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- Feb 28, 2008
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Well, yesterday the mail carrier knocked on my door with a package I have long been waiting for - my 593nm 3mw LaserGlow Rigel pointer. I barely had time to find some old batteries in a drawer and fire it up for a few minutes before I had to leave for the afternoon. But as soon as I turned it on I heard a stampede of cat feet coming up the stairs! The beam was brighter than I had expected it would be, even in daylight, and my cats found it most interesting.
So, yesterday evening I waited until it got dark, and went out in my garage and fired up the fog machine. Even without fog it's still quite bright in a dark room - every bit as bright as my WL Core (5mw or less, not sure the exact output on that one). I also fired up my argon laser (and turned the power down, just high enough for it to go multi-line) to take some comparison beam shots and diffraction grating pics.
First pic is the laser case - this is about the nifty-est laser case I have - I mean I like WL's dragon case but this is totally professional looking (and a safe place to keep the laser).
And the laser itself (looks a lot like a CNI pointer):
First beam shot is a color comparison - the various colors of the multi-line argon + my HeNe, my Core and of course the Rigel:
A diffraction grating pic with the argon, the Core and off to the side the Rigel:
The beam of the Rigel by itself, with some fog:
A couple shots of the Core and Rigel hitting a white surface:
My argon (powered down to single-line operation, looking almost like a 473nm blue!), the Core and Rigel:
And finally, my favorite shot of the night - the Rigel's beam passing thru a glass paperweight.
I have found this laser (despite the fickle-ness of yellow lasers) to be very stable - no color shifts, ran fine on used batteries (I did go to the store this afternoon and get some new ones), though it did need a slight warm-up tonight before it brightened up to match the Core in brightness. Seems to run quite well at around 80F room temperature.
So yes I'm very happy with this laser and I want to thank Glenn (Scope Guy) for arranging this Laser Glow group buy!
So, yesterday evening I waited until it got dark, and went out in my garage and fired up the fog machine. Even without fog it's still quite bright in a dark room - every bit as bright as my WL Core (5mw or less, not sure the exact output on that one). I also fired up my argon laser (and turned the power down, just high enough for it to go multi-line) to take some comparison beam shots and diffraction grating pics.
First pic is the laser case - this is about the nifty-est laser case I have - I mean I like WL's dragon case but this is totally professional looking (and a safe place to keep the laser).
And the laser itself (looks a lot like a CNI pointer):
First beam shot is a color comparison - the various colors of the multi-line argon + my HeNe, my Core and of course the Rigel:
A diffraction grating pic with the argon, the Core and off to the side the Rigel:
The beam of the Rigel by itself, with some fog:
A couple shots of the Core and Rigel hitting a white surface:
My argon (powered down to single-line operation, looking almost like a 473nm blue!), the Core and Rigel:
And finally, my favorite shot of the night - the Rigel's beam passing thru a glass paperweight.
I have found this laser (despite the fickle-ness of yellow lasers) to be very stable - no color shifts, ran fine on used batteries (I did go to the store this afternoon and get some new ones), though it did need a slight warm-up tonight before it brightened up to match the Core in brightness. Seems to run quite well at around 80F room temperature.
So yes I'm very happy with this laser and I want to thank Glenn (Scope Guy) for arranging this Laser Glow group buy!
I didn't expect a 3mw 593 to be that bright either. maybe it's overpowered? 
