Laserbee 1000mW Laser Power Meter + Thermopile

I'm about 350km north of Toronto and i live in a small town.(50 000 people).

before i came here to ask you guys i thought we could have group buy.I asked if we could get it cheaper for 10-.Then i got your side of the story and said it wasn't good and only his 1 watt was.This is what he said(who believes it)


The guy on the site measured it about 1-1/2 years ago... the original
120mW LPM Module has changed since then... the same guy keeps
harping on the first units we produced more than 1-1/2 years ago.
He was pissed off because he had to mutilpy 2 numbers together for
frequencies other than 632.8nm. I guess mutiplying 2 numbers was
beyond his reach.
The product is not the same... just look at the Feedback from people
that bought the newer ones and tested it. We haven't received 1 negative
or neutral feed back on this product.
Yes.. the 1 Watt Laser Power Meter is better... but it also costs more.
It will be available from our web site in a week or two. you can see it
here:-


At 04:17 PM 01/06/2008, you wrote:

he said yes to a review.Anyone in canada have a power meter.(maybe in the us)

Kenom already reviewed one, trust me, it's not worth reviewing again.

jamilm9 said:

he said yes to a review.Anyone in canada have a power meter.(maybe in the us)

Click to expand...

He says he's changed it. I have no reason to doubt it. However, the person that would be able to really tell if it was different or not, would be Kenom. Ask Laserbee if he is willing to send one to "the guy" to have it reviewed again. He should be able to tell now that "the guy" only gives honest reviews. He reviewed two of Laserbee's 1000mW units recently.

Peace,
dave

I actually still have the parts sitting here, about 12 feet away from me, in a static baggie - the thing is pure crap, and doesn't work even for the specified range. I would welcome someone getting one and sending it to me to check out to compare - so EVERYONE can see what a piece of crap that seller is. BUT - by all means - if I was told by folks that knew lots of info regarding a subject that something was crap, I wouldn't believe them either, and I would contact a known scammer and get more BS from him so I can waste my money. Definitely, that is exactly what I would do. The prick left negative feedback in retaliation for a NEUTRAL to Kenom - that is just plain bad form, and has earned him a very special place in my asshole of the millennium list.

Hmmmm... I just know that I'm wading into a pile of shit here, but maybe this topic needs a bit of perspective...

I'm happy as hell with my Kenometer. It's the best money I ever spent on laser-related goods and increased my enjoyment of this hobby, and my knowledge of my lasers capabilities immensely. That being said, I can afford a good thermopile meter (and had the time and opportunity to verify it's accuracy vs. LaserGlow's high-end meter).

jamilm9 is a 10-year old enthusiast who lives far from the nearest meter owner and has to scrimp to save for even a Laserbee 120mW unit. I'm spoiled with my Kenometer, but a young guy like him can't spring for a good meter. Even if the Laserbee sensor has errors, all that's required is for someone with a good meter to make note of the error factors, by wavelength and power level and make a chart to correct for those errors.

Factoring for sensor errors is too bothersome for those of us who own good meters, but for a young fella with no other option, it's a small price to pay to have an approximate reading of his lasers' power. Remember how in the dark you were before you had a meter, and remember how enlightened you were once you could see exactly what your lasers were doing? He deserves that same enlightenment.

I've asked Laserbee to ship me a sensor for review. If he chooses to, I'll make a chart showing the error corrections vs. the Kenometer for the 5 wavelengths I own. I'll also test my higher powered lasers with a 50/50 beam splitter to see if that works. Even if the product is inaccurate, the error can be corrected for and those of us with fewer funds can have a better approximation of power at a more manageable price.

It's the fair thing to do.

CC

Curiously_Coherent said:

I've asked Laserbee to ship me a sensor for review. If he chooses to, I'll make a chart showing the error corrections vs. the Kenometer for the 5 wavelengths I own. I'll also test my higher powered lasers with a 50/50 beam splitter to see if that works. Even if the product is inaccurate, the error can be corrected for and those of us with fewer funds can have a better approximation of power at a more manageable price.

