CNI GLP-589 noob review

[DJZ]

Some time ago I saw a guy at SELEM with a 593.5nm pointer and just couldn't believe it. I've owned a yellow HeNe and a Krypton that put out yellow in the past and to see this in a pointer, that was just cool. I waited a while to see if the prices would come down and I'm glad I did, not only did the price come down a bit over the years but a new wavelength came along as well. I finally decided it was time to get one so I ordered directly from CNI and exchanged quite a few emails with Ava, who was very courteous and professional. I settled on a 1mW GLP-589 pointer. The price was a little over $300 shipped. It took a little over 3 weeks for the laser to ship, which really wasn't a problem since I've been eyeing these for a few years. When the laser arrived I was a little put off by the fact they don't include a CR2 battery. My frustration was swept aside when I threw in a battery and saw first light from it. Wow, it is a very nice yellow color, exactly what I was looking for. I don't own a meter so I can't say exactly what the output power is, but I know it's well over 1mW. I'll have the output tested at SELEM next month, if I had to guess, I'd say anywhere between 5 and 10mW. I was also surprised that the output is rather stable, the beam profile is a bit elongated but is satisfactory to me. No clue on battery life yet, collectively it's probably been on for about 5 minutes so far. It only takes 1 CR2 and the output is pulsed.

All in all, this was well worth the expense and wait, now to find some rechargeable CR2's!

Pics!

I thought the label here was humorous, taking the laser out of the box voids the warranty?!

 

[DTR]

Nice review. Great pics as well.:beer:

If you need that thing tested you could always send it to me.

 

[Tech_Junkie]

Very cool. I think the warning is for the label, not the laser. The label has the serial number on it.

 

[chipdouglas]

cool it has a pulsed driver

 

[Tech_Junkie]

I believe all the GPL 589s do. The one Avery had was pulsed too.

 

[RA_pierce]

I believe all the GPL 589s do. The one Avery had was pulsed too.

It must be the 1mW version.

I had a "5mW" and the output is continuous.
I like pulsed lasers,though. The dashed line is cool.

 

[lazeerer]

Nice Review. Still Never seen this WL in person but lots have said its one of the coolest to see.

+:beer:

 

[Dawinzi]

Great Laser you have there !
Can someone explain what makes this WL so expensive. I really tried the search, could not find something explaining.

 

[eytyxhs]

Nice Pic's!

I'm waiting the same!!

 

[mewrox99]

@Dawinzi

It's the precise hand-done alignment of the crystals from memory which is why they're so expensive

 

[Dawinzi]

ok, didn't knew that. So it seams we can not expect lower prices near future?

 

[rangedunits]

Not gonna happens

 

[rangedunits]

Unless theyre diode.

 

[rhd]

Strange observation -

Long story short, someone shipped me a 473nm GLP that was meant to be shipped to zdarkazn. Before I forwarded the package along to its rightful recipient, zdarkazn allowed me to power it up and test it. In the process, I noticed that it too was pulsed.

What is that ?

Personally, I'm not sure whether I like / hate the effect that has. My eyes are really sensitive to pulsed light sources. Some car tail-lights drive me nuts because they use pulsed LEDs. I'd be curious to know the rationale here.

 

[jcranmer]

Makes me whish could afford one at the moment. It's on my long term list though.

 

[Tech_Junkie]

I'd be curious to know the rationale here.

Pretty sure they are able to reach higher powers with the pump diode if its pulsed.