Anyone got any words on Coherent Laser Check?

http://www.coherent.com/Lasers/index.cfm?fuseaction=show.page&id=250&loc=830

Anyone got any words on these laser power meters? I was looking around and for a new time buyer, it should be a good first choice. But I was wondering about it's reliability in giving accurate readings. Any input is apreciated...

Coherent lasercheck=fail
Mine is inaccurate by 15-20% and even the good ones suck at measuring blu-ray output.

So how much are you looking at spending to get something that's at least accurate enough to judge a lasers power?

Check out the thread by Daguin on the "thermal" unit he bought - it is the same as Jake21's - they are mostly accurate, and can be calibrated by any of us that have a true thermal unit, like the Kenometer. Kenom also can enable the backlight, as well as placing it in a nice case for a minimal charge...like the way I just volunteer others ? Any optical based meter is not going to be as accurate as a thermal unit, simply because you must manually set the wavelength you are measuring - and if you are off a few nm's the readings can be VERY different from reality - whereas the thermal units measure the power much more accurately.

SenKat_Stonetek said:

Any optical based meter is not going to be as accurate as a thermal unit, simply because you must manually set the wavelength you are measuring - and if you are off a few nm's the readings can be VERY different from reality - whereas the thermal units measure the power much more accurately.

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I should have a couple of (or at least one) Scientech units (analog meters w/ thermopiles) available this weekend. I need to check them out first, but they should end up less than $200 each. If you can hang on a couple of days, I'll post as soon as I get them inspected.

Peace,
dave

Nice! Can you go a little deeper into what it actually is you're getting?

VW said:

Nice! Can you go a little deeper into what it actually is you're getting?

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Sure. The first I'm getting is an "upgrade" for me. If it checks out my current unit will be up for sale. Here is the review on it:

http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1210352574

The second (which may not be here yet this weekend) is a Scientech 364 with a Scientech 360001 thermopile



I promise you'll know as soon as I know the new units are OK.

Peace,
dave

Dave - that is awesome

here is my meter, with the back light that kenom put in for me

and here is my br laser with a glass lens

Looks cool. But yeah, daguin I'm very interested in your offer. Keep me posted and maybe we can sort something out...

VW said:

Looks cool. But yeah, daguin I'm very interested in your offer. Keep me posted and maybe we can sort something out...

Click to expand...

According to UPS, the first one (my upgrade) is "out for delivery"

Peace,
dave

Coherent laser checks are pretty reliable for 532nm, 594nm, 660nm lasers. They do usually read 405nm range lower than they truly are because it is on the very edge of their sensor ability.

I have 2 Coherent laser checks now and Kenom Thermal power meter. All 3 are very consistent with all my lasers except 405nm. Thats where all 3 read different ) New Lasercheck is much closer to thermal meter though than the old one. Even equal at some power levels!

IMPORTANT NOTE !

My older Lasercheck reads 405nm much worse than the brand new one (as much as twice less than true power at lower powers). My warranty run out but I complained to a manager of the sales department at Coherent and he was nice enough to investigate. He called me back with great news. They have in their records that a batch of their units about 1-2 years ago was badly calibrated for 405nm. He apologized and sent me a free brand new Lasercheck.

hope this helps a bit.

Milos