- Joined
- Aug 20, 2010
- Messages
- 67
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Ok, in this review ill break it into a few parts:
-Host/Design
-Power and beam
-Burning capabilities
-Piratical uses?
-Host and Design-
When compared with the Arctic, the spartan seems very understated and not as cool to look at as the WL arctic. The host is very simple it looks just like a flashlight with a really small aperture where the bulb should be. At first i though i would get the arctic because it was really nice to look at and i thought the interchangeable lenses were pretty neat but then after hearing about the many, many problems that people were having with them such as in consistent power output and host damage and just downright shoddy workmanship. I personally have grown to love the spartan's design. The batteries fit really nicely and feel solid and the push button on rear is also really solid. However, one drawback that the device itself does have is that there is literally no safety features which is ok if no ones going to get at it but its just something i would have liked for some peace of mind.
The beam is very nice and very blue. its solid as far as the eye can see in the night sky. But here's my issue, my lens got dirty i don't know how but it got dirty. And all of my attempts to clean it have been met with little to no results as you will see in my divergence test shots. The divergence isn't bad, thats all i can say as I'm still new to lasers. I've got a shot at about 1 foot and a shot at about 10 - 15 to compare.
Shot at ~1 foot, use the black as reference, thats where it started burning the wood because it literately burns almost as soon as you turn it on. The size is about 2 - 4mm
And a shot at about 10 - 15 feet. The dot is about an inch long.
More beam shots.
Hitting a tree about 50 feet away.
This next on really shows the scatter that i have to deal with from the lens being dirty most of it isn't from my camera.
First and foremost, this thing is a burning machine and than makes it EXTREMELY dangerous if used in the wrong hands for both eye and skin safety. When i first got it i put it on my skin and within about a quarter of a second the pain gets pretty bad. No visible marks or any sort but it definitely hurts and if you leave it there I'm sure it will leave some scaring. Anyway, for burning things other than skin it does a pretty good job at. i can melt the black plastic of my old VCR from about 6 feet or so and I've got plenty of little rectangle shaped marks in the plastic to prove it. This bad boy will also light matches from a close range of within 2 - 3 feet almost instantly and I've lit a firework from about 5 feet so when it comes to burning this can get the job done. I've also burned a pillow through a pane of glass from 2 feet which i don't recommend.
Someone please correct me if i'm wrong, but to me lasers seem to have absolutely no piratical uses other than lighting fireworks from a distance or a cool sky pointing device. Now don't get me wrong, i love these things and i understand uses of the lab bench models and the entertainment lasers but i'm talking portable ones sports fans. Something that I've thought about and others have to is the use as a self defense tool. If someone loser if running at you or showing some aggression just flash him in the eyes a few times, that should deter any self respecting criminal (oxy-moron) :beer:
I want to know what thoughts people have on this topic.
And now in conclusion the Spartan 1w is definitely a handheld lightsaber (oh no George!) figuratively speaking of course. I am very happy with my purchase and with the performance of the product.
As for ship times i cannot comment because i bought this laser from a member here on the forums.
-Host/Design
-Power and beam
-Burning capabilities
-Piratical uses?
-Host and Design-
When compared with the Arctic, the spartan seems very understated and not as cool to look at as the WL arctic. The host is very simple it looks just like a flashlight with a really small aperture where the bulb should be. At first i though i would get the arctic because it was really nice to look at and i thought the interchangeable lenses were pretty neat but then after hearing about the many, many problems that people were having with them such as in consistent power output and host damage and just downright shoddy workmanship. I personally have grown to love the spartan's design. The batteries fit really nicely and feel solid and the push button on rear is also really solid. However, one drawback that the device itself does have is that there is literally no safety features which is ok if no ones going to get at it but its just something i would have liked for some peace of mind.
-Power and beam-
The beam is very nice and very blue. its solid as far as the eye can see in the night sky. But here's my issue, my lens got dirty i don't know how but it got dirty. And all of my attempts to clean it have been met with little to no results as you will see in my divergence test shots. The divergence isn't bad, thats all i can say as I'm still new to lasers. I've got a shot at about 1 foot and a shot at about 10 - 15 to compare.
Shot at ~1 foot, use the black as reference, thats where it started burning the wood because it literately burns almost as soon as you turn it on. The size is about 2 - 4mm
And a shot at about 10 - 15 feet. The dot is about an inch long.
More beam shots.
Hitting a tree about 50 feet away.
This next on really shows the scatter that i have to deal with from the lens being dirty most of it isn't from my camera.
-Burning capabilities-
First and foremost, this thing is a burning machine and than makes it EXTREMELY dangerous if used in the wrong hands for both eye and skin safety. When i first got it i put it on my skin and within about a quarter of a second the pain gets pretty bad. No visible marks or any sort but it definitely hurts and if you leave it there I'm sure it will leave some scaring. Anyway, for burning things other than skin it does a pretty good job at. i can melt the black plastic of my old VCR from about 6 feet or so and I've got plenty of little rectangle shaped marks in the plastic to prove it. This bad boy will also light matches from a close range of within 2 - 3 feet almost instantly and I've lit a firework from about 5 feet so when it comes to burning this can get the job done. I've also burned a pillow through a pane of glass from 2 feet which i don't recommend.
-Piratical uses-
Someone please correct me if i'm wrong, but to me lasers seem to have absolutely no piratical uses other than lighting fireworks from a distance or a cool sky pointing device. Now don't get me wrong, i love these things and i understand uses of the lab bench models and the entertainment lasers but i'm talking portable ones sports fans. Something that I've thought about and others have to is the use as a self defense tool. If someone loser if running at you or showing some aggression just flash him in the eyes a few times, that should deter any self respecting criminal (oxy-moron) :beer:
I want to know what thoughts people have on this topic.
And now in conclusion the Spartan 1w is definitely a handheld lightsaber (oh no George!) figuratively speaking of course. I am very happy with my purchase and with the performance of the product.
As for ship times i cannot comment because i bought this laser from a member here on the forums.
Also bought a multimeter and compared the fully charged LifePo to a regular CR123A (Energizer). The Energizer CR123A was 3.23V and the rechargeable CR123A 3.82V (the voltage will drop to about 3.2V when under load/in use)