200mw O-Like blueray Any thoughts

[loosekannonn]

The O-like in discussion here is the 200mW, loosekannonn is the laser you have the 100mW version?

The 405nm wavelength is not bright, its barely visible especially compared to green. I find it amazing how well a 5mW Green works even in the daylight. I have a Viridian Green gun sight and its amazing!

corrected my first post, yes it is the 200mW version.
just a typo.

 

[Gixxer331]

I'm glad i found your post, I was getting impatient and almost cancelled my order for the S1 from Wicked Lasers to get that one instead, but after reading your review i decided to wait it out for the Sonar

 

[AJ_Dual]

well...
i just received this Laser back on Friday...
I'm not overly impressed, but I may have been expecting too much.
the sloppy fit of the focus bezel and the odd artifacts in the projected image have me perplexed.
the projected area looks like a Black Light image of the Lunar Surface with craters/bubbles that move around.
I wish someone with a more educated eye than mine could have a look at this animal.

here is a shot taken from 6' with both a 532nM 5mW gun site laser and the 405nm 200mW O-Like laser. (made a typo in the lasers out put corrected Sunday 08/08/2010)
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u215/LK-13/Lasers/DSCI0474.jpg

It's probably a combination of constructive/destructive interference (laser speckle) and the (in)ability of the human eye to focus violet/near-UV very well, combined with the frequency being at one of the absolute tail-ends of the human color sensitivity bell-curve. So it'll look fuzzy and have a sort of there/not there ethereal look to it no matter what the power is, unless you get up into the tens of watts like others posted.

But then, I wouldn't even want to be in the same room as "tens of watts of 405."

405nm is always going to be a fluorescence toy, and a burner. They'll never be good for beam visibility. They work okay as a pointer IF what your illuminating fluoresces well.

 

[loosekannonn]

It's probably a combination of constructive/destructive interference (laser speckle) and the (in)ability of the human eye to focus violet/near-UV very well, combined with the frequency being at one of the absolute tail-ends of the human color sensitivity bell-curve. So it'll look fuzzy and have a sort of there/not there ethereal look to it no matter what the power is, unless you get up into the tens of watts like others posted.

But then, I wouldn't even want to be in the same room as "tens of watts of 405."

405nm is always going to be a fluorescence toy, and a burner. They'll never be good for beam visibility. They work okay as a pointer IF what your illuminating fluoresces well.

A little Teflon tape and the focus bezel now feels solid.
still not happy with the focus, going to get the correct tap and thread the lens holder all the way through.
currently it bottoms out so the lens is always recessed by around 5mm or so.
once I tap the aperture hole all the way through i should be able to adjust the focus better and use the bezel to change to focal lengths at distance.

 

[qumefox]

405nm is always going to be a fluorescence toy, and a burner. They'll never be good for beam visibility. They work okay as a pointer IF what your illuminating fluoresces well.

In a dark room I can see the beam of a 46mw 405 as well as I can the beam of 20mw of 532. Now the 532 dot appears much brighter, but the beam doesn't. When talking beams, thanks to Rayleigh scattering, lower wavelengths have a much higher visual gain.

Mw for mw, 532 is still going to win, but the difference in apparent beam brightness isn't going to be nearly as drastic as the difference in dot brightness. 405nm beams are actually a lot easier to see than 650nm beams at the same power, by the way.

 

[denodan]

I'm glad i found your post, I was getting impatient and almost cancelled my order for the S1 from Wicked Lasers to get that one instead, but after reading your review i decided to wait it out for the Sonar[/QUOTEty

I had a Sonic Ordered also, but cancelled due to my experence with the Arctic. Like the Arctic you will wait months and like the Arctic to fill orders will rush and QC won't be there. Get a faulty one and you will be stuck with it as they don't answer your emails.

At least the O-like one, you get a faulty one and will be able to return it, but no so with the Sonic.I feel the Sonic will be a rushed product, so will be hit and miss like the Arctic, and faulty ones not replaced.

 

[goninanbl00d]

405nm beams are much brighter than you'd think because of increased forward scattering off air particles.

It might not count for much, but it does matter, and that's why people have reported visible beams with as little as 5mW of violet in a dark room.

 

[sellout]

I have one of these, it was a pretty good burner until I killed the diode messing with it. I think the artifacts around the beam are caused by the shiny aluminum around the aperture. You could probably blacken that area carefully with a sooty flame or by covering the diode with a small piece of tape and then painting the aluminum with a matte black spray paint.

If you do try to soot it, be careful how close you get it to the flame. I just killed mine doing that

 

[Eudaimonium]

I have one of these, it was a pretty good burner until I killed the diode messing with it. I think the artifacts around the beam are caused by the shiny aluminum around the aperture. You could probably blacken that area carefully with a sooty flame or by covering the diode with a small piece of tape and then painting the aluminum with a matte black spray paint.

If you do try to soot it, be careful how close you get it to the flame. I just killed mine doing that

If it ain't broken, don't fix it, or else it will be broken and need fixing.

Getting ANYTHING near a diode is terrifically bad idea, especially flame (LOLWUT).

Artifacts that are caused by reflection of sides in lenses or threads are not to be worried about because nothing is wrong with your laser.

I wonder what will you do to your 445nm , which has some side splatter pretty badly but it does not bother me.

 

[sellout]

If it ain't broken, don't fix it, or else it will be broken and need fixing.

Getting ANYTHING near a diode is terrifically bad idea, especially flame (LOLWUT).

Artifacts that are caused by reflection of sides in lenses or threads are not to be worried about because nothing is wrong with your laser.

I wonder what will you do to your 445nm , which has some side splatter pretty badly but it does not bother me.

I won't be messing with my 445 unless it comes to me broken.

This one doesn't bother me, I was looking for an excuse to build a DIY burner anyway...