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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Sanwu laser shop challenger series

Joined
Jan 14, 2012
Messages
59
Points
8
Hello

I've recently made a purchase through Podo for a sanwu challenger series 520nm. I haven't seen any reviews for any of their lasers so I told him I would throw one up when I had the time.
Please bare with me as I am on my phone, my pc is having some issues so I would like to apologize in advance.. Also this is my first review.. So take it easy on me :/

Communication:

Podo was a real pleasure to do business with. He answered all my questions in a timely manner, and speaks very good English.

Shipping/Packaging:

When you order a laser from sanwu it has to be made so you have to allow time for that. Having said that I placed my order with Podo on 5/13 and received my laser on 5/28. Two weeks is not bad at all.
The packaging was a little iffy. I was meaning to take a picture but my wife threw the box away before I had a chance to. It came in a little red cardboard box with a little foam cutaway housing the laser. I would prefer for it to be a little more protected, but this unit is hefty and survived just fine.

The laser:

I decided to go with the engraved version of this series as I liked it better than just the smooth. This thing is heavy... I mean REALLY heavy for its size. Sanwu claims it is made from a nickel copper alloy and it feels like a solid chunk of copper in your hand.
0605151527_zpswhizv2lk.jpg


The threads for the focus and end cap are immaculate. Butter smoothness doesn't describe it...I will say thick caramel smooth ;)
0605151540_zpshi9wtvja.jpg


Really cannot say enough about the craftsmanship. It is just an all around quality unit that I really can say nothing bad about.

Performance:

It is a case negative build and runs off one 14500 battery. I usually get 20-30 minutes of runtime off a 600ma AW cell before I have to recharge.(this is just an estimate)
0605151528_zpsnjkbweh7.jpg


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He did not specify a duty cycle for this unit. It is advertised as 200mw of 520nm. I do not have an Lpm so I cannot test this. I usually keep it around 60/30 to be safe, as around the minute mark it starts to get pretty warm.

But can it pop a balloon you ask? Yes it can, along with most of the other tricks like light matches and such.

0605151542_zpstlktlbe2.jpg


It also has a "soft start" feature so when you turn the laser on for a few tenths of a second the output is very little before it powers up completely.

All in all this laser along with sanwu and Podo has impressed me throughly. I highly highly recommend you take a look at them for your next purchase. The quality along with the service is phenomenal.

And now for the obligatory beam shots.

0605151542a_zpscz8zmuv4.jpg


0605151545_zpsut3zaxzj.jpg


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Thanks for checking out my first review, and if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask!
 





GR3EN

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Aug 5, 2010
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Looks very nice indeed. Thank you for the first input of their laser. Glad to see it arrived safe and sound +rep
 
Joined
Dec 15, 2014
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Hi you missed the price of the laser. And what driver is in it. Nice build looks great
 
Joined
Jan 14, 2012
Messages
59
Points
8
My apologies. I payed 187 all together.

He did not specify the driver, but I would imagine some type of boost seeing as it runs off one 3.7v 14500. Which would explain it getting fairly warm around the minute mark.

I could probably run it for longer than a minute but I really have no need to.
 

Podo

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Nov 7, 2013
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My apologies. I payed 187 all together.

He did not specify the driver, but I would imagine some type of boost seeing as it runs off one 3.7v 14500. Which would explain it getting fairly warm around the minute mark.

I could probably run it for longer than a minute but I really have no need to.

If you feel heat coming out from a host so easily usually that means it has a good heat-sinking ability. Operating it longer than a minute will be totally fine imo. All laser drivers are made, adjusted by sanwu and the idea is to protect the diode from overheating and run with a safe current. Anyway, thanks for reviewing our product! :beer:+rep
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jul 29, 2015
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Are these really the power as advertised... Not to be offensive but I think 1.8W of blue power couldn't come out from such a small host..
 
Joined
Jul 20, 2011
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Are these really the power as advertised... Not to be offensive but I think 1.8W of blue power couldn't come out from such a small host..

Look up some of RHD's builds and you'll be surprised at the amount of power you can blast out of a tiny host :p
 

Pman

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Joined
Nov 28, 2012
Messages
4,447
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Jayrob too.
Honestly a lot of it comes down to duty cycle. Boost driver with a powerful diode and you have a little monster albeit with a short on time. It's not hard to do. It's just that most people want a decent run time and that requires decent heat sinking and a decent battery which generally means a bigger host.
 




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