I'll chime in on this just a bit since I represent the company. I'm not going to sit and tell you these are the best things since sliced bread. They are what they are. My company is not in the business of supplying enthusiasts. We provide a very limited range of portable laser systems. Our customer is business and research and thus our specifications are very conservative. We tow the manufacturer line on specs so there is no question to our customers (university customers in particular) about the expectations of the operations and performance of a system.
Power output is average power, not peak. We don't play the mW game. When we purchase a 100mW unit for example, we don't go through each one measuring the average output and stating these few are 100mW so we sell them as 100mW and these one's average 125mW so we'll call them 125mW and sell them at a higher price even though it cost us the same.
So does this mean, you just sell a laser that comes in as a "100mW" as a 100mW?
That's ok I suppose if every 100mW portable laser that came in to you performs at or above that level, but what about the ones that are only 95mW or maybe even less? or those with bad divergence or a beam that is being emitted at an angle? It sounded like you said in the above statement that you don't test each laser.
If the answers to these questions are yes, then I would guess that you have not been selling these for very long or have not sold many of them. I say this as the variability from laser to laser in a high power portable is not like that of the much more stable and predictable lab laser systems.
If you buy a 300mW and it averages 375mW, good for you. We are not going to charge you for a 350mW or a 375mW. You pay for a 300mW because that's what we paid for.
Just to set things straight here, the manufacturer who I've dealt with for the past two years provides me with 3 power levels of portable green lasers from Viasho in a special/custom configuration with the n-light 2.5W 80,000 hr. MTTF diode rather than the 2.5W diode that is normally used. This does come at a premium price of $80 each, but it's worth every penny.
They are promised to me to be in these 3 power ranges:
(175-200mW)
(250-300mW)
(+300mW)
My cost increases with each increase in power range.
The RPL lasers fall into these categories. Their is nothing wrong with binning them based on performance, at least this way, the customer really knows what they are buying. This is the only fair way to do it. If every 250-300mW laser was at least 250mW, this might not be a bad deal or I could even do as WL does and offer a laser as 250-300mW; but in reality a fair percentage (I would estimate 10% or more) do not meet the minimum power level of what they were rated. This is not goos if your laser you've saved up for is in this 10%, so each needs to be tested. If a 250-300 is 240mW, then it can honestly be offered as a 225mW. Also, it may not be a milli-watt game to you, but to the enthusiast performance is everything and power output is one of the most important specs. So much so, I get requests all the time for the very top power output performing laser and the buyer is more than willing to pay extra for these higher performing units. It's just supply and demand, the demand for the highest output is big and the supply is low as it's much more rare for a +300mW to be 350mW than it is to be 310mW.
I know that oemlasersystems has been in the "laser system" business for some time; but the high power portable business is a completely different animal. You would think that universities and corporations that use the lab laser would be the most demanding of the performance of their lasers, but they are not. I know as I've been selling both laser systems and high power portables for the last two and half years or so. The "enthusiasts" you speak of as if they are ignorant or uninformed are actually much more demanding in the performance of the product they buy. This was not case two years ago, but the hobby has progressed a great deal. Most have a power meter (or at least knows someone who does), so they are quick to make sure they get every milli-watt they paid for and one of the 1st things they will do is measure the divergence and verify every specification they can. If it fails any of these specs, it's likely to get returned for repair or replacement. With a corporate or university order, of course they can measure power and other specs, but they are not as concerned about the specs as the "enthusiast" as long as it doesn't directly affect their work. If a 100mW lab laser happens to test at 95mW when a corporation or university by a laser, they don't consider it a big deal, probably because they are buying with someone elses money; however with an enthusiast, they spent their hard earned and saved cash for their purchase so they have a much more vested interest in the laser performing up to it's spec.
By the way Opto does not have an exclusive distribution for RPL systems. The RPLs are manufactured by VIASHO and both Opto and OEM purchase the units from them.
This is now true.
Up until mid July I had an exclusive agreement with the manufacturer/distributor I was working through. This has expired. I had contacted Viasho last year anonymously to work with Viasho directly, but it seemed they were not interested in the USA portable market or perhaps they too had an agreement with someone. About 6-7 weeks ago I was contacted directly by Viasho about distributing their product line here in the USA. The details of this are being worked out, but they are very impressed with the sales and reputation that Optotronics has gained in the past two years. However, the trademark name RPL for the use of portable lasers was submitted to the USPTO a couple weeks ago and is going through the approval process.
You won't find pictures or videos of us popping balloons or lighting matches. That's not our business.
Does this mean if a customer that's an enthusiast emails/calls you for support on the portable laser they bought from you saying it can't pop a balloon at such and such feet or it won't light a match at such and such feet, you will tell them "that's not our business, we bought is as an xxx mW laser and it was sold to you as an xxx mW lassr"?
If you want part of the "enthusiast" market, you will need to be testing them throughly for each specification and if a customer calls and says the laser can't pop a balloon or light a match, you better be able to assist them and "make it your business" or you won't be in that part of the market for long.
I've made you aware of us because, being a member here, I've read over and over about how this company or that company screwed this or that person. The nature of what we do does not allow us the freedom or the luxury of screwing anyone. Anyway, take my statements at face value or read whatever you want into them.
Be careful what you say about other companies around (with the exception of WL), it could come back in the future to bite you in a big way.
Our prices are good because, once again, we are not in the business of supplying enthusiasts. We don't need to make our monthly payroll on one sale. Frankly, I would not want to distribute exclusively to enthusiasts as these other companies do. In fact, our site does not even show our high end industrial systems. We offer YAG and CO2 systems also.
My goal was just to let you know there is an alternative for purchasing laser systems, if you so choose, without having to bring the vaseline. You won't find us advertising portables and enthusiast type lasers on any other site or media. I've identified ourselves because I thought I could help you all out a bit.
while OemLaser only 3 month.