As far as the diodes go: I gotta say I'm really tired of the lines that chinese sources always feed us, to the point where I don't think I'm even going to consider their specs in dealing with them going forward. I'm not sure if this guy tried to mislead Ablaze, or just had no clue what he was talking about. It really could be either. My cynicism has me leaning towards the former.
I'm actually more inclined to lean towards that latter, or at least a combination of both.
This source clearly doesn't know what he's talking about. Forget about the wavelength issue for a moment. This source's lack of knowledge is evidenced by the 5.6mm vs 3.8mm confusion. There's no "value" to falsely claiming the diode was 5.6mm, if he knew it was actually 3.8mm. Thus, he must
not have known it was 3.8mm. He couldn't have "not known" this, if he had manufactured the diode, or even just the housing itself - hell, if he had even LOOKED AT the laser module itself, before selling it, he would have known it contained a 3.8mm diode. I maintain that this "source" is basically a dumb intermediary, who knows nothing about lasers (or any more than they'd know about MP3 players, generic Android phones, fake iPhones, etc), reselling someone else's product, at inflated prices. He's taking generic modules (I'm pretty sure from BobLaser) and reselling them to ABlaze at a markup, claiming them to be "custom made" etc etc etc.
Remember this:
This diode is in active R&D. I believe they are being made to order from scratch, and not using another company's premade diodes.
That's just complete nonsense. And ABlaze, to be clear, I'm not ragging on you about this - I'm ragging on your "source". I'm certain you had good intentions, and fully believed this statement above,
because of what this source told you. That said, I think you need to recognize that this source is deceiving you. This has been what I've been trying to help you see from the beginning. He's majorly overcharging you on the other lasers you've purchased from him (based on the private cost sheet you showed me), and he's not giving you product that would be any different than what you might get if you approached BobLaser or someone similar directly.
Aryntha touched on the whole "tired of the lines Chinese sources feed us" sentiment - and I share that too. Once you've dealt with enough Chinese laser sources, you'll realize that the "relationship" you think you have with them, is largely smoke and mirrors. They'll tell you almost anything they need to tell you to get that next sale. There is often a mindset that getting the money now, and worrying about satisfaction later, is the right approach to business.
It probably works for them too -
Most of the time, getting a refund or an exchange is impractical. They'll either offer you some token amount of compensation (maybe 5%), or setup some absurd exchange/return scheme that makes it effectively impractical to do so. It's a bit different for an established domain like DX or DD, where complaints can attach to the website name or address, and reasonably easily impact future sales. But look at this situation here - even after all of this,
you still won't tell us who your source is, so that we know not to do business with them in the future. I'd say that's a pretty repercussion-free relationship for your source. Apart from potentially jeopardizing your future business, this source has so far had zero impact on their own reputation as a result of their deception.
So maybe the Chinese laser sources are smart
