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589nm Spartan Yellow Laser — Review, Pictures, LPM Data

julianthedragon

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 3, 2020
Messages
368
Points
63
Intro
Wishing everyone a happy and healthy New Year! Earlier this month, I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a Dragon Lasers 50mw 589nm Spartan laser. I should preface this review by saying that owning this thing had been on my bucket list for years, so provided that it was operational upon delivery and all went smoothly with the seller, I was never planning to criticize it per se. One, there's not a lot to compare it to, and two, I've already read plenty of raving reviews as I'm sure many of you have. So this review will mostly be describing my experience, letting those golden photons take the spotlight, and sharing some LPM measurements. Let's get into it!

Shipping/Delivery
The buying experience was great right off the bat. The seller @Atlas87 was excellent to deal with and kept me updated every step of the way with pictures etc., great guy. He threw in the Spartan beam expander, the corresponding adapter, and even a li-ion battery with the laser. I probably paid around or below original price of everything combined. To top things off, the seller specified that there was only 15 mins prior runtime on this thing. If he didn't keep sending me pictures and communicating back and forth I would've thought I was being scammed... 😂 The package was shipped from CA to NJ in just three days. This is what was inside the box:
Screen Shot 2021-12-31 at 3.24.16 PM.jpg
(Top left to bottom right: beam expander, adapter, battery, laser)

Host
Approximate dimensions are 8" long by 1" in diameter. It's larger and bulkier than a pen but smaller than a PL-E Mini, and fits in the hand nicely. It has a textured part for grip and ridges near the top that stop it from rolling. Feels a bit like a flashlight.

host.jpeghost close up.jpeg
Unscrew the tailcap to load 1x18650 battery. There is a helpful illustration inscribed on the host showing the positive side of the battery facing the back of the laser. This is a small detail I never noticed before owning one of these.


lens cap.jpeg
At the front of the laser you'll find a tiny threaded lens cap. Actually, that whole piece in front of the textured part unscrews to attach the beam expander, which I'll show later. Note that this laser does not have a built in focusing thread, same as many other Dragon Lasers products.


Action
First, some long exposure beam shots at night: (Note, the beam is actually very thin with little observable divergence despite the perspective of the camera)

Pointing it down at this pond made it look like this bush was on fire lol

Had to do this as well:
589.jpeg

Ok, done with the long exposures from here on out. Here it is with some natural fog:

Here are some pics I took inside, some with mist in the air:
It really lights up the room and gives off a more natural feeling than other laser colors which I love.

Finally, here it is shining into a camera flash diffuser with some details of that laser light hitting the wall:

All in all a beautiful wavelength and the images speak for themselves. It's never possible to capture the exact spectral color on camera for various reasons, but I made it as close as possible. The color reminds me of turn signal lights on cars, like an amber yellow.

Stability and Power
Given the complex DPSS process that emits 589nm, it's no surprise that it can be a bit finnicky and unstable at times, this is true. But even so, I'm impressed by its ability to push out so many yellow photons at room temp from a cold start. I noticed it struggles the most in cold temperatures and after it's been used for a while, but respect the ideal operating conditions and don't overwork this thing and ohh man it delivers.

I measured the laser five times. The first time was just an isolated test. The following three were done one after the other with a minute break in between. Then the last test was done after a 15 minute break. I used my LaserBee USB 3.7W and screenshotted the Power v Time graph from each run.

My first LPM test from a cold start peaked at 105mw and averaged 85mw:
Screen Shot 2021-12-31 at 4.51.53 PM.png
Wow. It hung around 2x advertised spec for quite a while, at >3x its recommended duty cycle. (I read a review from Cyparagon here who claimed to leave it running for half an hour so I wasn't too concerned.)

Tests 2, 3, 4, with 2 being from a cold start:
test1.pngPeak: 97mw Avg: 75mw
test2.pngPeak: 78mw Avg: 60mw
test3.pngPeak: 49mw Avg: 35mw

I had a feeling it was just getting tired, so I set a timer for 15 minutes and tried a final test.
Test 5:
test4.pngPeak: 98mw Avg: 76.6mw

Sure enough, it was back in full force.

The power graph seems to take on this wavey shape with a period of ~10 seconds when it reaches a peak which is interesting. Maybe this has to do with summing 1,064 and 1,319 nm light or just the crystals themselves? Anyone with an idea lmk.

