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FrozenGate by Avery

If You've Actually Received Your Spyder III Arctic - Post Here

shea241 said:
Just got my arctic today, thought I'd share some beam & host pics.

I put them in a gallery rather than post them here, I hope that's cool:
Thumbnails

(As a side note, I've been coming to this forum since LONG before the arctic, I just haven't bothered registering until now :-) Not here 'just for the arctic'!)

The spot photos are approx 18 feet away. One is taken at 1/800th sec exposure at f/1.7, the other 1/4000th second. The brightest part of the line is about a half inch, while the full line is about an inch.

The beam profile forms a rectangle at about 6 feet. Before and after it tends toward a line (of perpendicular orientations of course).

There is also a pic of the beam profile shining through the open glass cap, it is a 1/4000th sec exposure.

I tried focusing the beam with a very poor-quality acrylic lens. It seems to focus pretty well and burns through things with ease, even with the absorption from the acrylic and the distortion from some pretty bad scratches on the lens itself.

My biggest concern with the laser is that it doesn't seem to get very warm after being on for a minute. It really should at this power.
Click to expand...

Welcome to the Forum!
Hum. you have a good camera to take good pictures.
You can make videos up to 720p with this camera of yours!
so first things first:
if you can, set the image quality to fine - right now it is only 240dpi. i guess it'll go up to 300.
and please use a high resolution so we can have great pictures of the beam!
your pictures are interesting, but you need some sort of captions to them. hehe
Also - i can see you are using ultrafire battery.
is it much better than the arctic original battery? could you please take 2 shots comparing the batteries?
ok - these are all my requests =)
thx for the pictures!
and again: welcome to the foruns! hope you'll keep up the good job.
Regards
 





Hemlock_Mike said:
Wow -- So many useless posts for science. YES --- Some members are leaving LPF because of the blinding number of 445 posts. Count me in on that.
My testing shows that heat is not a friend of the 445 Diode and power out.
Dave -- can you confirm this heat relationship?

HMike
Click to expand...

Have some patience, Mike. Maybe take a short vacation. This will all blow over soon enough. I'll PM you as well

Yes. The diodes tend to lose power as they heat up.

Peace,
dave
 
Arctic Laser Unboxing Video

Wow guess that was a bit vague.
Here is a video of the unboxing of the arctic I got today.
Had no issues, I am new to owning a real laser @ 50+, so looking forward to all the wonders (got a optics kit too).
I was surprised but I expected it to be on or off, but with the battery 90 uncharged it was very powerful, but at 100% charged, it was amazing.. YouTube - IMG 0668
 
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Re: Arctic Laser Unboxing Video

Nice video review, just curious but what other high powered lasers have you dealt with?
 
Arctic: Spyder III: Review

I'll probably merge this with the "If you've received" thread later. For now a quick review.

I ordered in the first few days it was offered. After WL offered the G1, I contacted Steve to request it. He told me he would get it shipped on 7/23. Eight days later, it arrived

The package arrived Saturday via EMS mail. I got down to the post office this morning to pick it up. It was in a non-descript package with no mention of WL anywhere on the package. Here is what was in the package
IMG_1019.jpg


Opening the present
IMG_1020.jpg


Here is what was inside those boxes
Notice the white material on the threads of the extra low power lens. We will talk about that in a minute

:crackup: They sent along an extra "sticker" (like I'm even going to use the one that is already stuck to my laser :whistle: )
IMG_1021.jpg

The fit and finish of my unit is fine.



You can see the goggles and the battery better here.
The goggles are listed as: 190-449nm OD5+ and 450-532nm OD6+
The battery is a 1300mAh 18650
IMG_1022.jpg


They also sent me my new mantra for NooB's here --
"Don't Annoy People With Laser Beams" :crackup:
IMG_1023.jpg


OK. Remember that white material on the threads of the lens above? Here's what it is. That is NOT thermal silicone or epoxy. It is thermal grease! It is just spread around the inside with a fingertip. It gets all over the threads of the lenses. When you change the lenses it will get all over your hands, the laser, the laser's box, and anything that you set the lens down onto! I KNOW that I don't want it everywhere and I sure don't want it near my lens
IMG_1024.jpg


I cleaned it up using MANY tissues. I used a thin piece of tissue over the threads of the lens and screwed the lens into the body to clean the inside threads as best that I could. Here is what it looks like clean. I have no idea how far down that thick filling of thermal grease goes. Thermal grease is not much use in such a thick filling
IMG_1029.jpg

The lens appears to be simply the same 445nm lens that we are getting from AixiZ. It was tight enough that I didn't attempt to remove or adjust it yet. I will wait until I have time and a tool with me



Here is the beam shot in broad daylight with nothing added to the air
IMG_1027.jpg



This is the spot at 30 feet. It is actually an even more distinct "line" in person. The blaze confounded the camera. This is about the same thing that we see with the AixiZ 445nm lens
IMG_1036.jpg




When the laser arrived the stock battery was in need of a charge. I did the following measurements using an AW 2600mAh 18650

The laser is producing 795mW with the "full power" lens
It is producing 190mW with the "low power" lens
The current draw at the battery was 1.8A

The goggles cut down the beam output to 9mW
In the fuzzy picture below, you can see a "spot" in the middle portion of the lens. That is a burn mark from the laser. It took ~4 seconds to produced that burn. The goggles appear to be good enough to protect for the errant, accidental, momentary hit. However, I would not trust them for any other level of protection
IMG_1033.jpg


Overall, I am satisfied with the laser. I certainly will NOT be buying another. We can produce a better quality beam at higher currents than this for the same price I paid. We can do it for less than the new price. YOU can do it for MUCH less by building it yourself

Peace,
dave
 
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Re: Arctic: Spyder III: Review

Very comprehensive look at the pros and cons of this laser Dave. I might be interested in purchasing this from you if you aren't that interested in keeping it.
 
Re: Arctic: Spyder III: Review

thats ironic, WL have already annoyed loads of people with it :p

disapointed with the power levels people have been getting. you'd think they'd have done more than just stuck a diode in a host with a typical lense.
 
Re: Arctic: Spyder III: Review

Nice review. So there is no beam correction optics at all? What is the divergence?
 
Re: Arctic: Spyder III: Review

Great review, finally someone covered some the things i've been worried about.

:thanks:
 
Re: Arctic: Spyder III: Review

Nice review Dave... now I'm satisfied with my decision
not to buy one...
Like you said we can build our own for a lot less with
better specs...

Jerry
 
Re: Arctic: Spyder III: Review

Thats enough for me to say "nope i no longer want this laser." I'll be making my own much more powerful than that soon enough. Thanks for the review very nice. :)
 
Re: Arctic: Spyder III: Review

Your photography skillz have improved a LOT Dave!
 
Re: Arctic: Spyder III: Review

Thanks for the review, Enough for me to easily say "Yup, I still want one". I already own a custom build that runs 1.3W, so I'm plenty happy if my arctic is 700mW max. The laser looks nice, and its far better beam specs than my Jayrob 405nm glass lens. Your 'line' looks 1" at 30ft. Well, mine was 1.25" at 17ft with a 405nm glass lens. Choice made. Thanks.

Be interesting to see if they changed things for the G2. I'll be more than happy to review it when I receive it. :)
 
Re: Arctic: Spyder III: Review

I and i think most people were waiting for someone with experience with lasers to get and review the Arctic. This Review was done great and answered the important question.

:gj:
 
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