DO NOT BUY FROM laserpenshop.com

I ordered a 5000 mW (5W) laser from laserpenshop.com for 340$. I was already suspicious whether they will really send a 5W class IV laser. Unfortunately, almost as expected, they sent a class III < 500 mW laser. No dealing with PayPal to get money back. laserpenshop.com doesn't cooperate and claims it's the right one. O well. Never buy lasers from China!

Having said that, does anybody know a legitimate reliable company that sells really green high power lasers > 1 W. I'm done with those Hong Kong / China websites.

Best Regards,
Hendrik Greving

Have you considered building one yourself?

It is very gratifying to do so yourself and you can usually get away a lot cheaper by building it yourself!

There are a lot of great people here who make great hosts and you can get an easy to use (just solder 2 wires) complete modules from DTR here on LPF!

If you don't want to go the build route there are plenty of trusted people here who sell complete lasers in the Buy, Sell, & Trade forum (i.e. Sci-Fi Lasers run by LPF's own Thejoker301).

Looking at it, is basically everything > 300 mW pretty much a fake / non-existent. I see that even that guy you mention (Sci-Fi lasers) is selling 300 mW max.?
Thanks

The highest powered 532nm portable laser you will find is close to 1W and it will be at least $700 or more. The only way you can get >1W 532nm is non-portable lab lasers. Check out Jetlasers.org.

You are aware of the dangers of class IV lasers right?

laserbtb.com from hongkong is reliable.

Not condoning what Laserpenshop did, but really? A 5W laser for $340? Did you actually expect to get what you paid for? "If something is too good to be true that's because it usually is"

Not everyone is a laser pro, but 5W is far too much power someone who isn't laser pro.

Well, obviously I didn't know, I have researched a little bit and now I understand that 5W is impossible. The one they sent is probably around 100 mW or so. Maybe 200. Regards to the suggestion for another Hong Kong website. Thanks, but no thanks!

The Sci-Fi laser suggestion above and the Jetlasers.org website look legitimate. Thanks for the tip.

hgreving said:

Well, obviously I didn't know, I have researched a little bit and now I understand that 5W is impossible. The one they sent is probably around 100 mW or so. Maybe 200. Regards to the suggestion for another Hong Kong website. Thanks, but no thanks!

The Sci-Fi laser suggestion above and the Jetlasers.org website look legitimate. Thanks for the tip.

Click to expand...

laserbtb is a legitimate website. I, along with other members have both from them in the past! Shipping is EXTREMELY quick(at least to me) & most of their lasers are over-spec

-Alex

Can you post a picture of your laser? Welcome to the forum

I think that your first high powered laser should be a Dilda (not dildo ) 200mw red laser. This can do most of the burning tricks while teaching you high power use. Check yourlasers.com (NOT A GOOD SITE, just good for this laser.)

High-Power 200mW Red Laser Pen (Burns Match + Visible Beam Daytime) - Free Shipping

(Not supporting company, again, NOT A GOOD SITE FOR OTHER LASERS!!!)

if you REALLy want a 1W, first, you will need goggles. They are so very important. You only get one pair of seeing balls! Check out "Eagle Pair" laser goggles (give it a google search).

A good place to buy a 1W laser is
laserbtb.com

Good price, high quality, fast shipping

hope this helped,
kilter

hgreving said:

I ordered a 5000 mW (5W) laser from laserpenshop.com for 340$. I was already suspicious whether they will really send a 5W class IV laser. Unfortunately, almost as expected, they sent a class III < 500 mW laser. No dealing with PayPal to get money back. laserpenshop.com doesn't cooperate and claims it's the right one. O well. Never buy lasers from China!

Having said that, does anybody know a legitimate reliable company that sells really green high power lasers > 1 W. I'm done with those Hong Kong / China websites.

Best Regards,
Hendrik Greving

Click to expand...

You say your done with Chinese laser brands. Agreed, a lot are bad, but all I hear is good about Jetlasers, a quality laser brand in China. Also, I hear that Grey is a member of the forum, and he works for or runs JL.

