Review: O-like 520nm 120mW

Hello everyone!

I've been lurking for a little while, but yesterday I received my first real laser and wanted to post my review for my first post here. Here are the photos: (120mW 520nm - Album on Imgur)

The laser product page: (520nm 120mW pure green laser waterproof Laser torch/focusable [OL-520-120] - $99.00 : Zen Cart!, The Art of E-commerce)

THE GOOD

All-in-all I am very happy with the product. It feels slightly on the small side, yet has a good weight and feels good in the hand. Build wise, it seems solid and nothing feels loose. The red power button has a good feeling click and makes a nice sound. If its on and you barely touch the button it will cut the beam off completely, but it comes right back on the instant you let go. At first I thought it was cutting in and out, but its just very sensitive. Its nice to turn in on and off without any clicking and sound involved. The sliver clip attachment was already on it. It didn't mention it on the website, but its a welcome addition.

The beam itself is VERY bright. Its almost uncomfortable to look at the dot from across the room. I ordered safety goggles (Eagle Pair® 190-540nm OD6 Slip Over Laser Safety Goggles) in advance, and I'm glad I did. Its much more intense than anything I've personally been around. The dot it produces seems to be nice and even, and perfectly circular. I'm not very experienced yet, but it looks good to me anyway. I took it out last night to see how it looked in the dark, and I was very happy. I wanted a laser that had a nice visible beam and this one's looks great to me. Perfect for astronomy.

On the Customs Declaration label the marked it as a "flashlight for gift" with a $30 value. Inside the box the laser was inside a black velcro belt-loop case. While I didn't order it, they included a single battery (already inside the laser) and a charger (Nitecore D2). I already had batteries (Panasonic) and a charger ready at home, but it was another welcome addition. Backups never hurt I suppose.

For the price, I am very satisfied and I would recommend it to somebody in the market for something similar. However...

THE BAD

I ordered and payed on 1/8/17 after getting a PayPal invoice. That was the last communication I had from them. After a few days with no order update on the website or an email, I sent them an email asking if there was any update on the status of the order. Their website says 2-3 days to ship. After another few days I asked again, but received no reply.

I paid extra for EMS shipping, so I began to worry after weeks weeks went by with no reply and no laser. After a couple more ignored emails I tried going through PayPal to get a reply from them, but they ignored that too. Yesterday it showed up out of nowhere. I checked the tracking number on the box and said it was shipped on 1/14/17 (6 days after payment) and arrived in the US 2 days later on 1/16/17. It took 11 days from there for it to get to me, but that's not their fault. From the day I made the payment until the day it came it took 19 days. I could live with waiting that long, but a simple reply to one of my emails would have put my mind at ease. I wouldn't have even bothered with paying the extra shipping charge if I had to do it again. Maybe DHL would've been faster.

I'm relieved to finally have it now, but their customer service needs some serious work. I know there is a a language and time-zone difference, but they had no problem getting right back to me when I wanted to make a purchase.

THE VERDICT

The laser is great, and the price is nice. The included extras are appreciated as well. The poor customer service leaves much to be desired, however. I wouldn't recommend ordering through them unless you don't mind having your emails ignored and not having any tracking information. Every day when I checked the mail and it wasn't there was a disappointment, but if you like uncertainty and being surprised it might be up your alley!

Its good to be here. Let me know if I forgot anything, and see you around!

Thanks for the review!

diachi said:

Thanks for the review!

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Thanks for reading it!

Thanks for the quality review of the company and product. O-like are a legit company for the most part, but their CS definitely could use some work. They're what I'd classify as a "Order and forget about it for a month" company. Tracking numbers and order updates? Forget about it. You WILL eventually get your order though. I've ordered around 6-7 lasers from O-like and they all arrived and worked in the end. I'd recommend Sanwu or Jetlasers in the future if you want better customer service and updates. The other problem with O-like is how they'll show 9943 units on stock on their stuff, when it reality it's probably not in stock yet. That's likely why there was such a delay between your payment, and the order being shipped out. They were spending that time sourcing and acquiring your laser to ship it to you. O-like aren't a manufacturer, they're mostly a re-seller.

If O-like would fix some of their issues I'd probably put them solidly in the "Good Companies" category. Right now they're somewhere in the "gray area of laser companies".

Razako said:

O-like are a legit company for the most part, but their CS definitely could use some work. They're what I'd classify as a "Order and forget about it for a month" company. Tracking numbers and order updates? Forget about it. You WILL eventually get your order though.

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Sounds accurate. Knowing that now, I'd feel less worried about ordering from them again. Which shipping option did you choose and how long on average did it take you to get your orders?

Too bad they took that long to ship the thing out, and had such bad communications as well!

But the product looks interesting none the less.

I suppse you don't have a power meter, but what is the laser dot like, at for example 10 meters distance from the device? Nice and round? And how small can you make it with the focus ring that far out?

And is the power always the same, or does it go down when the batteries drain quickly (i.e. poor regulation)?

If it scores well on those points i think it'd be a good deal for $99 - even if you have to wait for shipping for two weeks. There seems no point in paying extra for faster shipping if they send it out so slowly.

I've ordered things from o-like in the past and those got here (netherlands) in 2 to 3 weeks, which is the normal transit time for anything i buy off ebay that comes from china/hongkong/etc with free shipping.

