250mw green laser help.

[lupothew0lf]

i recently bought a 250mw green laser and i tried it straight out of the box an it can barley poke holes in black trash bags and it cannot light a match. is it just the stock battery? or is my laser defective?... I got the laser from laserpointerpro.com.

Please help,
Lupothew0lf

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

Chances are it's nowhere near 250mW.

Post a link of the laser you got, or better yet your own pictures.

Do be careful... while it's not quite as powerful as you expected it's still enough to damage your eyes, so get some safety goggles asap.

 

[lupothew0lf]

250mW 532nm Flashlight Style 302 Type Green Laser Pointer Pen with 18650 Battery at Laserpointerpro.com

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

No way that laser is 250mW... from you description it's likely in the 70-120mW range probably with quite a bit of IR.

For the $40 it's not that bad though.

 

[lupothew0lf]

so the website and the label on the laser lies?

and my friend got the same laser and it lights matches with ease.

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

Yes, and yes. Read up on the various companies and laser safety.

 

[Fretwrecker94]

so the website and the label on the laser lies?

and my friend got the same laser and it lights matches with ease.

No two snowflakes are alike. Variation is everywhere... ESPECIALLY with relatively cheap lasers advertised as high powered.

 

[lupothew0lf]

it came with a warranty.

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

Chinese dropshippers have no clue about lasers.

It's a shocker I know.

Good luck with the warranty, just don't forget tracked shipping back to china is going to run you almost as much as the laser cost in the first place.

Write this off as a learning experience and next time order from a reputable company.

 

[Sputnik77]

I bought one of these too. I knew it wouldnt be anywhere near 250mw. However, mine is only about 50mw max.

I have tried contacting them MANY times about this and they will not respond in any way. So, good luck with your warranty.

If it had been 100mw+, the price would be fair, as it is actually quite well made, but considering the measly ~50mw, Im kind of ticked, as I could have easily bought a decent 50mw for $15

As for the label being wrong, it actually is not. It says <250mw , that means LESS THAN 250mw, and that could mean anywhere from 0-250.

The IR diode was measured at ~1W. It has all glass AR coated optics, (beam expander and collimator). The low power doesnt appear to be an alignment issue. It does appear to be a rather inefficient crystal set however. I know even with a much more efficient crystal set, 250mw would still be pushing it, but it should be at least in the 140-150mw range.

 

[GAtkins]

I got a similar one from a different website for about $26 that rated at 200mW. I knew it would be nowhere close to that.

It meters at 65mW on a full 18650. Ok for $26 bucks or so.

Glenn

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

I've gone through more than half a dozen of these... I like the design...

You're simply not going to be able to hit 250mW.

The best that I've seen peaked at 224mW, had about 25mW of IR and a rather thick beam. The only one I kept peaks at 194mW, with <10mW of IR, a nice tight beam, and surprisingly good divergence. On par with my jetlasers TiB.

Of course it took going through more than half a dozen "200mW" lasers from reputable sellers in order to find it.

So moral of the story... even though it might be tempting stay the hell away from drop shippers, or if you do order, don't be surprised when you get a dud.