- Joined
- Aug 25, 2012
- Messages
- 116
- Points
- 0
Greetings everyone! I will be reviewing a recent purchase, which appears to be a clone of the smaller Arctic Spyder III, with a 1W 445nm diode. Unfortunately, I lack some easy bits of verification equipment. I have no LPM, nor any other laser that is blue or anywhere near 1W. So with my handicap in mind, we will proceed. FYI, I am not a paid advertiser or reviewer, just someone who bought a mysterious laser.
I obtained the laser from the e-bay for 62.99 with free shipping, from a seller called friendship66. I think right now it is a few bucks off, but this seems to be the going rate for this particular model. Note that the design looks much more like the Spyder III than the "Thor" type lasers also found at the bay. Link:
Powerful 445nm Focus Visible Blue Beam Laser Pointer Pen Burn 5mW Adjustable New | eBay
The package was received in a plastic envelope, with a cardboard box inside. My envelope had sustained some rubbing damage, and water had leaked inside. No harm done... it only made the cardboard much easier to rip apart. Inside that was the storage case, with all the goods inside.
As seen on other reviews, mine came as a disheveled mess on the inside... I suppose customs wanted to play? Who knows, but everything came intact. The batteries were taped to prevent shorting on something, and the battery charger was wrapped in plastic.
So... a 1W laser for almost $70 US. This is suspicious on its own, to the point that I was calling it my "Ghetto Blaster". Honestly, I was anticipating this thing to detonate upon first click. I proceeded to disassemble the host to find out if we have a laser, or an expendable smoke machine. One thing can be said, this is a nice host for the price. The aluminum is thick and hefty, and all threaded parts come to a definite stop. The anodizing isn't fantastic, but it's definitely better than a lot of what comes from China. It feels like it was milled from a solid SCH.80 aluminum pipe. There are no weird bulkheads... it's just a tube with lots of space on the inside. There is one plastic bulkhead in front of the battery, and it is connected to the driver via a soldered and glued wire.
The diode was pressed into a large nugget of brass. It's also small. Based on my calipers, it looks like it was built with a 3.8mm diode, possibly Osram but it didn't come with a tag. Just a guess here. The driver looks like a larger circuit card and has an adjustable pot. I can also confirm that it includes reverse polarity protection. I inserted the batteries wrong 3 times before discovering that. It does not appear to have any heat sinking at all. I tried to get the best picture I could, but this is a very tight space. Maybe if it finally blows?
AS FOR THE LENS... it's plastic. And, as you can see from the photos, there is no coating. One interesting bit is the fix that was applied for it. There was a small brass bushing haphazardly threaded onto the lens. This bushing has no threads. It was simply jammed onto the lens barrel, probably to sheild it from the laser. This only partially works, and during my testing I was able to put some deformations where the metal was not.
I don't know if it will fall off during use and cause damage. My recommendation: Remove that thing, get a new glass lens, replace immediately.
One more thing to note: When I took out the focus assembly, I noticed there was a small collection of debris in the forward part of the laser. Take this thing apart and inspect the front before use. I'm fairly certain shavings are bad for diodes.
Stay tuned! More to continue shortly...
I obtained the laser from the e-bay for 62.99 with free shipping, from a seller called friendship66. I think right now it is a few bucks off, but this seems to be the going rate for this particular model. Note that the design looks much more like the Spyder III than the "Thor" type lasers also found at the bay. Link:
Powerful 445nm Focus Visible Blue Beam Laser Pointer Pen Burn 5mW Adjustable New | eBay
The package was received in a plastic envelope, with a cardboard box inside. My envelope had sustained some rubbing damage, and water had leaked inside. No harm done... it only made the cardboard much easier to rip apart. Inside that was the storage case, with all the goods inside.
As seen on other reviews, mine came as a disheveled mess on the inside... I suppose customs wanted to play? Who knows, but everything came intact. The batteries were taped to prevent shorting on something, and the battery charger was wrapped in plastic.
So... a 1W laser for almost $70 US. This is suspicious on its own, to the point that I was calling it my "Ghetto Blaster". Honestly, I was anticipating this thing to detonate upon first click. I proceeded to disassemble the host to find out if we have a laser, or an expendable smoke machine. One thing can be said, this is a nice host for the price. The aluminum is thick and hefty, and all threaded parts come to a definite stop. The anodizing isn't fantastic, but it's definitely better than a lot of what comes from China. It feels like it was milled from a solid SCH.80 aluminum pipe. There are no weird bulkheads... it's just a tube with lots of space on the inside. There is one plastic bulkhead in front of the battery, and it is connected to the driver via a soldered and glued wire.
The diode was pressed into a large nugget of brass. It's also small. Based on my calipers, it looks like it was built with a 3.8mm diode, possibly Osram but it didn't come with a tag. Just a guess here. The driver looks like a larger circuit card and has an adjustable pot. I can also confirm that it includes reverse polarity protection. I inserted the batteries wrong 3 times before discovering that. It does not appear to have any heat sinking at all. I tried to get the best picture I could, but this is a very tight space. Maybe if it finally blows?
AS FOR THE LENS... it's plastic. And, as you can see from the photos, there is no coating. One interesting bit is the fix that was applied for it. There was a small brass bushing haphazardly threaded onto the lens. This bushing has no threads. It was simply jammed onto the lens barrel, probably to sheild it from the laser. This only partially works, and during my testing I was able to put some deformations where the metal was not.
I don't know if it will fall off during use and cause damage. My recommendation: Remove that thing, get a new glass lens, replace immediately.
One more thing to note: When I took out the focus assembly, I noticed there was a small collection of debris in the forward part of the laser. Take this thing apart and inspect the front before use. I'm fairly certain shavings are bad for diodes.
Stay tuned! More to continue shortly...
Attachments
-
20160820_200645 (800x450).jpg205.7 KB · Views: 452
-
20160820_200809 (800x450).jpg263.6 KB · Views: 503
-
20160820_201116 (450x800).jpg144.5 KB · Views: 508
-
20160820_201328 (450x800).jpg195.2 KB · Views: 511
-
20160820_201412 (800x450).jpg97.1 KB · Views: 461
-
20160820_201705 (800x450).jpg141.6 KB · Views: 428
-
20160820_201716 (800x450).jpg96.1 KB · Views: 426
-
20160820_200524 (800x450).jpg155.8 KB · Views: 435
Last edited: