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488nm Sanwu pocket review

jnrpop

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Hi everyone,

Heres a little review of the recent addition to Sanwu's products. The 488nm pocket.

Order: Sanwu 488nm Pocket with G7 lens (nm measured)

Ordered 3/4, Arrived 23/4. 20 days, a few of those spent in customs :D
Paid: $85usd, $10 for the G7 lens and $5 for postage. $100usd total :beer:

Quality: Amazing machining on the S/S host, sections screw together firmly and are seamless. Press "fire" button is great, feels solid and has a loud click.

Diode: Uses the new Sharp GH04850B2G diode, and has SB308B292 printed around the diodes window.

Color: No hint of green in the color at all, id say its definately 488nm, baby sky blue.

Output: Raw output matches closely with Sharps other recent releases, i would say a "rough" output profile, with the typical box artifacts going on, bright outside ring lines. Not smooth and round like the PLT5-488 diode. Also the focused output through the 3E lens appeares to be slightly tilted. Maybe to reduce risk of back reflection? only noticeable when you defocus the output, it turns from a round dot to slightly oval shape.

Power: 60.8mW. My laser came with a 3 element lens fitted, and the G7 in a plastic bag. Im having trouble removing the 3 element, so until i figure out how without scratching it, i only have the LPM measurement with the 3E. Still cool to the touch with a 30sec on test

Critic: The threading in this host was quite dirty, i gave it a wipe over. The lens knob at the front of the housing wobbles abit when its slightly unscrewed.

Im using a Efest IMR10440 3.7v 350mah battery. It fits no problem.

And a few pictures :beer:

Thanks Sanwu for a great product, and a pleasent purchase! :D :beer: :drool:

A few links:
cyberdoc's review: https://laserpointerforums.com/f52/sanwu-488nm-g7-pocket-laser-review-102727.html#post1527326
The diode: https://laserpointerforums.com/f52/sharp-490nm-gh04850b2g-55mw-laser-diode-102603.html#post1523582
Output profile pics: https://laserpointerforums.com/f39/...teel-spiker-release-93166-67.html#post1527426
Ultracrepidarian's 488 Guardian: https://laserpointerforums.com/f39/...teel-spiker-release-93166-66.html#post1527333



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awesome complete laser,does it cost more to get a wavelengh mesured diode? seems very good deal for a complete laser,hope to enjoy this beautiful color :beer:
 

BowtieGuy

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Nice, looks like another satisfied Sanwu customer! :yh:
It looks like quite a good price that you picked up this 488nm for.
:gj: +rep!
 
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Joined
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Hi everyone,

Heres a little review of the recent addition to Sanwu's products. The 488nm pocket.

Order: Sanwu 488nm Pocket with G7 lens (nm measured)

Ordered 3/4, Arrived 23/4. 20 days, a few of those spent in customs :D
Paid: $85usd, $10 for the G7 lens and $5 for postage. $100usd total :beer:

Quality: Amazing machining on the S/S host, sections screw together firmly and are seamless. Press "fire" button is great, feels solid and has a loud click.

Diode: Uses the new Sharp GH04850B2G diode, and has SB308B292 printed around the diodes window.

Color: No hint of green in the color at all, id say its definately 488nm, baby sky blue.

Output: Raw output matches closely with Sharps other recent releases, i would say a "rough" output profile, with the typical box artifacts going on, bright outside ring lines. Not smooth and round like the PLT5-488 diode. Also the focused output through the 3E lens appeares to be slightly tilted. Maybe to reduce risk of back reflection? only noticeable when you defocus the output, it turns from a round dot to slightly oval shape.

Power: 60.8mW. My laser came with a 3 element lens fitted, and the G7 in a plastic bag. Im having trouble removing the 3 element, so until i figure out how without scratching it, i only have the LPM measurement with the 3E. Still cool to the touch with a 30sec on test

Critic: The threading in this host was quite dirty, i gave it a wipe over. The lens knob at the front of the housing wobbles abit when its slightly unscrewed.

Im using a Efest IMR10440 3.7v 350mah battery. It fits no problem.