Click to expand...

That would be cool. Thank you CC.

If you haven't actually communicated with Mr Bauer yet, be warned. He is sensitive, defensive, and arrogant. That doesn't mean he makes a bad product, just that communicating with him is scattered with "booby traps." I look forward to seeing if this comes to pass and any subsequent review you have.

Peace,
dave

Thanks Dave,

I've been corresponding with Monsieur Bauer and he's sending a 120mW sensor for review.

I'll test it at 4 power levels of Green, 2 power levels of Red and 1 each of Blue, Blu-Ray & Yellow, using a stabilized (and verified) Kenometer as a baseline standard. That way I can create a graph to correct for errors, (assuming there are any, of course) at least at the power levels that I have available to me. I hope to confirm (and possibly enhance) the sensor's usefulness as a good approximation of a laser's power.

Frankly, I find my Kenometer's ability to show me the fluctuations in my lasers as they warm up much more useful than the max. power reading anyway. This sensor, accurate or not, will also show the variations and let a hobbyist tweak his laser for maximum output through current or temperature regulation. It can still be a useful tool, even if it's off by a few mW here and there. And for a young DIYer, a much more reasonable price.

I'll start a new thread when it comes. Nice test of the 1W version by the way! [smiley=thumbsup.gif] Kenom should be proud that we all treat his LPMs as the de facto standard for thermopile meters now.

Cheers, CC

thanks for the speech about me :'(

never ceases to amaze me how he can still poke at me even after I've given a fairly positive review of his 1 Watt unit. My contention was his auction said there was "no math needed" and even though multiplying two numbers is very easy, it still qualifies as math in my book. He set the meter up for one wavelength to be accurate and then asked you to multiply by a correction factor in order to get the accurate readings for different wavelengths. Now I don't have a problem with that. You have to do the same thing with the LPM-1 unit that Deadal occasionally GB's. However if that had been mentioned in the auction I wouldn't have taken issue with it. Ah well.

CC, I appreciate the kind words regarding my meters. I cannot take credit for the meters though as they were just reverse engineered by Dr. lava and I followed the instructions to assemble them. I did put a lot of attention and love into them but that's all. I would recommend that you upgrade your meter CC to have the ability to graph to a computer so that you can see those changes over time on a screen. The same could be done with the laserbee meter when you recieve it since my upgrade is literally just a DMM with rs232 connectivity. Since the laserbee 120mw unit is read off a DMM this would work perfect.

Okay, I'm looking for a good power meter at the moment, since I figure I'll need it for DIY lasers anyway. I like the idea of a thermal meter over an optical meter.

I've been reading through here, but it seems pretty divided. So I can't really figure it out, do people recommend this unit? Or are there other units that do the same thing, better?

Hi Murudai,

The thermal meters have definitely proven themselves to be superior, especially at 405nm. I'll be testing Laserbee's 120mW sensor vs. the Kenometer when I get it, in hopes of creating a chart to correct for whatever errors will exist at different wavelengths and power levels. That might make this sensor more accurate as a better approximator of laser power, but it will never be as accurate as a thermal or professional optical meter.

If you can afford (or even find) a thermal meter, get it. The optical sensor's power readings will never be taken as accurate on this forum, but it will still be useful for comparing lasers and noting power drops. Any feedback is helpful in this hobby, IMO, and if you've only got a budget for one of these, then it's still better than "hey, my laser doesn't look as bright today..."

Cheers, CC

my laserbee 120 mw unit does not like 405nm jumps up and down greatly
also 532 is not much better but it loves 650nm it shows a smooth reading

Okay... great...

But that doesn't answer my question Would you recommend this 1 Watt thermal laser power tester or not?

from what ive read from Kenom and Greg no its not worth it unless you want a project