LEDshoppe 50mW green underspec? Dissapointed.

Heya.
I recently bought a pointer advertised as 50mW from LEDshoppe. My excitement was enormous-- I was mainly planning to use this for sky pointing, and was expecting a highly visible beam not only at night but at dusk as well as indoors in moderate lighting. However, I am pretty dissapointed. From other people's reviews of the pointer, I was expecting a power somewhere between 35 and 80 mW. If I read right, a power of >35mW would be visible in a moderately light room and should punch through black trash bags.

Even after allowing the pointer to warm up a bit, and using fresh eneloops, the beam is totally drowned out if I turn on any lights in my apartment. I can see a dim beam outdoors, but even shining near a full moon washes out the beam. The laser didn't have a hope of poking a hole through a black garbage bag. Holding the dot against a steady point on my hand didn't even feel warm, and was bright though not dazzling. From those observations and reading around, it seems likely that this greenie is throwing maybe 10-15 mW of light, much less than I had planned for. Additionally, the shipping took a week longer than I estimated. LEDshoppe, I am disappoint.

Would it be worthwhile to contact them to see if I can get a refund/replacement? Somehow, I suspect being on the other side of the planet will make customer service a bit awkward.
Apart from fresh batteries and warming the laser up, are there other things I can do to get nearer the rated power output?

I hope I don't have to buy another pointer to compensate for the failings of this one; I'd rather spend my meagre undergrad budget on collecting more wavelengths. Advice?

I don't have any experience with LEDshoppe, yes, I've red tons of topics and reviews, where everybody say that their lasers are fantastic quality for such a price, but again... Don't be greedy. You get what you pay for. I understand your disappoitment, but next time invest more money for a good laser, that you wouldn't need to hurt your nerves with all the cheapy lasers. I bought my first "stronger" laser from DX 5mW true laser pointer, it was about 12$, and as I can remember, it was the most expensive 5mW laser, except dragon lasers and military grade lasers. But yeah, for those 12$ I received an awesome quality, while others could scream "Wahahahaha, idiot ! You bought a laser for double price ! You could buy from elsewhere, like ebay !"... Anyway, I suggest you to contact them. If they won't refund or give a replacement, then do what you want... You may buy another laser from other shop, or just try to enjoy the "50 mW" one... I would suggest you to buy from o-like or rayfoss, they have wonderful lasers, that would cost ~50$, and about 10-20$ for batteries and recharger. Or... You may buy a module from DX, and by using styropyro's guide - make a laser. But don't forget, if it says 200mW on DX, then it will probably be around 100mW ! But again - do it on your own safety. And you should get good safety glasses.

I ordered one quite some time ago, so i'm not sure they are still shipping the same product. The one i got was a bit overspec when driven from a solid 3 volt supply (60 mW or so), but one thing i noticed is that its beam diameter is larger than that of most green pointers. This may explain why it has trouble melting through plasic, and perhaps reduced beam visibility in ambient light as well.

I ordered one which I am still waiting on to arrive so I will see about posting a review on it after I get it, hopefully the ones way underspec are the rare exception but I'll let y'all know how mine works after it arrives.

(I just put a suggestion in the reviews section for ongoing "spec" polls on the more commonly bought models)

There’s a large thread for “$9 ebay green” or something to that effect. Exact same pens. 50mw seems to be the typical max power, can be higher but 50mw is good. There's also some info on how to drill and turn it up to max. May not be what you wanted to hear but the same pens are of a common cheap type. That being said, I have three, one is 54mw, one 47mw, the other 34mw (IIRC). Took the 34, drilled and turned it down to 5mw.

I personally wouldn't blame LEDshoppe, its a high volume/low cost/decent power output product. For the price they can't QC every one going out the door. Just buy from one of the cheaper vendors of the same product.

All mine appear to be the same brightness, so you really need to meter it to know what you have.

i got one like 2-3ish years ago, it might have been when they first started selling them. it was my first non-generic-2mW-red laser. it was pretty bad... i'd estimate no more than 20mW, probably more like 10-15mW. i was so surprised when i first started lurking the forums and everyone said they were overspec....

for LEDs, they're great. lasers, MEH.

Yeah, well.... maybe $25 for a 10mW isn't so bad, really. Guess I'm gonna keep looking, and, well, there isn't anything wrong with wrong with owning more lasers, is there?

ive bought many 50mw pointers from led shoppe (non lately) and always had good luck with them...out of the 50 or so that i bought over a year period prob. 5 where refunded back to me....usually i would order 5 50mw pointers with promo code 1560 (15% discount over 60.00)the savings is like getting another pointer for free and when you order over 100.00 you get express shipping for free(4days from china) alot better than 2weeks...if you make another order with them make sure you put in special notes to include extra 50mw laser due to broken laser on last order per customer service i swear they sent me an extra everytime lol they were very good about refunding lasers.....

Hmmm, interesting. Think it'd be worthwhile to pick up one of their 50mW 405's and ask about a replacement green?

for the price, you could get a $9 "5mW" 40mW ebay 405, and then a cheap 50mW focalprice greenie. I have both, and theyre great. why not inquire with Ledshoppe, and consider alternative sellers?

everytime i emailed customer service they always instructed me when reordering to leave message in notes to include extra laser.....i got to the point where i never emailed them i just left message in notes everytime i needed a refunded laser..never failed me !! i havnt bought from them in awhile cause i switched over to wlaser they are u.s. based distributer 2/3day shipping with tested lasers before shipping...7.00 overspec.5mw greens ususally 35plus mw

I was alternatively considering getting one of the 50 or 100 mW green pens from o-like. Do you have a link to that particular ebay deal?

sandidgepatrick, any specific model there, or can I contact wlasers and ask for a lpm reading before buying?

sandidge, thats hilarious

zero, after doing some searching the old link i used is dead, but the same seller has a different listing that offers the same thing, so... im guessing its the same? damn for under $8 shipped... 5mw Blue Laser Pointer For Teaching Business&Fun - eBay (item 110598296544 end time Nov-12-10 18:13:23 PST)

wlaser has taken there website down due to f.d.a. issues....he is still selling lasers on ebay just not advertising highpowered units.....yes you can contact him for verified output on specific lasers wlaserservice@gmail.com his name is bin yu make sure you tell him you are a l.p.f. member for discounted rate..

Site's up to me. Does he not ship to US?

For that price... I can spend $8 without thinking! Thanks, horhay!

aypal:


I was thinking I'd only get one or two lasers at first... then I realize that for cheap greens I might as well have a diverse stock and give some as gifts if I get to many.... pretty soon I'm prolly going to be saving up and trying to get access to my uni machine shop so I can make that custom 445 host...