter.

Greg

hammong said:

No comments on power output, my LPM hasn't been ordered yet.

Click to expand...

That's the million dollar question.

I checked out some videos and it seems that they have over-estimated the power on wicked laser's site.