- Joined
- Oct 7, 2011
- Messages
- 5
- Points
- 0
Hello,
This is my first laser and first review. I tried to buy the Spyder S3 arctic last year but canceled my order when they did not deliver.
I was wary but gave it another go this time with the new Krypton. I went for the real deal the full 1W version for $1000, and the expanded lens kit. I was promised that it would be TO MY DOORSTEP in 2 weeks.
I was not given any kind of shipping confirmation or anything. After 3 weeks I contacted customer service and they said it had been shipped in two parts because it was illegal to ship batteries or something like that. Anyway, 3 days later I received a bag from Wicked Lasers. Inside was some bubble wrap around the black laser body, sans endcap. No papers or anything else to identify what it was whatsoever.
I contacted customer service again and this time they gave me a tracking number for the remainder of my order. I got it a week later, so total wait was a little over a month.
Packaging was very minimal. The battery is unmarked and initially uncharged. Comes with a charger, took a few hours to charge fully.
The expanded lens kit had no instructions. The instrucions for the laser were very confusing, I was afraid to turn it on for a long time because the instructions to turn it on were so confusing and I couldn't find any instructions for how to turn it OFF. Eventually I discovered it would be turned off by pressing the back-button.
The procedure to unlock the laser is very difficult to use. Even with the instruction manual and following it exactly, it took me at least 20 tries to get it to come on. The timing has to be perfect for it to work. Now I can do it fairly reliably. It is annoying.
The provided safety goggles seem very effective. The world looks all red and black in them. The dot does not look bright when viewed through the goggles. I presume that if it does not look bright, then it can't be harmful, because all the energy is concentrated in the most visible part of the spectrum. Please correct me if I'm wrong about that!!
Now onto the lens kit. There is no instructions. If you take all the lenses you you will see symbols on the side of them. By doing an internet search I was able to find out what lenses were supposed to come with it and then use a little intelligence to decipher what the symbols mean.
- : makes a line
+ : makes a cross
5 prong fan : makes a flood light
3 prong fan : makes a flashlight
9 dot pattern: projcts hundreds of stars like a galaxy
squished-x : focusing lens, at about 3-4 inches
There is also a lens marked 100%, I assume that this means the default lens is blocking some of the light. Not sure if this means it is lacking an IR filter or not. Really wish they provided more info on this stuff for safe use.
Unfortunately the glasses work so well that I cannot see any trace of the beam when using the crazy lenses. This means that in order to tell what it was actually doing, I had to peak out from under the glasses for a quick moment, and I felt unsafe about that.
Lastly, I tried to burn something. I put on the focusing lens and held it at the distance that made the dot as small and focused as possible and put it into high power mode. I was very disappointed here because I tried holding it against paper and thin pieces of plastic and did not see any reaction. No smoke, no heat, no smell, nothing. Tried on a few other things like a candle wick. Again nothing. This is on a full charge.
Takeaways:
1) I want to do more testing and see if I can get at least SOMETHING to have a response when shined upon
2) It seems clear to me that exposure to indirect reflection is unavoidable. The question is how much is safe. I want to understand this sooner rather than later. For example, I assume that shining into the night sky, the reflected light from particles in the air is not dangerous. I wonder about if its in my apartment, and I take a less than 1 second peak at the dot on the wall, is that going to cause a permanent blind spot? Also, is it totally safe to look at the reflected dot through the glasses?
This is my first laser and first review. I tried to buy the Spyder S3 arctic last year but canceled my order when they did not deliver.
I was wary but gave it another go this time with the new Krypton. I went for the real deal the full 1W version for $1000, and the expanded lens kit. I was promised that it would be TO MY DOORSTEP in 2 weeks.
I was not given any kind of shipping confirmation or anything. After 3 weeks I contacted customer service and they said it had been shipped in two parts because it was illegal to ship batteries or something like that. Anyway, 3 days later I received a bag from Wicked Lasers. Inside was some bubble wrap around the black laser body, sans endcap. No papers or anything else to identify what it was whatsoever.
I contacted customer service again and this time they gave me a tracking number for the remainder of my order. I got it a week later, so total wait was a little over a month.
Packaging was very minimal. The battery is unmarked and initially uncharged. Comes with a charger, took a few hours to charge fully.
The expanded lens kit had no instructions. The instrucions for the laser were very confusing, I was afraid to turn it on for a long time because the instructions to turn it on were so confusing and I couldn't find any instructions for how to turn it OFF. Eventually I discovered it would be turned off by pressing the back-button.
The procedure to unlock the laser is very difficult to use. Even with the instruction manual and following it exactly, it took me at least 20 tries to get it to come on. The timing has to be perfect for it to work. Now I can do it fairly reliably. It is annoying.
The provided safety goggles seem very effective. The world looks all red and black in them. The dot does not look bright when viewed through the goggles. I presume that if it does not look bright, then it can't be harmful, because all the energy is concentrated in the most visible part of the spectrum. Please correct me if I'm wrong about that!!
Now onto the lens kit. There is no instructions. If you take all the lenses you you will see symbols on the side of them. By doing an internet search I was able to find out what lenses were supposed to come with it and then use a little intelligence to decipher what the symbols mean.
- : makes a line
+ : makes a cross
5 prong fan : makes a flood light
3 prong fan : makes a flashlight
9 dot pattern: projcts hundreds of stars like a galaxy
squished-x : focusing lens, at about 3-4 inches
There is also a lens marked 100%, I assume that this means the default lens is blocking some of the light. Not sure if this means it is lacking an IR filter or not. Really wish they provided more info on this stuff for safe use.
Unfortunately the glasses work so well that I cannot see any trace of the beam when using the crazy lenses. This means that in order to tell what it was actually doing, I had to peak out from under the glasses for a quick moment, and I felt unsafe about that.
Lastly, I tried to burn something. I put on the focusing lens and held it at the distance that made the dot as small and focused as possible and put it into high power mode. I was very disappointed here because I tried holding it against paper and thin pieces of plastic and did not see any reaction. No smoke, no heat, no smell, nothing. Tried on a few other things like a candle wick. Again nothing. This is on a full charge.
Takeaways:
1) I want to do more testing and see if I can get at least SOMETHING to have a response when shined upon
2) It seems clear to me that exposure to indirect reflection is unavoidable. The question is how much is safe. I want to understand this sooner rather than later. For example, I assume that shining into the night sky, the reflected light from particles in the air is not dangerous. I wonder about if its in my apartment, and I take a less than 1 second peak at the dot on the wall, is that going to cause a permanent blind spot? Also, is it totally safe to look at the reflected dot through the glasses?
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