In Depth Look - 532nm PGL-III-C 800mW!!!!

[IsaacT]

CNI PGL-III-C 532nm - 800mW!!!!!​

Introduction

It has been a long time since I have been the owner of a very powerful 532nm Laser, and after seeing the extremely good prices in Bloompyle's GB I could feel the itch and knew I just HAD to have a sweet 532! Originally I was going to go with the 500mW, but I tightened my britches, put my shoulder to the figurative plow(I ain't Amish now am I?), and ordered up an 800mW unit.

Impressions

The Group Buy Process:

This was my first CNI group buy, and I have to say it went really well! Bloompyle did an excellent job hosting it and got answers to questions quickly and was available with PM's and such. It was a really easy process and did I mention the prices were insanely good?! Due to how many people got in on the group buy it was longer than I thought it would be, but that we got the 10pcs discount was the important part.

Experience: 10/10

Production Time & Shipping:

Order Placed with CNI: 6/30/13

• Bloom was notified shipment would be out by the next week(6/30/13)
• Bloom was told all were done excpet 671nm Lasers(7/17/13)

Order Shipped to Bloompyle: 7/28/13
Order Received by Bloompyle: 8/05/13

• Time taken to test each one, resolve issues, and attend to living.

Order Shipped to CONUS members: 8/14/13
Order Received by Me: 8/16/13

So, production time accounted for approximately one month of the time between the order being made and the order being received by CONUS buyers. Shipping from CNI was only 8 days, which is pretty good for coming via long boat ride and having to clear customs.

CNI
Production Time: 5/10
Shipping Time: 10/10

Bloompyle
Shipping Time: 10/10
Packaging: 10/10

The Laser:

The Laser is very high quality, as anyone who owns a CNI Laser can attest to. However, there are some observations I would like to make.




The Shutter is Excellent. I love it! Works like a charm, looks Professional!


The LED Indicator is decent, however I would like for it to come on when the key is turned. This would show that the button is live when pressed. Currently, LED only turns on when button is depressed.


The Button is annoying. The host looks great, however the button sticks up really far and the blue plastic stands out against the black finished aluminum.


The Safety Dongle works as intended and is great for keeping the Laser from rolling!


The Key Switch works as intended. The key hangs somewhat loosely however, and I wish I could remove the key when armed.

The Laser itself(the internals) however is amazing. This thing is insanely bright, and not only that, but it burns my skin immediately upon contact. Which is AWESOME!!!! Been a long time since I felt the sting of the green!



Overall:
Build Quality: 6/10

Statistical Analysis

Here are the stats on the Laser:

• Product Name: PGL-III-C 532nm
• Output: 850mW
• Beam Diameter at Aperture: 3.5mm
• Beam Diameter at 83 meters(275ft): 155mm
• Beam Divergence: 1.825mRad
• Transverse Mode: TEM00 with brief vacations in TEM01
• Duty Cycle: >2min on / 1min off
• Weight: --
• Length: 220mm
• Width at Head: 38mm
• Width at Tailcap: 30mm
• Current Draw at Tailcap: --

-- = Untested

Pictures/Beamshots!!!!

No fog/smoke was used in any of these pictures. This Laser is THAT bright. the ones taken inside were right beneath a bright light. The brighter ones outside were taken under the glow of a flashlight. No long exposure times were used. Most I think was 1.2 seconds to allow more ambient light in such that the laser was rendered visible in the darkest photos. Safety precautions were taken and the sky was clear of planes/helicopters during the entire duration of the outdoor photoshoot. When I heard cars approaching I turned off the laser and waited until I could no longer hear them to continue.

















































Videos!!!

-Coming Soon

Conclusion

This is an amazing Laser, and for the price(~450 after shipping), it is very hard to beat! I already love this laser, although if you accidentally have your leg in front of the beam while taking pics, prepare for less leg hair!!! It's burn feels like a 405nm laser! If you all have any questions let me know, I will be happy to answer them. For those who are curious:

• Comparison shot of two 532's: My CNI 800mW and my Aurora 115mW Fasttech build.
• Comparison shot of 532 and 445: My CNI 800mW and my MSSSW 2.5W 9mm build.

Thanks for looking guys, I spent about 3 hours doing the photography so I am going to hit the hay before I fall over haha. Enjoy!

