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Help buying first blue laser!!

Tyetan

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Not sure if this is the right section but i need advice on buying my first blue laser. Bit of back story so you can point me in right direction, i have owned the typical red and greens but have always loved the blues (and prices in the past meant they were out of reach). Came back to lasers just recently and realised prices are now affordable.

Im after advice on companies that sell blue lasers around 100mW and preferrably the higher nm blue ie 473-488nm. I found a old youtube vid on jetlasers 473nm and would buy that in a heartbeat but seems that the 473nm basically fell off the face of the earth. Google has not been kind.

I have also been looking at the sanwu 488nm which looks amazing but my only concern is that it seems more blue/green and not typical blue. Does anyone own a 488nm and can tell me their opinion on its colour. From pics etc it looks blue to me and only looks green when its next "truer" blues, but i dont want to buy one and then start it up and realise it is leaning more towards the green side of the spectrum.

Any advice on this would be appreciated, if you have anyother wavelengths that might meet this criteria (and arent overly expensive) or other companies that might offer these colours i would be forever greatful
 





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Yeah unfortunately 473nm portables fell off. The stability and availability of diodes in handhelds is making 473nm DPSS obsolete. You'd have to email JL if they can do a custom order for one still. If they can, there'd be a few other members here who would probably want one since 473's very recently all but disappeared. Unfortunately with the whole covid-19 situation now may not be the best time for it.

You may or may not have issue with the color if you buy one. I would call 488nm blue, but call 493nm green. Anything between is up in the air. In my opinion in dark conditions these look greener than they do under lighting. That said, due to slight differences in manufacturing these diodes range from 485nm - 495nm. It comes down to luck of the draw in that sense. Though I do think sanwu can bin theirs to ensure you get one on the bluer side. Just something to consider if you end up buying from some other place.

For some visual reference, top-down 484nm (this uses a different diode), 488nm, 490nm, 494nm
 
Last edited:

Giannis_TDM

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Not sure if this is the right section but i need advice on buying my first blue laser. Bit of back story so you can point me in right direction, i have owned the typical red and greens but have always loved the blues (and prices in the past meant they were out of reach). Came back to lasers just recently and realised prices are now affordable.

Im after advice on companies that sell blue lasers around 100mW and preferrably the higher nm blue ie 473-488nm. I found a old youtube vid on jetlasers 473nm and would buy that in a heartbeat but seems that the 473nm basically fell off the face of the earth. Google has not been kind.

I have also been looking at the sanwu 488nm which looks amazing but my only concern is that it seems more blue/green and not typical blue. Does anyone own a 488nm and can tell me their opinion on its colour. From pics etc it looks blue to me and only looks green when its next "truer" blues, but i dont want to buy one and then start it up and realise it is leaning more towards the green side of the spectrum.

Any advice on this would be appreciated, if you have anyother wavelengths that might meet this criteria (and arent overly expensive) or other companies that might offer these colours i would be forever greatful
I have a 488 myself and its not at all green its a very nice shade of cyan. I agree with ZRaffleticket above anything above 493 I'd call green and FYI your eyes are amazing at distinguishing between a ton of colors in the 480-500nm range so even just 1nm of difference will be very visible. I could centrally see then 1.7nm difference between my 2 cyans with no difficulty.
 

Giannis_TDM

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Not sure if this is the right section but i need advice on buying my first blue laser. Bit of back story so you can point me in right direction, i have owned the typical red and greens but have always loved the blues (and prices in the past meant they were out of reach). Came back to lasers just recently and realised prices are now affordable.

Im after advice on companies that sell blue lasers around 100mW and preferrably the higher nm blue ie 473-488nm. I found a old youtube vid on jetlasers 473nm and would buy that in a heartbeat but seems that the 473nm basically fell off the face of the earth. Google has not been kind.

I have also been looking at the sanwu 488nm which looks amazing but my only concern is that it seems more blue/green and not typical blue. Does anyone own a 488nm and can tell me their opinion on its colour. From pics etc it looks blue to me and only looks green when its next "truer" blues, but i dont want to buy one and then start it up and realise it is leaning more towards the green side of the spectrum.

Any advice on this would be appreciated, if you have anyother wavelengths that might meet this criteria (and arent overly expensive) or other companies that might offer these colours i would be forever greatful
One of my friends has a cyan for sale with no tint to green in a nice custom host PM sent!
 

Snecho

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Sanwu also has 465nm available but in much higher power and for more money.
 

Snecho

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I just looked back at Sanwu and they also have 455nm and 470nm
 
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You can still find the Sharp single mode diodes for sale on eBay. The part number is GH04850B2G and they tend to be between 486nm and 493nm. You might be able to find a seller able to bin these by wavelength. At 275 mA driver current you can expect anywhere from 140 mW to 120 mW depending on the lens used.
 
