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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Laserbtb PL532-200 review [pic heavy]

Joined
Mar 20, 2014
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50
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8
About the company
I ordered this laser a very long time ago, at the end of March, with Airmail shipping. What a bad choice! It took more than a week to arrive and then, after one more month, it was seized by customs.
Kevin from laserbtb promptly sent me another laser with express shipping (I had to pay him 40$) and after two weeks the laser finally arrived.
But that’s not all: the safety goggles were missing, because he forgot to put them in the package. He refunded me their cost and I had to buy them somewhere else.
Overall I’m not very satisfied by laserbtb; its customer service is not the best I have ever had, although he helped me with my first problem.

Final rating: 7/10


About the laser and its accessories
At a first look I would have said that the laser came in a nice lockable case. The case is actually quite cheap and it took me some minutes to make the locks work. However the case is not a very important thing.
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The laser came with no battery but a battery charger was included. It’s nothing special, but it seems to do its job.
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The laser itself is really huge and quite heavy. There are many stickers on it as you can see from the photo; the top sticker is not well aligned to the laser (I know, I know, these are very little details. But as Steve Jobs said, details matter). Also, the DANGER sticker says that the laser is <500 mW, although the laser should be rated 200 mW. :confused:
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When I put the battery into the laser for the first time I didn’t realize that the key lock was already unlocked and that the front shutter was open, so as soon as I pressed the red button the laser shot a beam against the black case. The led near the switch button is really little bright, I almost can’t see it at daylight.
Overall I can see that not everything is made with a great accuracy. This doesn’t actually matter very much, but I’m quite used to perfection in every detail.

Final rating: 7/10


About the laser itself
The laser is almost as long as my forearm, and I like it; its weight gives it a high-quality feel. It has three safety features: a key lock, a shutter at the aperture and a safety pin on the back, which can be used to remotely control it using a switch.
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The laser is very bright at daylight, although I cannot see the beam. The focus isn’t very sensitive making it easier to get precise focal lengths.
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I can’t measure the power of the laser since I have no power meter, nor I can’t check the wavelength and the IR emission. Sorry, this is my first review and my first high-powered laser, be patient.
I tried burning some duct tape and I could cut it in half just in a few seconds as you can see from the photos.
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In order to see the beam at daylight you need just very little smoke, and you can see it with no smoke at all in the evening or at night.
I’ll keep using the laser for some time, and after an extended period of usage I’ll update this review with some new photos and the laser’s final rating.

__________________
Every image you find in this review and the review itself is copyrighted.
 
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IsaacT

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Nice objective review. I am surprised to hear that the LED is so dim though. Mine was really bright. That leads me to believe that there are some issues with keeping a consistent product QC for Laserbtb.
 
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May 23, 2014
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I'd have to agree with everything in this review. It was a disappointing product and horrible company.
 

IsaacT

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LaserBtB is hardly a horrible company. They make lasers that work and do what they made them to do. Their build quality is usually pretty good, as is evidenced by the solid feel of the host and the precise focusing mechanism.

With any DPSS laser from a non-professional laser company you will often find some really good, some really bad, and some everywhere in between.

For a budget laser it is hard to beat laserbtb.
 
Joined
Mar 20, 2014
Messages
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LaserBtB is hardly a horrible company. They make lasers that work and do what they made them to do. Their build quality is usually pretty good, as is evidenced by the solid feel of the host and the precise focusing mechanism.

With any DPSS laser from a non-professional laser company you will often find some really good, some really bad, and some everywhere in between.

For a budget laser it is hard to beat laserbtb.

I totally agree with you
 
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I'd stick with horrible. There is better products for the money. And your lucky if you even receive your product. Maybe they are going through a bad time or something but I wouldn't recommend them to anyone. The safeties don't even function properly so I don't feel right reselling it. I'm going to rebuild it...
 

IsaacT

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I'd stick with horrible. There is better products for the money. And your lucky if you even receive your product. Maybe they are going through a bad time or something but I wouldn't recommend them to anyone. The safeties don't even function properly so I don't feel right reselling it. I'm going to rebuild it...

Where are you located? How many Laserbtb products are actually lost/seized? As for safeties not functioning, which of their safety features have offended you? You appear to have joined last month, so I am wondering if you had a singular bad experience with a company 9 people out of 10 feel good about or if you are just wanting to bash them. Is there a reason you think they are terrible? All of the laserbtb products I have owned(3) have been fantastic, and I have very high standards for my lasers.
 
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BowtieGuy

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A good honest review Jaggions, overall, I hope you're happy with it. Be sure to give us some nighttime beam shots when you can. :D
I think that your Danger sticker is ok, it's just a generic one showing that it's less than 500mW (class IIIb), which it is. The appropriate wavelength
hasn't even been checked.
 
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Joined
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Wow congrats to a nice laser it looks good that host. But weird you cant see the beam with a 200mw green, you should if you ask me..
 
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Joined
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I'd stick with horrible. There is better products for the money. And your lucky if you even receive your product. Maybe they are going through a bad time or something but I wouldn't recommend them to anyone. The safeties don't even function properly so I don't feel right reselling it. I'm going to rebuild it...

What are you saying?

Have you even contacted them?
 
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try looking down the laser(eye close to the tailcap) when you shine it, and see if you can see the beam. 200mw of 532 should be rather visible even in a semi lit room. Also having a while wall behind it reduces your ability to see the beam in light, try looking at it with a dark backdrop. with my 55mw 532 i am able to see the beam pretty well in a daytime room using these techniques.
 
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Nice objective review. I am surprised to hear that the LED is so dim though. Mine was really bright. That leads me to believe that there are some issues with keeping a consistent product QC for Laserbtb.

I think that might've been an older version of the PL and reportedly they had stupidly bright LEDs. My HL and PL have a dim (but still plenty visible) green LED, just like the one in this review.
 
Joined
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try looking down the laser(eye close to the tailcap) when you shine it, and see if you can see the beam. 200mw of 532 should be rather visible even in a semi lit room. Also having a while wall behind it reduces your ability to see the beam in light, try looking at it with a dark backdrop. with my 55mw 532 i am able to see the beam pretty well in a daytime room using these techniques.

I checked again and yeah, I can see the beam in a semi lit room. I just can't see it if I turn all the lights on, but I think this is normal. Also - this may be a very noob question - is it possible that the laser needs heating up for a few minutes before it reaches full power? Because I noticed that the dot got brighter and the beam more visible after it was left on for a while.
 
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since its not a diode yes the laser dont get fullpower instantly, or if you would use it outside in the winter it would need some heating up before reaching its peak power for sure.
 
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Joined
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since its not a diode yes the laser dont get fullpower instantly, or if you would use it outside in the winter it would need some heating up before reaching its peak power for sure.

It depends on how well the components are working in harmony. Some DPSSLs won't work properly until they're hot, some prefer to work straight out of the freezer and then decline as they heat up. Most however should work within "normal" temperature ranges, and lab or TEC cooled handhelds will do this.
 




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