High Powered Amazon Laser 532nm

[baharini]

It's always fun buying these types of lasers and what results you get. It's a gamble, but mine have always been overspec.

 

[Marco Polo]

I have several of these units, three 532's and two 405's, all in the "Laser 301" host. I got them all from Amazon. I'm sure they're cheap Chinese junk, all things considered, but they are my favorites anyway due to ease of use, a simple no-nonsense host design, and having a keyed master switch. Being able to use both 18650 and 16340 batteries is a plus; 18650's last forever and with 16340's they are quite compact.

The only issues I've noticed are:

1) The spring in the power switch seems to go bad quickly, resulting in a very "soft" feel when pressing the button, however the switch itself still works fine. The main problem here is that the laser can easily be turned on by accident when carried in a pocket, which can burn a hole in said pocket, or possibly LED the diode. So, when carrying them, the key switch is quite nice. That having been said, I did have one 405nm unit run for I-don't-know-how-long, likely more than an hour, in my coat pocket. The host did warm up, but the laser still works to this day.

2) The lens is a BITCH to clean, and seems to be prone to scratching easily. Compressed air in a can is pretty much the only viable cleaning method. The host can be broken open (unscrewed) and the lens replaced but this is also a big hassle.

3) The heatsinking, at least on the 405's, is quite bad. (One of my 405's did LED on me, so I took it apart.) The module is a small brass unit fit inside of a plastic sleeve, which is then press-fit into the host. So, there is apparently no good thermal contact between the module and the host. I imagine the 532 units aren't much better in this regard, but I did run one of them for 10 minutes nonstop without failure.

Despite the issues, which seem to be minor, I've had good luck with the Laser 301 units. Don't get me wrong, I love my SkyLasers too, but for carrying out and about, the Laser 301 units are great. And if one does die, they're cheap to replace, so it's no big deal.

I'm actually quite sure at this point that the Laser 301 host is almost the same, if not exactly the same, as the Lazerer LZCS host. In addition to 532's and 405's, Lazerer does offer 650's and 450's in that host as well, and apparently they can do a custom 638nm single mode build in that host as well. Will very likely be purchasing several of these units soon, am quite excited over the prospect.

 

[drjroebuck]

I believe I purchased the same laser of of eBay. It's markings are a little different, but it has same appearance, features like lock, lanyard, battery, charger, etc. If came from China without a manual and I've been trying to get it to work. Thus far I've been unsuccessful and no support from the shipper as yet.

I would appreciate any tips you can pass along to help me get this laser to fire. I've tried charging the battery - it fits snugly in the charger and the led on the charger stays lit red, even after an overnight charge. I've tried putting battery in the pointer both ways and using both key positions. I'm out of ideas ...

Many thanks.

*************************************

Guess it just took listing everything I tried to think of the one thing I missed -- there was a sticky piece of paper stuck to the negative terminal spring down the pointer's barrel. I snagged it with a forceps and the laser fired right up.

Thanks for the tip about this pointer -- I got it for $30 including shipping at

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Astronomy-M...-Battery-Charger-301-/170943303026#vi-content

Their website is called http://lasershk.com

 

[Marco Polo]

Yep, that's the Laser 301. I don't order them with a battery though... would rather use a quality cell than Ultrafire/discount/etc. cells, plus Li-ions pose customs issues of their own, on top of the usual laser/FDA risks.

All my 301's have held up to excessive on-times, being dropped onto concrete, unfavorable environment (too hot/cold/humid), etc. I wouldn't trust my Skylasers to put up with that kind of abuse.

 

[Ewink20]

I just got this one on amazon, Amazon.com: AAA ACCESSORIES Adjustable 5mW Green Laser 301 Military Laser Pen With Safety Key + Battery + Charger: Home Improvement. Hope that it burns. I'll tell u guys how it does when it arrives.

 

[jamaall]

Amazon seemed to have cracked down on the sellers... All listings for "high power lasers" or even most reputable 5mW lasers have been removed. Sad, but don't blame them, they could get into trouble if someone harms themselves because of false advertising.