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Personally, I would describe 488nm as a bright cyan, kinda like a sky blue. Remember that everyone sees colors differently - subtly, but differently

Without another close wavelength laser to compare to, you will never notice the few nm differences. If you held 470nm and 532nm next to each other, you would say 470nm is blue. If you held 490nm and 532nm next to each other, you would say 490nm is blue. Hold 470nm and 490nm next to each other, well, now you're getting into the details :cool:

I'm cheating with an Ar ion laser in this pic, but still, here's what 488nm looks like to my eyes:

KT0LDX_SafoKTq9hX8iEfuskWB-96jPflXcPjJUvEWHYaCpVRji1vLpx_Vb2WI-SwS2H316oMwVJ7I4ITvs9FRY4oxLXoSpyLSMCCbxorkiyaEuThllr0H4jX2hiG4LkoXFLeN6l2jmjx6q_jBVjADCZe7mzxzTB_W2OM1tRiB_RjZOmAiHx0ZXIEC-mdE7X29rPbHE-56B2pY1e7hl_GR0okYP9-87AegdTsNi2vRjnhaufInmhUB_XNyvsbg6_auhzNJAPAbQyqEvBAyqq4UMw6sDUtLhDuXcYAnW92gbcyEDTApvpURDYPXdOhVgUXvnrI7TPTMyCt8Ldjtwn9qYW6919rA006qX0p0Vq-ROUOirIFnaX0qG-UDLn86Ete4faf4JLue8V7pJgFNATxggS23WdSUXjRaTv6TiLATXfmkO3ip5rQ4zAM0C8kiGj8pw_unUpqULQvebDOefhhGb7Z13D6ojsEaAcyRvqkpRxQPr1tkzFte_HTuXZGAzStLagWxk6oJKQ9g_GKYihmizOr_Iowut19K83eHiVE1MEnIn0aox4JTQFszDZMmgQ5ROrzo5soymX4NFBWCX0AIoIcV1SCXAIlyel77EjP6XiMwaIv7rQyGkvdwhmr2CgShohejrFjYiRNdrZvVhyO3mLH4v0Q-UWv4iWLpYWsDJ-7p55P75a4TyLjamESA=w703-h937-no
 

dylpicklechip

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Just thought I'd add a few photos to the mix. I have the stainless steel 488nm 150mW Sanwu Guardian.

It's truly a gorgeous color, in my opinion. The below photos show the 488 in a couple settings, plus next to a 520nm green 1W.

If you are interested in the Sanwu, let me know. I have their RGB unit incoming so I'm looking to downsize to that + my personal builds.

-Dylan

sanwu588.jpg
sanwu488_2.jpg
Screen Shot 2020-03-28 at 5.24.16 PM.png
 
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Is that your 1 watt 520nm build? I'm surprised it didn't washout the light from the 488nm one.
 

dylpicklechip

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Is that your 1 watt 520nm build? I'm surprised it didn't washout the light from the 488nm one.

Yes, that's the 1 watt, actually driving a little closer to 1.2W. I shot those photos last night on an iPhone 11 Pro so I think the longer Night Mode exposure kicked in and some other downstream processing is compensating a little bit. The green was definitely overpowering in person. The Sanwu holds up pretty well though considering the power/spectral disadvantages.
 

Tyetan

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Just thought I'd add a few photos to the mix. I have the stainless steel 488nm 150mW Sanwu Guardian.

It's truly a gorgeous color, in my opinion. The below photos show the 488 in a couple settings, plus next to a 520nm green 1W.

If you are interested in the Sanwu, let me know. I have their RGB unit incoming so I'm looking to downsize to that + my personal builds.

-Dylan

View attachment 68435
View attachment 68436
View attachment 68437
That does look really nice blue!

How did you get a 150mw 488nm, i heard that the higher the power it shifts wavelength so ends up being more 492nm? And that looks more like a pocket from sanwu? i could be wrong (actually i probably am wrong lol) but the guardian looks like it would be bigger etc And how much are you looking at for the sanwu?
 

dylpicklechip

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That does look really nice blue!

How did you get a 150mw 488nm, i heard that the higher the power it shifts wavelength so ends up being more 492nm? And that looks more like a pocket from sanwu? i could be wrong (actually i probably am wrong lol) but the guardian looks like it would be bigger etc

It's definitely a Guardian! It runs on the 18350 batteries, while the Pockets take the 10440 (which I tend to stay away from). I opted for the smooth, non-engraved host option, so it does have a very similar appearance, but a little bit wider diameter. It feels nice in the hand :)

As for the color - I don't have a spectrometer, so I can't be 100% certain... However, Sanwu claims it's 488 at 150mW and they also have a separate 150mW Guardian option for 492nm - so I assume the specs are accurate.

This weekend I'm putting together a 7W NUBM44-V2 at 450nm, so I'll be sure to do a side-by-side-by-side with my 520, 488, and 450!

- Dylan
 




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