Biglasers.com

[RedCowboy]

@ Broomrider, Lasers are addictive so you may end up wanting to test more in the future, so consider that as well. I went the cheaper route with my 1st laser power meter and regretted it, now I have an Ophir that works quite well, but if I had it all to do again I would get this one for up to 10W lasers...... Now as for mailing my precious lasers around for testing, no way, not with the way every package I get is smashed on at least 3 corners, lol.

 

[BroomRider]

I have meters capable of measuring powers over 8 watts. If you would pay for the shipping I would measure it free of charge for you. That is far cheaper than buying a meter that can measure 20 watts of power which I do have.

Thank you for the offer; I'll keep it in mind.

I might just want to disassemble that “Monarch” & rebuild it with quality components, though, & upgrade the power rating, for which I'd need a power meter capable of handling that.

I wanted to have something concrete to bring to the negotiations, instead of subjective tests, which is all I've been able to do so far.

For instance, although that 7.5W can certainly light a match, or pop balloons, it's not a real definition of a laser that can “start fires” or at least, reliably.

On only 2 different occasions have I been able to do that without the use of an incendiary such as a match.

So far, yes, it can burn its way through paper, cardboard, or write on a piece of wood, or melt its way through a black pen.

I had to use a preparation of rolled-up black paper, wetted with either 90% isopropanol, or diesel fuel.

It wouldn't even catch dried wood shavings on fire, even when dampened with either of the former fuels.

Those tests were with using the beam expander focused down to close to a pencil point.

On my Fluke thermocouple, colored black with a marker, I could get as high as 550'F.

But, the smallest focal point I could get with the laser was still slightly larger than the tip of that test lead, which really wasn't designed for that kind of test anyway.

Yes, indeed, it is a beautiful deep blue color, but hardly more than an ornamental toy, & certainly not worth the cost.

 

[paul1598419]

Thank you for the offer; I'll keep it in mind.

I might just want to disassemble that “Monarch” & rebuild it with quality components, though, & upgrade the power rating, for which I'd need a power meter capable of handling that.

I wanted to have something concrete to bring to the negotiations, instead of subjective tests, which is all I've been able to do so far.

For instance, although that 7.5W can certainly light a match, or pop balloons, it's not a real definition of a laser that can “start fires” or at least, reliably.

On only 2 different occasions have I been able to do that without the use of an incendiary such as a match.

So far, yes, it can burn its way through paper, cardboard, or write on a piece of wood, or melt its way through a black pen.

I had to use a preparation of rolled-up black paper, wetted with either 90% isopropanol, or diesel fuel.

It wouldn't even catch dried wood shavings on fire, even when dampened with either of the former fuels.

Those tests were with using the beam expander focused down to close to a pencil point.

On my Fluke thermocouple, colored black with a marker, I could get as high as 550'F.

But, the smallest focal point I could get with the laser was still slightly larger than the tip of that test lead, which really wasn't designed for that kind of test anyway.

Yes, indeed, it is a beautiful deep blue color, but hardly more than an ornamental toy, & certainly not worth the cost.

I've been able to catch brown paper bags on fire using a 445 nm laser above 2 watts. Using fuels might be your problem as they cool as they evaporate.

 

[BroomRider]

I've been able to catch brown paper bags on fire using a 445 nm laser above 2 watts. Using fuels might be your problem as they cool as they evaporate.

Yes, I know, but I've never been able to light anything with this laser, no matter how hard I tried, except those 2 times, as I mentioned, after checking the ignition temperature of several kinds of widely-available fuels.

Alcohol was the lowest, & then, diesel, & both of those I was able to ignite, when I rolled up a small piece of black paper & dampened each with either of those 2 fuels.

It took a minute or so, & focused down to the smallest point I could manage, & holding very still.

Surprisingly, gasoline, I couldn't ignite, when I tried doing the same with it.

No other times was I able to ignite anything, & I've tried using various substances & methods.

Very disappointing, & nothing like I've seen on ScrewTube.

Odd, that I've not yet found anyone posting a review of the 7.5W “Monarch”.

It does look very similar to the 7.5W Sanwoo, but it uses the 2x 18650 batteries, rather than the 26650 type in the Sanwoo.

 

[paul1598419]

I've got an M140 2.2 W diode in an Envy host made by sinner that easily catches dry brown paper bags on fire.

 

[Michael Varn]

Can someone provide a list here of USA manufacturers or companies that actually are legitimate?

Apparently, BigLasers.com is not one of them.

That means companies that always deliver what they advertise in terms of accuracy about host design and power.

This information would be good to know if you are browsing various companies that sell laser pointers.

I saw a thread here that was suppose to give us a list of laser pointer companies, foreign and domestic, but I got an error message, so I posted here.

Thank you.