And a few pictures :beer:

Thanks Sanwu for a great product, and a pleasent purchase! :D :beer: :drool:
If you have a known wavelength laser such as 532 nm you can use that as the base reference to determine the wavelength of any other visible laser. YouTube has many such videos showing how to measure wavelength.
 

jnrpop

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awesome complete laser,does it cost more to get a wavelengh mesured diode? seems very good deal for a complete laser,hope to enjoy this beautiful color :beer:

Not that im aware off, this is the first time Sanwu has offered Spectrometer readings with thier lasers. No one has an answer yet if they tested the wavelength in-house or via third party. Podo offered that the pockets will be measured and the first release where the pockets with 488-489nm diodes :D

Nice, looks like another satisfied Sanwu customer! :yh:
It looks like quite a good price that you picked up this 488nm for.
:gj: +rep!

Definately, An incredible price :D when you think about it, i got 60mw of 488nm for $100, that in DPSS would be >$2000. Still pinching myself the day has come we have cheap diodes in the 473-510nm range :drool:

If you have a known wavelength laser such as 532 nm you can use that as the base reference to determine the wavelength of any other visible laser. YouTube has many such videos showing how to measure wavelength.

Thanks for the info :beer:
 
Joined
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Very nice review, Corey. I saw that several members ended up paying much more for their 488nm lasers. What LPM did you use to measure the power? Others have been anywhere from 42 mW to 50 mW. I am a bit concerned about these lasers holding to that 488nm wavelength. There is little heat sinking and these diodes tend to run hot.
 
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jnrpop

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Very nice review, Corey. I saw that several members ended up paying much more for their 488nm lasers. What LPM did you use to measure the power? Others have been anywhere from 42 mW to 50 mW. I am a bit concerned about these lasers holding to that 488nm wavelength. There is little heat sinking and these diodes tend to run hot.

Hi Paul, used my Hyperium.

I finally changed the lens to the G7, it took a pair of tweezers, and removing all the 3 Element optics in the barrel to remove it.......and heres why
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I ordered this laser with the G7 installed, so im happy i didn't scratch anything during the change.

And......not so much of a difference in power. was 60.8mw, now 68mw. And i can confirm the G7 lens also produces the box, the 3 element also but it was very minimal. If i was choosing a lens for a clean dot profile + diverence, go the 3 element with the pocket 488.
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I've had it on for 30+ seconds and it doesnt really get to hot :D

J :beer:
 

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The reason it doesn't feel hot is because steel is a poor thermal conductor. You can bet the diode is much hotter than the outside of the host.
 
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How does the color compare to the PLT5-488? Just curious :)

Paul, I wanted to test that with my thermal camera and my friend's 505nm pocket, however because it's all metal and glass, I can't actually get any temperature readings as all of the surfaces are too reflective and show the IR heat signatures from the surroundings. I could put something non reflective and thermally conductive on the side of the diode, but I don't want to risk breaking a laser that isn't mine.

That said, this thing gets HOT to the touch and FAST. I can only imagine the diode being much hotter. Can't really see a color difference with 505nm as it heats up but I imagine it's probably apparent on the 488s.
 
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On many of the other Sharp diodes I intentionally ran one hot to see how much they would increase in wavelength. Depending on the diode, that was anywhere from 5nm to 6nm. But, because I have been so busy I didn't do that yet with this particular diode. I think it is likely that these will also shift by at least 4nm with increasing heat. For this wavelength, that is a large shift.
 
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jnrpop

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How does the color compare to the PLT5-488? Just curious :)

I'd like to do a comparison soon of the two. Interestingly though, their is a slight visual color difference between the two, my pocket slightly even more blue than my plt5-488 :thinking:

Quite hard though to differentiate, as the pocket runs at 60mw, and my plt5-488 at 130mw. I'm considering disassembling my plt5-488 to check the current, and possibly turn it down to 150mA like it should be, if its not at 150ma already. If it is indeed higher than 150mA, the color could be slightly shifting up due to the heat/currrent etc.

I think these pocket 488's are running at/around 150mA also for the ~50mw output spec.

J
 
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It very well could be. The Vf on the PTL5-488 is as high or higher than the Sharp. If it was heat sinked well, it would likely stay cool enough, but if not, it is likely creeping up on you.
 

jnrpop

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Yes its incredible the color shift in this range of the spectrum, 2nm and its a new shade of blue, a collectors nightmare for trying to save money :crackup:

@ Paul, quick question, do you use a integration sphere when running spectro tests? Thanks.
 
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Unnecessary. I use a very good Ocean Optics NIR, VIS, UV fiber optic cable that makes it much easier to keep the light aligned properly to measure the center wavelength and any sides of the total linewidth.
 
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Awe nice of you to mention my pics. ^_^
Great review, 60mW is pretty awesome, mine peaked at 55mW.
 

jnrpop

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