American based, handheld laser companies that are large/reasonably priced?

[Lifetime17]

Hi Jerry,
I never had an issue either with PP like you said he must of had some kind of problem with them. Oh well All those other ways of payment he uses are to slow with no backing .

Rich

 

[paul1598419]

I've never had any issue with PayPal either. I've been using them for about five years or longer. I don't really understand why they do these types of things to people who have never had a real issue with them.

 

[Benm]

Have we reached a point in the USA where we can't compete with the Chinese laser industry?

Possibly.

You can get a american-designed laser, one that was 'assembled in the US' or something like that, but i doubt there is anything on the market that does not contain any components that are sourced from china or at least abroad somewhere.

The same is true in the EU.

In fact i doubt you can find usable laser diodes (which i'd consider to be the core component) that are not manufactured in asia at reasonable prices at all.

This is true for a lot of products though: if you have a computer, the cpu in that was probably produced somewhere in asia (korea, japan, china) using a machine from europe (asml), and raw materials sourced from and endless list of countries.

 

[lasersbee]

Hi Jerry,
I never had an issue either with PP like you said he must of had some kind of problem with them. Oh well All those other ways of payment he uses are to slow with no backing .

Rich

Yeah... really not much protection for a Buyer
or seller using the methods he wants to use.

I've never had any issue with PayPal either. I've been using them for about five years or longer. I don't really understand why they do these types of things to people who have never had a real issue with them.

Like I said... it all depends on how you approach
someone when wanting something from them..
Just because one uses PayPal does not give them
a free pass on social etiquette.
Not saying that was the case here...


Jerry

 

[waffailtrager101]

You can get a american-designed laser, one that was 'assembled in the US' or something like that, but i doubt there is anything on the market that does not contain any components that are sourced from china or at least abroad somewhere.

I have to agree with Benm on this one. There's no reason for American based company to manufacture laser diodes and other small basic electronics if they can be produced for significantly less somewhere else. In the end it saves everyone money.

 

[Benm]

I don't think that's a bad thing either, electronics manufacture is quite labour intensive and sometimes polluting, making it impossible to do profitably in western countries by now.

This does not mean that the US does not make any money on electronics though, as the intellectual property can be US-owned and royalties to use patents and such bring back a lot of money.

A company like Apple makes huge profits and in US based, but does not produce a single physical item in the US. The money flows trough patent licences and such back to the US shareholders.

Though they employ several strategies to avoid taxation like 'parking' intellectual property in countries where profits from it are not or hardly taxed (hello from Holland!), ultimately the profits just flow back into the pockets of (mostly) US shareholders.

This can be pretty extreme as well, if you buy an Apple product for $1000 (before VAT) you could expect something like $800 of that to flow straight back to the US, with the remaining $200 actually spent on raw materials and labour sourced abroad.

 

[CynicalBrad]

I have had extensive issues with PayPal, and their reputation for freezing accounts at the drop of a hat, is well warranted.
Their customer service is horrid, and unlike US banks, they can and often do freeze a persons funds for trivial reasons and destroy businesses.
http://http://paypalsucks.com/

Yep, had my old paypal account frozen for "suspected terrorism" years ago because a phone call dropped during a call with them which I warned at the very beginning of the call was very likely to happen. Now I only pay with card through paypal. I never let them hold a balance after losing access to funds for ~5 years because of their nonsense.

As others have said, US laser laws really prevent any US based sellers. Look up "470nm overdrive special" by DTR though and you can see how easy it is to build with parts from US sellers, just substitute whatever diode you want in the module.

 

[hakzaw1]

SlowB
not legal to make & sell in USA if more than 5 mW
PP nor Ebay wants much to do w/ illegal items and so-- probs between sellers and buyers of handhelds gets treated in weird ways-- there are no handheld laser companies in USA afaik. SO--- some members would rather NOT get mentioned in open forum here concerning sales--

 

[Blarg King]

Pretty much what everyone else here has said, there isn't really anyone in the US (Or North America really) that will sell you a fully assembled laser over 5mW, because they have to comply with regulations. If you wan't to keep as much money in the US as possible while still getting a more powerful laser your best bet is to go the DIY route. Theres a couple members on here that do machining and host building (I just ordered a host from Lifetime17 actually) and DTR sells complete diode assemblies with drivers. If you can do basic soldering you can easily assemble one yourself in an hour or less, and theres plenty of experienced members on here who can guide you.

Just as my own testimonial to the DIY route, I built myself a 120mW red laser out of a DTR module and 501B host with a 10$ radioshack soldering iron and 0 soldering experience, in under an hour.

As for Paypal, I totally get where your coming from, and I have had a lot of pain in the arse experiences with them. Pretty much the only reason I still have Paypal as its the default option for the majority of the internet. However, if you contact some of the sellers on here you may be able to work out an alternative method of payment. At least in my experience, the sellers on here are very helpful and patient and will work with you to give you the best experience possible.

Good luck, keep us updated on what you decide!

 

[Benm]

Paypal can be a real nuisance indeed. They have pretty puritan policies on what their payment platform can be used for, and will block/freeze accounts even if those accounts are selling noting illegal, but just don't "comply with their policy".

Things like bitcoin could come in handy here, but with the huge price fluctuations on that there will be problems as well.

For perfectly legal transactions we have a great system in europe using bank transfers, which allows you to make transactions between any euro countries at no or insignificant cost.

It's always surprised me that this was implemented here in europe so easily, while in the us people still mess around with paper cheques and such

 

[paul1598419]

I still have checks for my checking account, but only use them for unusual payments where a credit card isn't allowed. I guess I end up writing about 5 to 8 checks a month. Most everything else goes on credit cards that pay rewards. I usually end up with $10.00 in rewards per month. Not a lot of money, but still worth their use over debit cards.

 

[Blarg King]

Banking in Canada is pretty good too, though I would imagine its a bit easier for a smaller population like us. But (at least for my bank) as of last month, I can basically "email" money from my bank account to any other bank in Canada without a fee. The only time I dig out a checkbook is to get my account numbers.

If Bitcoin didn't fluctuate so much (and wasn't as bogged down with traffic as it currently is) it would also be a decent way to pay for things on a forum like this.

 

[Benm]

For paying in stores we use mostly debit cards in the netherlands, especially things like supermarkets that usually do not accept credit cards. Many other shops, gas stations etc will accept credit card payments at no additional charge, but retail margins in supermarkets are just so small they cannot afford to accept credit cards.

Bitcoins are good for international payments, especially if you want them to be difficult to trace, but the network seems so bogged down by now that the fees are becoming problematic if you want a fast transaction.

Also bitcoin is so unstable in value at the moment that it's hard to use for practical payments anyway, as it could just jump up and down 10% in an hour or something like that. I guess this is due to bitcoin changing from a real world payment system to something people invest in. Obviously there are alternatives, that could bring bitcoins down to near zero if proven more cost-effective and faster when making transactions.

 

[droidlaser]

Sorry to hear of the bad luck with PayPal. Been using them since 1999 and have had thousands of trouble free transactions. I suggest people set up a second bank checking account (hopefully one that is free) and only keeping a minimum amount in it and only adding to it (usually you can isolate another account from it at a bank) by transferring funds into it form your other account at the same bank when you expect to buy something with PayPal (your one account being linked to PayPal). The best thing about PayPal is it isolates your credit / debit card on bank account from the rest of the world - and for some of us there would be hundreds of places with my credit card numbers if it wasn't for PayPal. But with 244 million PayPal users there are bound to some problems that result in complaints....