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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

DinoDirect 50mW Ultrafire WB-502 1x16340 unit review

Joined
Feb 5, 2008
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Hiya folks, you all know that Dino held some questionarre in which one could get some free lasers.
I got a 50mW flashlight unit, and here is a promised, though very delayed review.

First, shipping was extraordinary fast. Faster than the package with batteries, for which I had to wait for in order to test the unit.

Packaging... ehh. Not very good. Plain white envelope with some airbubbles, and a thin paper box... one good drop could have rendered the laser useless, IMO.

Pictures time (note that I've got my E400 back so expect a lot of nice picz from me in future).

This is the host:
P6240038.jpg


P6240040.jpg


This is looking down the business end:
P6240039.jpg


P6240043.jpg


P6240050.jpg


Tailcap detail:
P6240044.jpg


P6240045.jpg



Looking down the battery barrel:
P6240046.jpg



Foam removed:
P6240048.jpg


Lens detail:
P6240052.jpg


P6240051.jpg


Expander lens on the crystal:
P6240054.jpg


Comparison of WB501 and WB502 hosts:
P6240076.jpg


P6240077.jpg


P6240078.jpg


Here is the performance, output after expander lens, no collimation lens:
P6240058.jpg


P6240061.jpg


Collimated:

P6240062.jpg


P6240065.jpg


Can burn mildly:
P6240067.jpg


Okay so,

I grab a 3.8V surface charge battery and measure the 65 mW stable output of this unit, which is great.

Fully charged 4.2V battery produces the same result.

Now, I've seen that others, like me, got the unit with lens unfixed, so it rattled around. This is the sole reason I would not reccomend this product to anybody who is afraid of messing with things bought on your own.

To anybody else who is not afraid of taking a look into the guts of a laser, I would reccomend buying this , as the laser is very cheap for the performance (it costs $30).

There is always a possibility of having the unit cherry-picked for folks when we are talkign a review, but if all units perform like this, they are very well worth it.

Sum up ...

Pros
-Fast shipping (really fast compared to other free shipping)
-Good up-to-spec output
-Solid construction, not easy to break - given the inner guts of green module are firm
-Nice host - great anodizing finish and overall looks, good threads, nice clicky switch action, comfortable

Cons
-No wrist strap like on WB501
-Module position could have been moved up into the large head portion and fill the space with aluminum mass, more heatsinking achieved that way IMHO
-Not easy to remove heatsink from battery barrel, no idea what are those two holes in it when it's pressfited in there
-Lens not fixed
-Poor packaging
EDIT : -no Batteries
-No instructions (noobs tend to put all batteries case negative way)
Questionable heatsinking as the unit retains average power very well for very long and extended periods of time, but I can not feel the heat coming out to the surface of the host after that , at all.

Current draw is 380mA - just about right for 60mW unit.

Overall experience for me is GOOD, and if you are not afraid to mess around and tinker with stuff you buy, the laser is definetly for you , especially if you do not have any greens yet!
 
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Joined
Mar 17, 2010
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This is a nice looking laser. I wish I had one like that.
Also great review.
 
Joined
Aug 3, 2009
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Nice summary! :)

How is your experienced duty cycle? Can you have a constant 60mW output for an infinite time?

What divergence did you get it to after (potential) tweaking?

Mikael
 

ReNNo

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Mar 27, 2009
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Nice..
There are not much green lasers under 30USD that have stable TEM00 beam.

Can you give us more information about beam diameter at aperture and divergence?
 
Joined
Feb 5, 2008
Messages
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Nice summary! :)

How is your experienced duty cycle? Can you have a constant 60mW output for an infinite time?

What divergence did you get it to after (potential) tweaking?

Mikael
Duty cycle not obeyed, I had it running for 4-5 minutes at a time, without any noticeable power drop. So duty cycle can be expected (with 16340 batterey) to be infinite.

Lens rattle around and there is no point in measuring divergence, but given the diameter if the output at aperture exit I can say that 1.0-1.2 mRad can be easily achieved.
I will hot-glue the lens in place when I get time to mess around with fine lens tweaking.

EDIT: @ReNNo, well the beam diameter at output is just about 1-1.2 mm , but with lens not fixed in place it does not make sense to measure the divergence.
 
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Joined
Dec 26, 2007
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Nice review, man! Cool macro shots :)

I'll have to do my review in the next weeks, exams never end.
 




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