Jetlasers Pro PL-E 473 - An In Depth Review

[hwang21]

Do keep us posted... especially us prospective JL 473nm buyers

 

[EpicHam]

Not room temperature lol. I will see if I can measure the temperature of the host when output is nominal. May be a day or so though....might have to pick up a temperature probe.

You know..
In RC cars , we have a little warming pack of which we heat the tires to the specified temperature under a thermocouple temperature regulator.

Perhaps we can fashion something like that?
Truth be told... its rather bulky , but then once you heat the diode/tire to heat you can remove it and have fun

Food for thoughts

 

[LtKernelPanic]

Excellent review. They're wonderful lasers aren't they? I'm not sure why yours takes so long to come up to full power. I know mine doesn't take that long. It may not happen until after I'm back from vacation but there will be an update to my review with the divergence calculations and a couple other things. I'll also try to do a 5+ minute LPM measurement to see how long it takes to hit full power from a cold start.

The other reviews didn't mention this... what is the operating temperature of your 473nm?

Sorry that I didn't mention the warmup in my review. I guess after having several DPSS lasers the warmup time is just part of the laser.

 

[IsaacT]

Just did a timed run on LPM.

• 1 second: Cannot see 473, registers as 15mW on LPM.
• 3 Minutes: I can sort of see the 473 dot, but I have to look for it. Measures 15mW on LPM still.
• 5 Minutes: 473 dot visible, looks like 2mW or so(about as visible as my 1mW CNI GLP 594 I had). 20mW measured on LPM.
• 8 Minutes: 473 looking to be at or around 10mW now. Still not very powerful. Measures 25mW on LPM.
• 9 Minutes: 473 dot looking still brighter, although not by a lot. Measured 30mW on LPM.
• 10 Minutes: No change from 9 Minutes.
• 11 Minutes: 473 dot same brightness but hit 40mW.
• 12 Minutes: 473 dot same brightness. Now back down below 40.
• 13 Minutes: 45mW. Looking brighter.
• 15 Minutes: 58mW. Getting nice and pretty now.
• 17 Minutes: After a lot of erratic behavior it is up to 70mW....and then down to 60.
• 18 Minutes: Hit 80mW, then down to 65, then up to 73. Ahh DPSS....you bastard.
• 19 Minutes: 70mW is about what it is, disregarding jumps.
• 20 Minutes: 71mW

All it does is stagnates after that. I was told my unit LPM'd at 90-100mW. I cannot even see the dot without straining my eyes for the first 4 minutes. Only after 5 minutes does it start to resemble a 1 or 2mW unit, and it takes a good 15-20 minutes for it to get up to 75% of what I was told it could do....I am not sure that is normal behavior for a 473nm Handheld. There is a certain amount of warmup necessary, to be sure, but 20 minutes?!!!

 

[EpicHam]

Just did a timed run on LPM.

• 1 second: Cannot see 473, registers as 15mW on LPM.
• 3 Minutes: I can sort of see the 473 dot, but I have to look for it. Measures 15mW on LPM still.
• 5 Minutes: 473 dot visible, looks like 2mW or so(about as visible as my 1mW CNI GLP 594 I had). 20mW measured on LPM.
• 8 Minutes: 473 looking to be at or around 10mW now. Still not very powerful. Measures 25mW on LPM.
• 9 Minutes: 473 dot looking still brighter, although not by a lot. Measured 30mW on LPM.
• 10 Minutes: No change from 9 Minutes.
• 11 Minutes: 473 dot same brightness but hit 40mW.
• 12 Minutes: 473 dot same brightness. Now back down below 40.
• 13 Minutes: 45mW. Looking brighter.
• 15 Minutes: 58mW. Getting nice and pretty now.
• 17 Minutes: After a lot of erratic behavior it is up to 70mW....and then down to 60.
• 18 Minutes: Hit 80mW, then down to 65, then up to 73. Ahh DPSS....you bastard.
• 19 Minutes: 70mW is about what it is, disregarding jumps.
• 20 Minutes: 71mW

All it does is stagnates after that. I was told my unit LPM'd at 90-100mW. I cannot even see the dot without straining my eyes for the first 4 minutes. Only after 5 minutes does it start to resemble a 1 or 2mW unit, and it takes a good 15-20 minutes for it to get up to 75% of what I was told it could do....I am not sure that is normal behavior for a 473nm Handheld. There is a certain amount of warmup necessary, to be sure, but 20 minutes?!!!

WELP!
I guess I know who isn't getting a 473nm laser

 

[KapHn8d]

Isaac,

Is it possible your unit was jacked up in shipping? ie. impact or something? I purchased this same exact laser and it lases 473nm at 50+mW the instant it is turned on. There is zero delay from clickie to that awesome blue dot. I stuck my LPM in Speedy78's JL 473 post, but I think he said his behavior was similar (no delay). LtKernelPanic also didn't mention a long delay like this in his review. This, imho, may be something you should inquire about a warranty repair on, bud.

-c

 

[Sigurthr]

Hmm if the other identical units are not requiring a warmup then yours may have an issue. It IS normal for 473's to warm up to reach peak power though, but not 20min of it!

 

[ZRaffleticket]

I'm guessing JL has active cooling in that? I've never seen a 20-minute run on a portable 473 nor have I seen one take so long to warm up...the 4 473's I owned shot straight to 70% of full power in the first 10 seconds.

 

[IsaacT]

I dont think there is active cooling....I may send it back to Hakzaw1. Ill see what he thinks. While I love the color, 20 minute warmup time is ridiculous.

 

[ZRaffleticket]

There almost has to be. There's no way a 473 can maintain that much power for such a long time

 

[IsaacT]

You mean so little power for such a long time, right?

 

[ZRaffleticket]

Hey, staying above 50mW for nearly 7 minutes is an impressive feat for a handheld labeled "10-30mW"

Here's a cold start of my Vintage Light

 

[IsaacT]

I just took a video of mine from a room temperature start and it is really starting to irritate the hell out of me. My camera picks up light very sensitively, and can only barely pick up the 473. And then the 473 keeps disappearing and reappearing and my camera also picks up the IR...ugh. Youtube is processing the video, I will update with video when it is done.

 

[IsaacT]

Here is the video...remember that my camera picks up a lot of light from a little...don't know why....if you skip to around 3:26 you can see my 405nm laser(a cheap ebay one) flood the screen with purple to show just how sensitive it is.

 

[hwang21]

Hmm... yeah I'd look into a replacement That really sucks

 

[Encap]

Definately ask for repair or replacement of the unit. If you feel it is not functioning well enough/correctly. My guess is that it is not.

Email Gray at JetLasers directly and let him tell determine if it functioning within typical operational parameters or not.

I am sure Gray will make it good---he is the best and wants only happy customers.

Maybe e-mail him directly and ask him to look at this thread.