589nm 50mW Spartan Review

[Nexgen]

Hello everyone,

Today I want to review a laser that I will probably never sell. It suits my daily needs, being ~60mw I can point it around my house.
Dragonlasers did a good job helping me with my order, they replaced me 2 non-working units. Painful experience
Long story short, a year ago I purchased same unit and it arrived dead. I was angry and I had to send it back for a refund. Same this year, but I insisted on getting working unit. On third time I got it.
I’ll never try to repair a laser myself under warranty. Lesson learned.

Shipping:

Unit came without any customs delays, with marked $18 on a package. Anti-static bag and a few pieces of foam plastic in a thick carton box. Due to local post delays, I had to wait 7 days before courier handed it over to me:


Shipping to Estonia ~4 days.


First look:


I popped it straight out of the box and turned it on and got... A yellow beam on a second attempt. Host looks solid nothing flips inside, for a long time use. Top of the laser unscrews allowing to adjust focus with a special tool.

Duty Cycle:

Duty cycle was stated to be 2minutes on. It gets warm after that period. Can keep hands warm during winter.

Power:

Being a handheld DPSS laser it drops in power being out of temperature range. On a cold start (below 15°C) it can barely do 10mW, but at room temperature it ramps up to 60 and stays there around a minute. When hot, hovers around 30-40.


Conclusion: Good value for a TEM00 yellow laser. Laser can arrive broken, but dragonlasers will be ready to replace it. I’m not the only one who received underspec/broken unit.


Beamshots:

Too rainy outside for outdoor shots...

 

[BowtieGuy]

Glad to see that you got a good unit this time around, I guess the third time is a charm; it's good to see that Dragon Laser stood behind their products!

Those are some nice beam shots, 589nm is a wonderful wavelength; thanks for sharing.

 

[LaserRanger]

@Nexgen thank you for sharing! That is a really cool wavelength, is it yellow or does it have an orange tint to it? Could be just my screen

 

[icecruncher]

Thanks for review.

I'm waiting until prices drop more, or maybe my wife gets me one as anniversary gift, but I love that area of the wavelength. Very nice

Still over $400 atm

Thinking to self - When will those diode 565,575s become more available for everyone?

 

[Nexgen]

Thanks for review.

I'm waiting until prices drop more, or maybe my wife gets me one as anniversary gift, but I love that area of the wavelength. Very nice

Still over $400 atm

Thinking to self - When will those diode 565,575s become more available for everyone?

565 and 575 are DPSS lasers. Not anytime soon. Manufacturer still has crystal degradation problem.
Thank you guys for your replies
I can’t multiquote from mobile.

 

[paul1598419]

I'm glad to see you finally got a working laser out of all your problems. I call this beam yellow/orange as it doesn't look true yellow like 575nm to 577nm. You might want to check this laser out with a diffraction grating when cold. They have been know to do multiple lines. Congrats, Nexgen.

 

[icecruncher]

565 and 575 are DPSS lasers. Not anytime soon. Manufacturer still has crystal degradation problem.
Thank you guys for your replies
I can’t multiquote from mobile.

I meant diodes as opposed to gas lasers. Sorry for confusion.

I've been keeping up on the few notes on here that listed the crystal problems. But maybe someday, we will get "cheap" yellows

I've drooled over the handheld versions for years.

 

[paul1598419]

IDK. The lab version of the 575nm is fine with me as I was able to increase its power by two fold and actively cool the driver to keep it stable and running indefinitely. I really wouldn't want it in a HH with a limited run time.

 

[jnrpop]

Happy your patience prevailed and your collection now has this beautiful WL, congrats Nexgen , not to many 589nm HH's would exist in Estonia i'd think in one of those photos it looks on the orange side, love it!
J

 

[Richie89]

is that your house?! niiiiice. I wish I was a part of the DL 589 family very nice pics by the way. love it!

 

[trinh hong phuoc]

Very nice,

 

[Nexgen]

is that your house?! niiiiice. I wish I was a part of the DL 589 family very nice pics by the way. love it!

Yes, planning to move there. It will be good to have a new DL 589 member

Happy your patience prevailed and your collection now has this beautiful WL, congrats Nexgen , not to many 589nm HH's would exist in Estonia i'd think in one of those photos it looks on the orange side, love it!
J

Thank you, Didn’t have much time to take more photos, I been working on my new green laser project. I’ll share it soon.

IDK. The lab version of the 575nm is fine with me as I was able to increase its power by two fold and actively cool the driver to keep it stable and running indefinitely. I really wouldn't want it in a HH with a limited run time.

Agree, but the driver gets hot faster than the laser itself.

 

[paul1598419]

I believe the only reason the driver is more of a problem than the laser head is that the head is actively cooled and not in a passive cooled HH. I suppose I could put together a driver that would be easier to keep cool, but it works fine now. If I ever have problems with the driver, I might revisit the idea of a different driver circuit.

 

[TARDIS]

Hello everyone,

Today I want to review a laser that I will probably never sell. It suits my daily needs, being ~60mw I can point it around my house.
Dragonlasers did a good job helping me with my order, they replaced me 2 non-working units. Painful experience
Long story short, a year ago I purchased same unit and it arrived dead. I was angry and I had to send it back for a refund. Same this year, but I insisted on getting working unit. On third time I got it.
I’ll never try to repair a laser myself under warranty. Lesson learned.

Shipping:

Unit came without any customs delays, with marked $18 on a package. Anti-static bag and a few pieces of foam plastic in a thick carton box. Due to local post delays, I had to wait 7 days before courier handed it over to me:


Shipping to Estonia ~4 days.


First look:


I popped it straight out of the box and turned it on and got... A yellow beam on a second attempt. Host looks solid nothing flips inside, for a long time use. Top of the laser unscrews allowing to adjust focus with a special tool.

Duty Cycle:

Duty cycle was stated to be 2minutes on. It gets warm after that period. Can keep hands warm during winter.

Power:

Being a handheld DPSS laser it drops in power being out of temperature range. On a cold start (below 15°C) it can barely do 10mW, but at room temperature it ramps up to 60 and stays there around a minute. When hot, hovers around 30-40.


Conclusion: Good value for a TEM00 yellow laser. Laser can arrive broken, but dragonlasers will be ready to replace it. I’m not the only one who received underspec/broken unit.


Beamshots:

Too rainy outside for outdoor shots...

Hey what do you know about the spartan 200mW from dragon lasers?

I'm trying to find more info on it.
Please let me know thank you