Difference is that i can't really tell if they are slow on shipping it out, or shipping is just a bit slow as the time easily varies between 10 days at best and about 4 weeks at worst.

The last time I purchased from them I was repeatedly spammed by other SASA group associated company marketers both via email and on Skype. They used my name and knew exactly what I had purchased through Olike just a day before.
If you value your personal privacy I'd think twice before using them...

Be careful with the wording here. They can change their privacy policy when they want to.
Under PRC law there exists no legal requirement for approval to ask permission to give your personal info to 3rd party vendors.
The english written is not legally binding.

O-like.com may also provide aggregate statistics about our customers, sales, traffic patterns and related site information to reputable third-party vendors, but these statistics will include no personal data that uniquely identifies an individual.
Currently, we do not sell, trade, give away or rent your personal data to others apart from those parties mentioned above. We may decide to do so with trusted third-party partners in the future, but you can instruct us not to. We will not sell or disclose any personal data that identifies you to any third party apart from those mentioned above without your approval.
Your consent
By using our website, you consent to the collection and use of your personal data in a manner consistent with these privacy guidelines. If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on this page, so you will always be aware of our policies and practices in relation to personal data.

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I've never been bothered by anything like that, but laws could be very different there indeed.

But even if it's against the local law it could still happen, enforcement of such things is non-existent in some countries. I'm not saying that they are actually doing any of this though, they haven't to me (or spam filters caught it).

I'd say o-like is reliable in the sense that if you buy something, pay for it, it will actually arrive (at some point in time). Not everything is up to spec (532 greens a major suspect), but it's not a big scam overall or anything like that.

Benm said:

Too bad they took that long to ship the thing out, and had such bad communications as well!

But the product looks interesting none the less.

I suppse you don't have a power meter, but what is the laser dot like, at for example 10 meters distance from the device? Nice and round? And how small can you make it with the focus ring that far out?

And is the power always the same, or does it go down when the batteries drain quickly (i.e. poor regulation)?

If it scores well on those points i think it'd be a good deal for $99 - even if you have to wait for shipping for two weeks. There seems no point in paying extra for faster shipping if they send it out so slowly.

I've ordered things from o-like in the past and those got here (netherlands) in 2 to 3 weeks, which is the normal transit time for anything i buy off ebay that comes from china/hongkong/etc with free shipping.

Difference is that i can't really tell if they are slow on shipping it out, or shipping is just a bit slow as the time easily varies between 10 days at best and about 4 weeks at worst.

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Hi there.

I don't have a power meter, although I would be interested in getting one. Is there a reasonably priced one you could recommend?

I'll do some tests with the dot size, probably make a quick video, and post it here as soon as I can. The battery seems to last a long time. I put in back in the charger after using bit for a half hour or so and it was nearly full still. I'll keep an eye on it though.

Definitely no point in paying for extra shipping. Not the EMS option at least. DHL might be quicker, but it would still be a gamble I think. One way to find out I guess.

Seoul_lasers said:

The last time I purchased from them I was repeatedly spammed by other SASA group associated company marketers both via email and on Skype. They used my name and knew exactly what I had purchased through Olike just a day before.
If you value your personal privacy I'd think twice before using them...

Be careful with the wording here. They can change their privacy policy when they want to.
Under PRC law there exists no legal requirement for approval to ask permission to give your personal info to 3rd party vendors.
The english written is not legally binding.

Click to expand...

That's messed up. I didn't get contacted by them or anyone else, fortunately. Definitely seems shady though. :/

Nova said:

Hi there.

I don't have a power meter, although I would be interested in getting one. Is there a reasonably priced one you could recommend?

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How much is reasonably priced to you?

diachi said:

How much is reasonably priced to you?

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Haha well as long as it isn't more than the laser itself. ~$50 maybe? I don't have a clue about them. As long as it works that's all that matters. Doesn't have to be fancy.

Nova said:

Haha well as long as it isn't more than the laser itself. ~$50 maybe? I don't have a clue about them. As long as it works that's all that matters. Doesn't have to be fancy.

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Cheapest one I can think of off the top of my head is the LaserBee A at $139. https://www.laserbeelpm.com/laserbee-a.html

Might be cheaper options out there that I'm forgetting, but not $50 cheap...

Benm said:

I've never been bothered by anything like that, but laws could be very different there indeed.

But even if it's against the local law it could still happen, enforcement of such things is non-existent in some countries. I'm not saying that they are actually doing any of this though, they haven't to me (or spam filters caught it).

I'd say o-like is reliable in the sense that if you buy something, pay for it, it will actually arrive (at some point in time). Not everything is up to spec (532 greens a major suspect), but it's not a big scam overall or anything like that.

Click to expand...

Well they SAY, "All items will be checked and tested power before packing. All items are new and of in sepcifications" but I'd believe forum members over themselves.

diachi said:

Cheapest one I can think of off the top of my head is the LaserBee A at $139. https://www.laserbeelpm.com/laserbee-a.html

Might be cheaper options out there that I'm forgetting, but not $50 cheap...

Click to expand...

Thanks for the link! I'll do some research and digging now.

Crazlaser said:

Well they SAY, "All items will be checked and tested power before packing. All items are new and of in sepcifications" but I'd believe forum members over themselves.

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I'm going to look into getting a power meter soon, then we'll see how "in specifications" it really is!