Beam Expander
The beam expander adds about 5.5" to the laser and attaches via an adapter that requires unscrewing the front piece of the laser. I can't actually see any difference with or without the beam expander with the naked eye, so I'm taking Dragon Lasers' word for it that it lowers divergence. Here are some pics:


Conclusion
I'm very happy, definitely lucked out on this one. I hope you enjoyed the photos and measurements. Glad to finally post this since things have been super busy recently. Stay safe and Happy New Year once again :)
 





Joined
Jan 2, 2008
Messages
1,513
Points
83
Very cool handheld 589nm - WOW nice power output.

I just bought a lab 575nm on here a couple weeks ago but power is much lower than your handheld. My two yellow HeNe lasers are in the low mw power but the similar color is beautiful almost like a liquid sun.

The 575 is much more lemony :)

Thanks for the writeup and pics.

Just a note on power, my 575 is very sensitive to room heat and power drops off if the ambient temperature goes up, so that may also be the case with your 589.
 
Joined
Feb 27, 2017
Messages
56
Points
18
Intro
Wishing everyone a happy and healthy New Year! Earlier this month, I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a Dragon Lasers 50mw 589nm Spartan laser. I should preface this review by saying that owning this thing had been on my bucket list for years, so provided that it was operational upon delivery and all went smoothly with the seller, I was never planning to criticize it per se. One, there's not a lot to compare it to, and two, I've already read plenty of raving reviews as I'm sure many of you have. So this review will mostly be describing my experience, letting those golden photons take the spotlight, and sharing some LPM measurements. Let's get into it!

Shipping/Delivery
The buying experience was great right off the bat. The seller @Atlas87 was excellent to deal with and kept me updated every step of the way with pictures etc., great guy. He threw in the Spartan beam expander, the corresponding adapter, and even a li-ion battery with the laser. I probably paid around or below original price of everything combined. To top things off, the seller specified that there was only 15 mins prior runtime on this thing. If he didn't keep sending me pictures and communicating back and forth I would've thought I was being scammed... 😂 The package was shipped from CA to NJ in just three days. This is what was inside the box:
View attachment 73954
(Top left to bottom right: beam expander, adapter, battery, laser)

Host
Approximate dimensions are 8" long by 1" in diameter. It's larger and bulkier than a pen but smaller than a PL-E Mini, and fits in the hand nicely. It has a textured part for grip and ridges near the top that stop it from rolling. Feels a bit like a flashlight.

View attachment 73956View attachment 73957
Unscrew the tailcap to load 1x18650 battery. There is a helpful illustration inscribed on the host showing the positive side of the battery facing the back of the laser. This is a small detail I never noticed before owning one of these.


View attachment 73958
At the front of the laser you'll find a tiny threaded lens cap. Actually, that whole piece in front of the textured part unscrews to attach the beam expander, which I'll show later. Note that this laser does not have a built in focusing thread, same as many other Dragon Lasers products.


Action
First, some long exposure beam shots at night: (Note, the beam is actually very thin with little observable divergence despite the perspective of the camera)

Pointing it down at this pond made it look like this bush was on fire lol

Had to do this as well:
View attachment 73963

Ok, done with the long exposures from here on out. Here it is with some natural fog:

Here are some pics I took inside, some with mist in the air:
It really lights up the room and gives off a more natural feeling than other laser colors which I love.

Finally, here it is shining into a camera flash diffuser with some details of that laser light hitting the wall:

All in all a beautiful wavelength and the images speak for themselves. It's never possible to capture the exact spectral color on camera for various reasons, but I made it as close as possible. The color reminds me of turn signal lights on cars, like an amber yellow.

Stability and Power
Given the complex DPSS process that emits 589nm, it's no surprise that it can be a bit finnicky and unstable at times, this is true. But even so, I'm impressed by its ability to push out so many yellow photons at room temp from a cold start. I noticed it struggles the most in cold temperatures and after it's been used for a while, but respect the ideal operating conditions and don't overwork this thing and ohh man it delivers.

I measured the laser five times. The first time was just an isolated test. The following three were done one after the other with a minute break in between. Then the last test was done after a 15 minute break. I used my LaserBee USB 3.7W and screenshotted the Power v Time graph from each run.

My first LPM test from a cold start peaked at 105mw and averaged 85mw:
View attachment 73965
Wow. It hung around 2x advertised spec for quite a while, at >3x its recommended duty cycle. (I read a review from Cyparagon here who claimed to leave it running for half an hour so I wasn't too concerned.)