I tried to buy a high power 532nm green laser from China a few years ago through Aliexpress.com and found that most of the listings for high power laser pointers on that site are lies, claiming their units can do 10 times more power than they really can. Then I started to research and found my expectations were way out of line for the money, as well as for the kind of power they advertised to be possible in a pointer laser.

I still want a high power pointer, the next time I buy one, it will have one of these modules in it:

1.3W 520nm Laser Diode in Copper Module w x Drive G 2 Glass Lens NDG7475 | eBay (Note from seller: 120 seconds on 30 seconds off with proper heatsinking).

Or, from the same seller but for less cost here:

https://sites.google.com/site/dtrlpf/home/diodes/ndg-1w-520nm



The above module is only 12mm diameter, maybe 30mm long, or very roughly 1/2 X 1 inch

This unit isn't 532nm or DPSS, it is a 520nm solid state green laser diode and won't have as tight a divergence as a DPSS 532nm green laser (not a fair statement though, nearly all DPSS lasers have beam expanders built into them), but it's close enough for my needs, especially when I can use a beam expander to reduce the divergence far below that of a 532nm laser, if I want.

If you buy one of these you will need a heat sink to slip it into or it will get too hot and destroy your diode. There are several members here who can make laser pointer hosts for these, or already have suitable hosts for sale off their shelf to pop one of these into. If I were to have a host made for one of these, I'd have one with a big enough heat sink to allow at least 10 minutes of operation before it gets too hot, if it can be done. Would I stand outside for ten minutes straight with it on pointing into the night sky viewing the awesomeness of it? No, but I could come close to that or use it for five minutes and then want to do it again without waiting for the laser to cool down each time, so a BIG heatsink is a MUST for me.

I've been tempted to buy a couple of ready to go hosts on impulse here a time or two, but the damn heat sinks are often too small for what I want, or no finning to help take the heat away faster. I like massive deep heat sink fins! This 1 watt output diode will produce a lot of heat, so a host with a wimpy heat sink just won't cut it for me. If you do get one, make sure the head has DEEP heat sink fins and is big enough or the duty cycle will be fairly short before it gets too hot.

Of course, a massive solid block of aluminum or copper will soak up a lot of heat and can allow a good amount of operation time before it can get hot enough to cause problems for the diode, but the same block with deep fins is much harder to heat up as well as much quicker to cool down, extending the duty cycle or operating time of the pointer quite a bit more, so unless necessary, I wouldn't have a heat sink without fins.

After having dissed some of the wimpy heat sinks on laser pointers I've seen offered ready to go here, most people don't have 1 watt pointers, so they don't need the larger heat exchanger fins on their pointers I am looking for, but even then, I'd want some heat sink fins on a 100mw laser pointer too, regardless. You can have a custom host built to your liking too, there are machinists here with superb skills to build just about anything you can think of, but be ready to pay ahead of time for them to begin work. Some of their prices are quite inexpensive for what they do.

I have a 700mw 532nm from Jetlasers and as far as the way the beam looks it is my favorite laser. The thing is insanely bright, a nice tight beam and good run time. Gray offers great customer service also.

What price for that one? I like the idea of a ready to go 520 or 532nm laser at that power but the duty cycle needs to be long enough. I'd like a minimum of a two or three minutes, 10 would be awesome.

Edit: Nevermind, I found the Jetlasers 532nm prices; 700-800 mw seven to eight bills for a finished product, probably as cheap as a 520nm diode laser in a host and if you compare brightness of a 800mw 532nm laser to a 1000mw 520nm, not far from one another too, at least, that you could really tell by looking. If you push the 520nm laser to 1.3 watts, then it would be brighter:

http://users16.jabry.com/lsrtools/RelativeBrightness/?nm1=520&mw1=1000&nm2=532&mw2=800&useRaleigh=on

I think it was around $600. It will definitely do two minutes. I'll time it tonight and shoot you a PM. It's a great laser. Very impressive. :beer: