1W 447nm Spartan Trial and Error

Ok, so I just received my 1w Spartan from DL yesterday. I've waited about a year since last august before actually making a purchase. I've read on here for quite some time, the do's and don'ts and this and that. Well here's my lil blurb.


Tested 1W 447nm with screw cap on, turn on, left for 5 seconds, turned off.
Repeated, turned on 5 seconds, turned off. Took out the Cap, aka sorta like a shutter cept a screw that blocks the hole. The laser worked fine, no changes in beam, the bar "DOT" no extra artifacts on the walls, no spray, yadda yadda.

Second, Blasted the white wall at 15ft without goggles, Mind you this WAS an accident but here's my experiance. I caught sight of the "DOT" as we call it, very hard to focus eyes on this wavelength.. but gave me a slight irritation for the night. The only thing I can relate this too, is from welding and metal fabrication over the years. With welding especially with ARC or Stick, it gives off a very intense light, in fact if you stare long enough you will get the scratchy itchy feels like fiberglass in my eyes due to the fact your basically sunburning your eyes. I've done this a few times over the years due to quick no helmet T-joints etc, catch a few arcs in the eye, but the worst I find is if you stare long enough from a distance the direct light sunburns the eye we'll say. Like someone else welding without a screen so it blocks it from everyone else walking by .. This is a VERY unpleasent feeling to the eye and its annoying as hell for days after. This laser DOT that I caught a glimpse off, was pretty damn strong from 15ft away. Mind you I got very very very minimal irritation I've come to the conclusion that you don't wanna stare at this dot for too long like a welders arc. In saying that, it didn't cause any harm, but was indeed bright as hell for the eyes to take in.

Now I do have slight eye damage from when I was younger in science class while everyone was making their stupid pinhole thingies to watch an eclipse, I just looked up and watched it and fried my eyes. So I do have some things to compare too.

So please for the love of god, if your indoors using anything of the power of this Spartan or relatively up close to it, shinning in house, barn whatever with walls.. put your goggles on first before putting batteries in .. my dumb mistakes could help one of you hopefully.

In saying that, I had to compare it at a further distance after, I went outside down the boardwalk along the pacific ocean, shined it approx 75 - 100 ft to a small bunch of rocks sticking outta the water out a ways. I don't know if its my eyes or what, but I have a really hard time even looking at it at that distance. I can't determine if the wavelength just causes strain trying to focus it or the actually damn dot was so bright that it hurts the eyes. Either way, take what you will from this, and be safe please. These things are retarded strong.

The reasoning behind my purchase? I really wanted to see if these were as as claimed to be.. so many mixed ppl saying this or that I needed a definative answer for myself.

Well, after seeing it burn threw the "Black CD case" as everyone tests this on, so far I'm about 15ft on my latest test and burned threw within 5 or so seconds. Very impressed. An attempt to light a candle was an epic fail as it basically cuts the wick right off when up close, though haven't tried at distance. I seem to have nice "line" burn marks in my white door from 15ft or so away that the CD case was up against. Again, very impressed.

Bottom line, as everyone constantly says, don't screw with these things. Unless your as stupid as me and look at solar eclipses.

Don't be me!


UPDATE!: Spartan VS black cd case @ 24.5 feet. Outcome / Laser wins after around 30 - 40 seconds, Bar/hole is about 1/2 inch long by 1/8th thick. Also to note, Avg temp roughly 20 degree's C , and the energizer 123a's are about half discharged at this point in testing.


Pic from 15ft burning, couldn't capture the whole view as I wanted to get a decent beamshot more then anything. This was taken from my Google Nexus S phone. No smoke/fog added other then prob a bit of residue of cigarette smoke possibly lingering around the room heh heh


CD Case w/distance kinda blurry.. will take a better pic


black "bar" type marks in the white door that was behind the CD case. Approx 15ft or more, will get measuring tape on this next.


Bar/Dot whatever, shot. This was after the 3 shutter/lens nut experiment/mishaps. The offset diode beam may be the reason for the diode not being destroyed. Dunno?

i should be getting a hold of mine here pretty soon as well. Very interested in hearing about it's brightness. tbh, im kind of scared just to even have it around. I have a feeling i may end up selling it or returning it.

I should note, I live in Victoria British Columbia Canada, The laser was EMS shipped untill it hit Vancouver from Beijing, where it then got taken over by Canada Post regular mail services. All in all, I ordered last Tuesday 19th, received it Wednesday 27th. In Vancouver is where Customs grabbed it, and pushed threw within an hour. Thank god for Canada customs heh heh Also, NO DUTY TAX, as it didn't come through the USA. Big plus seeing as that whole free trade BS , We pay duties on american shipped crap here but they get no duties. Free trade my ass.


anyways, Very fast mailing considering it took a day before they even shipped it.


@KungFu You will really love this laser, but one thing to note is the beam is not centered in my unit as well as a few others I've seen reviewing these, but considering it still comes out the "Hole" of the laser host without hitting the edges or anything, I'm not concerned.

Also, it is scary, very powerful. I absolutely cannot get over how bright the "Dot" is apon hitting a wall or object. Mind you, when using Shade 5 protective glasses against gas cutting you can still see an arc weld flash very clear, and can lead to arc eye still due to the nature of the intensity of the flash. Now, the glasses I have OD4 for this laser is specialized to a specific wavelength to this laser and it blocks alot of the intensity/beam except for the "DOT" on the wall. So I do imagine my staring at an arc is relatively more dangerous than this laser... except you have the blue light hazard. Be carefull man Have fun!


Also to note, I did it again by accident, left the "Shutter screw" closed and turned on the spartan, 5 seconds or so ... again, no problems, no diode of death.

sweet
another member in the greater vancouver "area"
maybe i can check it out next time i go to courney

I live in the US, and ive been waiting for about 3 weeks since leaving china now. Stills says origin post is preparing shipment. I'm hesitating sending a second email to frank since it will probably be on my doorstep the day after i send the email and i dont really feel like asking incessantly. ESPECIALLY when it comes down to shipping lasers to the US. I have a feeling the US is about one little EPA or FAA regulation from getting class IV and Class IIIB banned.

Those burn marks are bar-shaped... is that typical for this laser? if so, i had no idea. Guess thats why you say "Dot." I thought theyd be a little more like my 95 greenie. maybe i'm wrong.

My eventual goal is to mount this thing on some rings to the side grips on my AR and use it as a rather crappy boresight. Still trying to figure out how to do a pressure pad on/off as well from it. Not to mention... why shoot overpenetrating rounds for defense when you can disorient or even blind?

@blue Ya I can't wait to get up to the observatory dome here with the telescope
@Kungfu Yes the blue 1w laser is a "Bar" shape or "Line" not a dot. I just call it a dot heh, also this laser with a direct hit in the eyes will blind... but on the permanent scale. I don't think anyone wants that on their conscious. I had a shlthawk fly into my beam at night by the ocean, it didn't fare well as it started to do a Japanese Kamikaze into the ocean from about 100ft up. It never recovered until around 20ft from the water ... my fiancee almost broke my laser because of that... be careful not to hit anything living.

Thanks; I find your dialogue re: eye irritation VERY useful. (+rep) I plan to get a 1W+ 445 soon, and I am a LITTLE scared of the idea. Anecdotes such as these help.

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For a "safe backdrop" (so that I don't burn holes in walls, AND to cut down on glare / diffuse reflection); recently I swiped a couple of bricks from some construction nearby. Two old bricks, yellow-tan in color, and one of them is "slathered" in a thin layer of cement.

I "painted" a square on the side of one of the bricks a very dark matte black.

I used multiple layers of 3 things.

I quit smoking some time go; but I contacted a neighbor who smokes, and told him that I needed a lot of cigarette ashes. He knows about my lasers, and I explained it. I made a "paste" of hot water & cigarette ashes, and coated and re-coated and rubbed it into the area on the brick.

Then I got a simple pencil and coated the area with multiple layers of pencil graphite... just rubbed it in over and over.

Finally, I used a candle and coated the area over and over again with "lampblack".

This made a nice very black very MATTE dark square on my brick... about 3 inches x 3 inches.

It absorbs 600nm and 532nm real well. I will use it indoors for the 445nm when I get it.

@op
What do you mean by shutter screws? I have the spartan and there no screws anywhere on mine enless something has changed on it.

@JBTexas dude that is awesome, I'm gonna make something similar to your bricks. I'm curious with an LPM how much exactly reflect back off your matte black.

@laserhead, Yeah i've noticed that most spartans have some sort of sticker or covering in most instances over the "hole" at the end of the host ... it even looked like there was some sort of "Lens" there too ... mine the end is threaded with a lil screw cap that screws in... I'll post a pic soon as I find the cap. Had turned on laser to many times forgetting it on so I put it somewhere... I'll def post a pic and updates to this.

Got a few more experiments up my sleeve I haven't seen anywhere else yet.
I'll eventually do a formal review of this unit and more indepth high quality video/photo's
Stay tuned!

First I need to correct myself; just a silly typo;

JBTexas said:

It absorbs 600nm and 532nm real well. I will use it indoors for the 445nm when I get it.

Click to expand...

I meant 660nm.

I don't have an LPM, but you are right, it might be interesting to compare the 445nm glare from "lampblack" to the glare from a common everyday object (like a white wall... for as long as the paint lasts!). The top surface of these layers that I put on the brick is 100% "lampblack" / soot from a candle. MANY layers of it.

*Maybe someone with an LPM (or any light sensing device) can do an experiment... coat something in soot from a candle... report how much the diffuse reflection is cut by soot...

The diffuse reflection from a ~350-380mw 660nm red and a 200mw 532nm green is cut down significantly from it. I would *GUESS* by close to maybe 50% at least.

The "underlayers" of cigarette ash/paste and pencil graphite are mainly just in case the lampblack gets smudged off / flakes off.

It's just a "safe backdrop" to aim a 445nm at, something that won't get damaged, and something that throws back less glare. I STILL wouldn't look directly at it without safety goggles though.