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1 Watt Blue Spartan FINALLY HERE!

arm94

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Dec 31, 2010
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Hello all,

Today my 1 Watt Spartan from Dragonlasers finally arrived. This has easily been one of the best days of my life! I will be reviewing the Spartan along with Dragonlasers below. (by the way this is my first review so please be nice)



Purchased:
1 Watt Blue Spartan (447nm) $239.99
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and Safety Goggles (190-584nm) x2 $24.99 each
-the goggles came in a soft case and with a cleaning rag
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Shipment:

I ordered my laser and the goggles from Dragonlasers on Monday, January 3, 2011. The day after my order I received and email from Frank on behalf of dragonlasers. He said that since my billing and shipping address were different, I would need to provide proof of identification by scanning/taking a picture of an identification card and the credit card used for the purchase. My parents found this to be an unusual request so they just had the laser shipped to the billing address. This back-and-forth conversation added an extra day to the shipment process. I would highly recommend that if you decide to purchase you either ship to the billing address or you prepare to send in proof of identification so no time is loss. Despite this "hiccup" in the shipping process the laser arrived on time, Friday, January 21, 2011.

This is the adorned box that it came in...(quite interesting if I may say so myself)
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Design:
The Spartan has a very simple design and is measured at right around 7.5 inches. Although criticized much on the forums, the simplicity is kind of nice and grew on me after a few hours.
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The Spartan has 2 (front and back) removable caps and runs on 2 CR123A batteries. I am using Energizer Lithiums rated at 3.0 volts and they work perfectly. The front cap is a pretty large hole that leads right to the diode. The back cap features a recessed snap on/off switch that appears durable.

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There are a couple of things that concern me however with the design. Firstly, i am very worried about the front cap. As you can see from the picture there is literally nothing protecting the diode except for the quite large aperture. I was thinking about trying to get a rubber cap that I might be able to slip on during non-usage. Any ideas?

Another thing that i am worried about is actually related to one of my own modifications. The duty cycle on the Spartan is great, after a couple minutes of use I feel warmness radiating off the device so I turn it off just to be safe. However i did find a flashlight sleeve that i was able to slip on the Spartan host and it works great because i can attach it to a lanyard and stick a few fingers in the loop so i can be sure to have a good grip on the laser. The sleeve is a tight fitting rubbery material and i was wondering if that would hinder the dissipation of heat from the host (pics below). The last thing i need is for my new laser to overheat.
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Review:

Spartan:
I absolutely love this laser. Before this purchase i had been using an Aries 125mw laser. The Aries is a very bright laser and powerful to, but the Spartan blows it out of the water. The beam is much much brighter. I am also quite surprised with the heat that the Spartan throws off. From the other side of the room, my skin warms very very quickly. All in all i love the laser and would be happy to answer any specific questions you have about it.

Beam shots below with more to come... (taking with regular shutter speed and no smoke/fog)

all taken in a room with lights on and no smoke

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Last edited:





X FLY

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Joined
Aug 18, 2009
Messages
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Nice review and very good, clear pics :) +rep

PS. Update your signature :p
 
Joined
Feb 5, 2008
Messages
6,252
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Do not worry about heat dissipation with(out) the rubber grip (I like that very much, BTW).

Your laser is very nice. Do not worry about the front cap detail either, no need for rubber caps to protect the lens (not the diode, which is inside, under the lens).

I also like the Spartan host very much, though as I'se seen there are two variants, but only different in minor details.

I like your beamshots very much, they appear very realistic (concerning the brightness and opacity of the beam shown). What kind of camera are you using?

Also, any chances of beamshot comparisons of your two lasers?
 
Joined
Feb 5, 2008
Messages
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Points
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I hope you are not shining the beam on yourself! BAD idea.
It's not exactly a lightsaber, you know! Calm down, he's perfectly safe.

The only thing that would leave a mark, literally, if you'd hold the hand in the beam very close to the aperture for few seconds straight, very calmly.

You'd have trouble doing that, since after a second your skin would burn so bad you could not force yourself to leave the hand still anymore.

He also ordered not one, but two pairs of goggles with that laser. I'd trust him to know what's he doing with it.
 




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