Importing Arctic spyder 3 - 1W- class 4 laser

Hi,

I just ordered the arctic spyder iii from wicked lasers and am starting to realize that it was a bad decision as I will likely have a problem getting through CANADIAN customs. As far as I know these come with the battery in the same box. I only ordered this yesterday, should I call them and get a refund now because if it gets stuck in customs? i'll likely lose the $300 if it gets confiscated. Any tips on what I should do or how I could get past customs, please shed light on me since I am new to these forums and to importing higher power lasers.

Thanks,

Jyoushia,

Please introduce yourself to the forum first under the Welcome section. It makes forum members here more willing to help you :beer:

WL guarantees delivery to every country in the world (so they advertise on their webpage). I would say wait for it, if it gets confiscated at the border then contact WL. They will either refund you the entire order (including shipping) or they would try shipping it again or something.

Alternatively, you could cancel your order and spend the money somewhere else, such as in a more reputable laser company (at least for now, who knows if WL will get their stuff together)

EDIT: For advice on laser companies, do a search on the Forum. There's so much information on here

hwang21,

I will introduce myself

People maybe aren't willing to help me but you did so thank you very much for your reply. I'm a total newb :|

As long as I can get a refund or another laser if confiscated then I will wait and see. I'll let you know how my experience goes.

Thanks again and any input will be much appreciated!

Have a nice day

I suggest you introduce yourself in the newbie section.
Then get your money back.. And spend it in the B/S/T section here! There is probably a few Canadians that will sell you a laser that is much better and cheaper than a WL!

I'm hoping this isn't your first laser... if it is I would strongly suggest you cancel your order and get a lower powered laser.

WL in the past three years has gotten some horrible reviews, it seems recently they're better but still not great. Feel free to post your experiences with WL, their customer service has gotten pretty good after their Arctic fiasco in 2010

Thanks for the info guys!

I'm going to take a look at the B/S/T section and then decide whether or not to cancel my order. The fact that I can get a refund if it gets seized has me some what comfortable with this process.

Certainly not my first laser but will by my first 1W, all the other lasers i've had haven't been class 4. I always have been and will continue to use them with the most respect in regards to safety and responsible uses.

Thanks guys you're great!

Any other input or Canadian importing stories are welcome!

Also, please read http://laserpointerforums.com/f65/33-reasons-not-buy-wicked-lasers-56289.html

I think it'd be better to cite more recent reviews of WL, don't you think? That OP was last updated over a year ago... citing cases of WL horror of a couple years ago or longer...

Although I agree they aren't a "comfortable" company to buy from, at least they are better than before... still overpriced, and they still do occasionally have underspec units and such, but they are getting better. Hopefully they will continue to improve... and re-earn their once good reputation.

EDIT: Despite my WL products, I'm still not a WL fan. There are so many things WL could've done differently, that would've saved them a LOT of trouble. And that's their own fault. I just don't think it's fair to repeatedly bring up old instances when these same issues haven't come up in recent times... I probably sound like a total WL fan, but that's just what I think is fair.

It seems like the more I read into WL the more I uncover about there history of bad business, to your point hwang, most of it seems like it was a few years ago.

I hear that they are better now, my main problem I believe will be customs.

I'll certainly let you guys know what happens.

Thanks again

On a side note: it's too bad that the irresponsible use of a few has made it difficult for us responsible users to get our hands on these. I'm referring to pointing at planes or blinding yourself/failing to wear glasses.

It will be nice to have these before they are illegal all together and almost impossible to buy.

They seem to (purposely) label their packages as dirt-value so that customs won't even bother to open them... at least in my own experience... "defective pen $0"

And yes, it's quite miserable how few people are actually aware of the dangers of lasers... a quick look through the thread "world's biggest laser idiots" (or something to that extent) gives you more evidence than you need to know

yes the original post is updated over a year ago but there are 11 pages of info since then. as we've discussed before, everyone is entitled to their own opinion and if you like WL and they have been good to you then congrats! other members, id guess around 75+% dont like WL and they have been bad to them. even if their lasers are on spec, they are still expensive as heck!

BST section is the best place to get a laser, plus you are supporting your fellow community members. they all build great products and are more than willing to service them if anything ever goes wrong.

Jetlasers is a great place to check as well, almost the SAME host with all the safety features for $100 less and they are a member here and have hakwaz1 in Texas who provides support for them. if anything ever goes wrong then either of them will help you out. check it out here

EDIT: BTW the jetlaser option will LPM between 1-1.5W and the WL is 1W for $299.95

Actually your main problem will be receiving an underpowered laser. I have not read of one single person getting what they paid for.. For example. most of the people i see with "1W" Arctic's say they lpm at under 750mW. For the price they are charging you can get an "actual" >2W 445nm on the B/S/T. actually for much less! That is the problem i have with them.. And the fact they lie about everything!

hwang21, I even see your 1W Arctic is actually 640mW average.. Actually pretty much all of your WL are underspec??

They are expensive, I agree, but they have cool 100% duty cycle hosts if they can get back to their near top-notch quality they used to have, then they'd maybe be worth the prices...

If WL didn't make so many stupid decisions I'd be a fan of WL, but nope... but I don't think it's right to make the new members here read all about the bad stuff WL has done from two+ years ago... a lot of the new members here are advised to read the thread immediately, when most of the news in the thread is all old...

WL has been decent to me, I think I was luckier than most forum members on here. And yes, my Arctic is dismal, but there are a couple really nice lasers I have from WL (Spyder II RX). I'd say my lasers from WL are decently in spec, some are excellent, some are dismal mixed bag

EDIT: And yes, their advertising could use a reality check

well thats the other thing, they made all these horrible decisions over the past three years but guess what, those same people still work there. WL afaik, hasnt gone under new management and if they did, im guessing the new owner would have changed the name or made an announcement to clear the air and that things would be different.

then the thing that gets me even more is jetlasers sells the same exact laser, well actually better IMO, and for $100 less and guaranteed to be on or over spec! WL, IMO, is the laser company that draws uneducated kids into the laser hobby. then over time they learn they've been tricked and fade away from WL. i mean come on, most of the fan pictures are either star wars fans with their light sabers or really young kids.

then to top that off, when you read in the news about all these laser pointed at planes, most of them are WL products. not good on their side and they suck at checking who they sell lasers to, oh thats because they dont care, they want $$$$$$

WL doesnt care about the customer, while people like jetlasers, community members and builders do. lazerer is in the air ATM so ill put them in the middle for now.

im tempted to email WL and ask questions about their products to see if they will still lie about them or even respond to my questions.......ill be back with those findings

Sounds good. WL used to be a pretty reputable company... fame isn't always such a good thing. Point in case for WL

As I've stated many times before... I put my $$$ and trust into
WL and they betrayed that trust by lying to me time and time
again...
Whether it happened a few years ago or yesterday... It is the
reputation that they have built for themselves and it will stick
with them. And all that because of greed.

It only takes one bad apple (WL lies and underspec Lasers) to
spoil the whole barrel (their reputation).

For that betrayal of one of their customers (myself) I will do my
best to make sure that no other unwitting new member gets
sucked into their now newer but still lying Sales Hype pertaining
to their overpriced and underspec Lasers..

If WL came out with the ultimate one of a kind Laser for a
reasonable price I would still not buy a single item from them
for treating me like a clueless moron customer that believes
anything they spew out....

WL is dead to me and I'll make that clear to all that ask or
need to know...


Jerry