Hello! I've bought some 5mW ($10 each) and 50mW ($16 each) pointers from DX recently, they arrived four days ago. Shipping to Poland took exactly two weeks. First pic shows the pointers. On the second and third pic you can see what the 50mW one has inside. There was no glue so it was very easy to take apart. The expanding lens is not glued to the crystal holder as it was in other pointers I've had before. Diode is in TO-18 and seems to be open can when I look through a slot near the crystal (sixth pic). There is no lens between the diode and Nd:YVO4 so it has to be open can anyway. The driver (fourth and fifth pic) is based on a LM358 opamp. The third pin of the diode is not connected so the driver is only a simple current regulator (no light feedback). Current draw from new batteries is around 260mA so it can't be really 50mW of green, especially when there are mounted the cheapest crystals surely (low efficiency). But it's much brighter than 5mW pointers, you can see a comparison on the last pic.
I though such review may be useful for someone who is looking for a cheap DPSS module, so here it is
I though such review may be useful for someone who is looking for a cheap DPSS module, so here it is
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It works! Two AAA is a bit too little to power a red diode with that driver but it lights quite nice anyway at max 120mA. I'm going to extend the battery tube so that three AAAs will fit there, then it will easily deliver even 300mA to the diode and that will give about 160mW of red light I think. That halo around the red spot appeard only on a photo, I don't know why...
