Cheap OLike/LPS RGB Handheld

[ZRaffleticket]

Hey LPF - got an interesting laser to talk about today. The 7-color RGB handheld laser... I couldn't find a name or manufacturer, but you can find it on both laserpointerstore ($299) and o-like ($269). At the time I bought it, LPS was having their black friday sale at 20% off, so I paid $239 for mine. These are my initial thoughts on the laser. I also have a sanwu RGB incoming, so a comparison thread will show up once I get that one reviewed as well.

So what is it?



This takes a not one but two 26650 batteries to operate. This thing is MASSIVE (18650's can be used with spacers as well).



The beam does not come out toward the center of the head, but rather off center. This is the accommodate the optics involved... I'm a bit disappointed there's no glass or even a dust cover, it's just a hole leading straight to the dichros...



You can kind of see there's stuff going on in there... the red diode is toward the operating end.



There's also a lock on the tailcap you'll need to use since the "armed" indicator LED is always on.



You don't get a whole lot of fine control over color as there are only 3 buttons. Button 3 (the bottom button) turns the laser on or off. Since there is no sort of tuning, you get 3 modes: (button 1) Cycle colors, (button 1) Cycle Colors (off between), (button 2) solid color. The solid colors can be cycled through by pressing the second button again from RGB - RG - GB - RB - R - G - B. The diodes are 650nm / 520nm / 450nm, all single mode. There's also an indicator for when each diode is on.



Sadly I don't have a LPM to measure actual output powers, so I can't share how perfect the color mixing is, but subjectively speaking it isn't too great. This is pretty accurate to how I see the mixes, though a little more washed out / less saturated in person:

RG - yellowish green (but not very yellow)


RB - Magenta


GB - Cyan


RGB - Cold white


Overall, I think the 650nm red is holding this back. The blue and green diodes are doing a fine job but the red just can't keep up.

As for alignment, the three colors separate pretty fast. In fact, the red is pretty well off center from the get-go. It's not overwhelmingly bad but it is noticeable enough for me to be a bit distracted.





I think I can fix the alignment based on what I can see looking down the barrel... I'm also hoping I can tune the power on the diodes to get a better white balance, but I'd need to see what the driver is doing. Stay tuned for my attempts at tearing this down! I have some time set aside this weekend to take a crack at fixing some of the problems.

Let me know if there's anything anyone wants to see, I'm willing to take more photos.

 

[BowtieGuy]

Thanks for your reveiw, Z. I think we were all hoping that this would be nearly as good as Sanwu's RGB, but I think for the price, it's about what's to be expected; I hope you can improve the alignment issues a bit.
I'll be waiting for your "teardown" results, and pics of course.

 

[CDBEAM777]

Interesting !!! Please show is the Internals when you get it apart....IF you can get it apart !!!! Curious to see how 10 lbs of SH!T....is packed in a 9 lbs bag !!!!! Good luck with adjustment !!!!Hopefully....there is the ability to adjust !!!

Did I miss info...What is total Power output....Not surprised that unit is Red Deficient !! Red remains a Bitch...But...HL63193 Multimode + G8 + Cylindricals tames this diode...But then....All diodes MAY be single mode...Hmmmm ?? Likely !!

But...$ 240 00 !!!! Great price.....

Thanx for sharing !! Maybe I copy their design....and...Improve it !!! No more Crooked/Wandering eye !!

CDBeam

 

[RedCowboy]

Could have used a single mode 638.........I wonder why they didn't ?

 

[CDBEAM777]

Sheeezzz ….Sorry Z.......Failed to read all your thread.....DUH !! You state ALL Single Mode...OK....Just get'r open....and hope ya got some wiggle room.....as for color balance...well ...I bet you are stuck with a lamo Red !! IIRC..For White Balance.....RGB ratio 5:2:1.....Red:Green:Blue….er...ah...IIRC ??? Just Human Wavelength Responsivity issue !! So it goes !!

CDBeam

 

[paul1598419]

Great review, Zach. Sorry it is what it is. Hope you have luck with the driver(s) and dichros. Will be watching for what you come up with.

 

[ZRaffleticket]

Now that I've slept on it a bit, I'm not terribly disappointed with it. It's a good attempt and with a little bit of tweaks it could be a pretty good white handheld at the very least. You can really only tell the colors are separate if you're moving the spot around a lot you can tell it's a bit bluer on one side and redder on the other, alone I'd call it an off-white... Still would prefer it to be a more pure white. For $240, it wasn't a waste of money.

It looks like the very front part of the head can be unscrewed. The PCB for the spring which connects to the 3 buttons also looks like it can be pulled out from the head but it gets stuck after a little bit of pulling. Again will put time into it this weekend, but those are the two areas I'm looking to tear into.

Not sure what diode they use for red. Aren't the LPC's stuck with the wings to the sides of the spot..? Or is that a lens artifact? Either way, the only individual color splash I see is from the green and it's very dim and far from the center spot. No box reflections or anything, in that sense it's well maintained... though the dichros (or possibly all 3 lenses) aren't very clean themselves and there is some smudge around the spot out of the box. So I'll be cleaning the optics once I get in there too.

Also interestingly enough the "armed" red LED on indicator uses a different shade of red than the "red on" red LED indicator... camera shows deeper red as a bit more on the magenta side.

 

[ZRaffleticket]

Update.... Green diode no longer functions. Happened out of the blue too, I've been keeping run times short and didn't even try to disassemble it yet. Sigh...

 

[paul1598419]

Well, hopefully the diode wont be too difficult to replace. I'd likely use one that is rated a bit higher in power. Even one of the Sharp diodes, which aren't very expensive, would likely be a better option.

 

[CDBEAM777]

Update.... Green diode no longer functions. Happened out of the blue too, I've been keeping run times short and didn't even try to disassemble it yet. Sigh...

Good thing you did " No DisAssemble" yet....OLike...IF you read this...You had better WELCOME a return...We had better read if it here...OR...your WILL LOOSE FACE ???? SAVY !!!!! I think you should send TWO (2) for his disappointment and trouble !!! CDBeam

 

[ZRaffleticket]

I actually bought it from laserpointerstore since they had a better discount at the time - I'm waiting to hear back from them still, hopefully they respond tonight or tomorrow. If not maybe I'll try tearing it apart to see if I can replace the diode myself. Not sure I want to use the sharp diodes to replace because of the box reflection, I'd rather stick with osram diodes for an RGB and not have that artifact around the spot

 

[paul1598419]

The Sharp green diodes can be managed for the rectangular artifact with judicious use of your choice of lenses. At worst you might need the 2 element 520nm AR coated lens from Jordan. Otherwise any acrylic lens should work.

 

[ZRaffleticket]

I've yet to find any lens that 100% mitigates it, some get it close but never fully. Acrylic gets it down mostly but in every instance I can still see it. For an RGB, that's not a problem I want to deal with.

Plus, I don't really need a whole lot of power... Just enough to get a good white balance. Who needs the extra 50mW's if they're just going to make an off white on something that can't be tuned. I'll stick with osram, diodes aren't too expensive anyway

 

[paul1598419]

I understand. I have been able to remove every bit of it using that 2 element lens from DTR. But, at 300 mW total, you really don't need much green.