Tests 2, 3, 4, with 2 being from a cold start:
View attachment 73966Peak: 97mw Avg: 75mw
View attachment 73967Peak: 78mw Avg: 60mw
View attachment 73968Peak: 49mw Avg: 35mw

I had a feeling it was just getting tired, so I set a timer for 15 minutes and tried a final test.
Test 5:
View attachment 73969Peak: 98mw Avg: 76.6mw

Sure enough, it was back in full force.

The power graph seems to take on this wavey shape with a period of ~10 seconds when it reaches a peak which is interesting. Maybe this has to do with summing 1,064 and 1,319 nm light or just the crystals themselves? Anyone with an idea lmk.

Beam Expander
The beam expander adds about 5.5" to the laser and attaches via an adapter that requires unscrewing the front piece of the laser. I can't actually see any difference with or without the beam expander with the naked eye, so I'm taking Dragon Lasers' word for it that it lowers divergence. Here are some pics:


Conclusion
I'm very happy, definitely lucked out on this one. I hope you enjoyed the photos and measurements. Glad to finally post this since things have been super busy recently. Stay safe and Happy New Year once again :)
Oh man, a full review! I'm stoked to actually see some numbers and thanks for the kind words. I'm glad you're just as happy with it as I was. Thank you
 

julianthedragon

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 3, 2020
Messages
368
Points
63
Very cool handheld 589nm - WOW nice power output.

I just bought a lab 575nm on here a couple weeks ago but power is much lower than your handheld. My two yellow HeNe lasers are in the low mw power but the similar color is beautiful almost like a liquid sun.

The 575 is much more lemony :)

Thanks for the writeup and pics.

Just a note on power, my 575 is very sensitive to room heat and power drops off if the ambient temperature goes up, so that may also be the case with your 589.
Thanks!
You're right, liquid sun is a great name for the color
HD-wallpaper-liquid-sun-rippling-water-and-an-orange-sunset-sun-water-orange-nature-sunset-re...jpeg
And I'd love if you could PM or post some pics of that lemony 575 as well if you get the chance.
Hmm I could try testing the effect temperature has on the laser. I could see both hot and cold ambient temps messing things up in theory. Thanks for the tip!

Oh man, a full review! I'm stoked to actually see some numbers and thanks for the kind words. I'm glad you're just as happy with it as I was. Thank you
Of course man, happy I could get this review out. It's really me who should be thanking you at the end of the day :)

Wow nearly 100 mW of 589nm, it must've been really epic!!
You know it, I couldn't believe my eyes the first time. It's really something special
 
Joined
Sep 20, 2013
Messages
17,252
Points
113
Congratulations again on your purchase of this 589nm DPSS laser. Very nice review and extensive power output of this new to you laser. Thanks for your review.
 
Joined
Jan 2, 2008
Messages
1,513
Points
83
Thanks!
You're right, liquid sun is a great name for the color
View attachment 73975
And I'd love if you could PM or post some pics of that lemony 575 as well if you get the chance.
Hmm I could try testing the effect temperature has on the laser. I could see both hot and cold ambient temps messing things up in theory. Thanks for the tip!
589nm looks great in pics but 575nm always looks wrong in pics. Always looks greenish instead of lemon yellow.

Enjoy the laser and be VERY careful not to drop it :)
 

Encap

0
Joined
May 14, 2011
Messages
6,110
Points
113
Excellent review-relatively rare wavelength.
Your very lucky to find/get such a nice example.

Best to you for a healthy, happy, 589nm 2022.
 
Last edited:

atomd

Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2023
Messages
96
Points
18
Just one thing. Did you measure filtered power or entire output power? Because this thing leaks a ton of both IRs, a bit of 532 and 561nm so unless you specifically filter for 591nm you're measuring total output power which indeed is much more stable. Mine puts out around 50mW of which only 3-8mW are yellow.
 

Sowee7

Active member
Joined
Feb 1, 2021
Messages
439
Points
43
Just one thing. Did you measure filtered power or entire output power? Because this thing leaks a ton of both IRs, a bit of 532 and 561nm so unless you specifically filter for 591nm you're measuring total output power which indeed is much more stable. Mine puts out around 50mW of which only 3-8mW are yellow.
This laser is not one of those "591nm" lasers that are mislabelled 593.5nm lasers, this is a true 589nm laser, these handhelds use CNI modules and have an IR filter within the module. 561nm is not produced from the SFG of 1064nm and 1319nm (589nm) or 1064nm and 1342nm (593.5nm)
 




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