:beer:
-Isaac

 

[IsaacT]

Reserved for whatever wot might need reserving for :beer:

 

[EpicHam]

Ooooohhh
You've really paid a lot of effort on this one.
AWESOME beamshots

I'll rep ya, but I'm in the cool down pool where I need to spread some rep first

 

[steve001]

Beam Diameter at Aperture: 3.5mm
Beam Diameter at 83 meters(275ft): 155mm
Beam Divergence: 1.825mRad

With that beam diameter I'd expect much lower divergence. so I looked up the specs at CNI
According the spec sheet the beam diameter is 1.5mm and divergence is <1.5mrd

Measure the beam diameter at 30 meters to start. A good accurate way is to use a piece of picture glass and mark off a cross like this +. Then using a millimeter ruler put tick marks along the X,Y axis. Using glass eliminates blooming that occurs, say, when using a solid surface and possible burning.

If the front unscrews would you take a close-up photo of the innards and post?
Another request if you don't mind. If the front unscrews, see if the sides of the beam are being truncated do to the size of the aperture and post a photo of the laser in action with the front off.

 

[gismo]

Good review, wannaburnstuff

Pics, pics and more pics again! It'd be nice if other GB participants could share their photography artwork, you seem to set the niveau very high

Will rep you once the system allows me to!

:gj:

 

[EpicHam]

Good review, wannaburnstuff

Pics, pics and more pics again! It'd be nice if other GB participants could share their photography artwork, you seem to set the niveau very high

Will rep you once the system allows me to!

:gj:

*taking notes and reference

 

[hwang21]

Great review :beer:

$450 shipped for a CNI 532nm 800mW? Did I read that right? :thinking: that is insanely cheap... :drool:

Although, 3.5mm beam diameter... even my S3 Krypton isn't that big :thinking:

 

[Atomicrox]

Great review!

IRL which one had the brighter beam, the 445nm or the 532nm?

Also does it have a turn on delay?

 

[IsaacT]

Yeah it has a turn on delay and everything.

in response to the divergence issue. I will try to remeasure it at 30meters like you say. Might not have time today though. Before I open it up though, has anyone done that before?

 

[EpicHam]

Yeah it has a turn on delay and everything.

in response to the divergence issue. I will try to remeasure it at 30meters like you say. Might not have time today though. Before I open it up though, has anyone done that before?

I have with my focusable PGL-III-C
You can see a rectangular crystal embedded within a aluminium unit embedded in a copper heatsink surrounded by lots of white goo, not sure what it is .
The threads appear be be lubricated by lithium grease and leaves a greyish stain on your white tissue paper
If you want , I can take a pic for ya.

But mine is just a screw on lens , not a shutter with fixed focus lens.
So you might find your results to be quite different to mine.

 

[Shakenawake]

lovely pics. I wonder if my 3.3W 445nm will be brighter than the 500mW 532nm optotronic RPL I've got coming. too bad the optos don't hit 800mW. I wish the optos shared the shutter design of yours. I may have to try and get in on the next CNI GB for a 589nm.

It's hard to find the perfect high power 532nm. A PL-E pro, with a shutter like your's, the divergence and power selections of an RPL, would be perfect. Maybe we could get Jetlasers, Optotronics, and CNI to get together for a co-opt laser

 

[scumbagatheist]

Great review, Isaac! That thing must be insanely bright!

You put your MS-SSW on stone??? lol

 

[IsaacT]

I only had one tripod available. MS-SSW had to rough it for a bit. Although it is important to note I never scratched it I n the stone. Only lifted and set gently.

 

[johnaston]

lovely pics. I wonder if my 3.3W 445nm will be brighter than the 500mW 532nm optotronic RPL I've got coming. too bad the optos don't hit 800mW. I wish the optos shared the shutter design of yours. I may have to try and get in on the next CNI GB for a 589nm.

It's hard to find the perfect high power 532nm. A PL-E pro, with a shutter like your's, the divergence and power selections of an RPL, would be perfect. Maybe we could get Jetlasers, Optotronics, and CNI to get together for a co-opt laser

^ THIS! Except I really like the hosts of the rpl's! (Besides the shutter). Also, a rpl 260 should have a better beam than a 3 watt 445 so a rpl 500 should be way brighter right?

 

[IsaacT]

My 800mW 532 and my 2.5W 445 look roughly equal in person.

 

[johnaston]

Well I was going by the brightness calculator so I could be wrong. I just want my 260 rpl to have a better beam than my 1.4 445. (Haven't gotten the rpl yet)