BestLaserPointers.com 3W review 5stars

[Frozenferrari]

Hey all! My name is Ryan and Im a flight instructor, high power rocketeer, and outdoor enthusiast from Sacramento CA. This is my first activity since joining the forum, and I am pretty fresh into this hobby/science. I spent quite a bit of time browsing threads learning about the safety aspects concerning different power ratings and wavelengths, and learning about the logistics of buying and selling lasers of various wattage through various methods online, like amazon versus Sanwu.

For quite a long time I have been highly fascinated by bright lights, and when I saw my first solid beam laser used out at Black Rock desert many years ago, I knew I would have to get one once I was older and could afford it. That time is now.

I was lured in to BestLaserPointers.com 'weekly deal' for their 3W 445nm, advertised as a white label product, for $150. Its appears to be a clone of the Wicked S3 Arctic host or Thor host, obviously with no branding. The webpage links a youtube video demonstrating the burning capabilities of the unit. If you read the assosciated product info and data it labels the laser as "Sage 3W" . I youtube searched this and found a video showing similar performance to the video made by BestLaserPointers themselves.


Review:
SHIPPING: The laser was at my doorstep in California within 72 hours of placing the order with BestLaserPointers.com . They ship out of Ontario and China as necessary. The metal carrying case served all the necessary protection, and this was in a simple cardboard box for shipping.

CASE: The case itself is satisfactory and will hold up fine in most normal uses. Inside is some foam padding that is satisfactory to almost high quality. Included inside is the laser, a set of safety goggles. Five individual "starbit" attachements, two batteries and a wall charger.

UNIT: The laser itself feels plenty rugged, and doesn't rattle when shook at all. It has a simple continuous on/off push switch at the base, and is focus adjustable. The beam is very nice in dim or dark settings, and the focusing only tough with one handed operation. Its small for its power, and feels great in the hand. Focusing for burning is easy and focusing for long range beams is just as easy. It can be completley defocused and used as a crazy blue flashlight if you wanted, and the focus ring will unscrew and remove entirely if you want.

BATTERY: The laser comes with two Surefire 1200mah 3.7V lithium ion batteries which do not offer reverse polarity protection. They take atleast 90 minutes to charge EACH. Even from a partial charge using the supplied charger - 4.2V output with 800Ma. Once used in the laser they will last about 30 minutes until the laser becomes quite dim. I reccomend getting a Tenergy Charger. This knocked down charge time to about 30 minutes for both batteries charged at the same time.

PERFORMANCE: Okay, I do not have an LPM. So my claims are purely based on burntimes Ive seen on youtube at various power levels, in addition to comparrison to my 3.5W 465nm PLE pro burning and brightness.

This unit is definetly near 3W. Probably in the 2-3W range.
- it WILL burn through neat white paper in about 1-2 seconds, and quicker if shone on black ink or sharpie.
- it WILL cut electrical tape in about 2-3 seconds and one, sometimes two strokes across
- it WILL set a brown mcdonalds bag on fire in about 2 seconds.
- it DOES produce a nice solid beam of 445, which is pretty! Not very visible in daylit rooms and not outside, but highly visible in dim or dark.
- it WILL produce a much more defined beam in dark light than a 100mw 532 can, and VERY similar beam to the 3.5W 465 PLE.
-it will slowly burn/cut a yellow sticky-note. Takes about 4-6 seconds and 3-4 strokes to cut a defined 2 inch line into the paper.

It seems performance increases drastically after about a minute or so of warmup time. Duty Cycle is rated as continuous, and the laser can run for 30+ minutes without getting hot. Fairly warm, but not at all 'hot'. I wouldnt reccomend it if you want to maximize it's lifespan, but it CAN do it without receiving notable damage from the twice I have ran it till the battery died..

Conclusion: 5 stars, WOULD recommend the purchase and seller. This unit is well enough built and powerful enough to deliver a beginning enthusiast like myself the experience we wanted, at a reasonable $150 for a kit that includes safety glasses and basic accessories. Not bad for the price!

Hopefully this helps some of you!

 

[Immo1282]

Glad you weren't ripped off - but this is nothing new unfortunately. Very unlikely to be 3W as you've stated - but no way to definitively know without a LPM.

Very common that chinese manufacturers produce a laser that looks like this - Kind of looks like a Thor H host...

 

[trinh hong phuoc]

I am sure they are less than 1.5w

 

[Richie89]

for some reason I glanced at the pics and thought you did all that burning with that little key chain laser and was like WTF!!! lol. those are pretty cool but I would personally buy that from Laserpointerstore.com since I have literally purchased 11 lasers from there and they always arrive in great working order. plus I like the owner Tommy ever since he resent a laser that never arrived no questions asked

 

[paul1598419]

Welcome to the LPF. Live and learn. At least you didn't pay an arm and leg for that small version of the Thor. Those 16340 cells aren't even close to the capacity they claim.