Need help with choosing the right company to buy a green laser from

[apurva]

Hi

Just discovered this excellent community and was quite surprised to find out that there are so many laser enthusiasts around!

I wanna buy a 120mW - 200mW laser and have it delivered to Bombay, India. I've done a bit of reading around in the forums, about which sites / companies are the correct ones to buy from, especially this thread http://laserpointerforums.com/f45/guide-buying-your-first-green-laser-30608.html and was quite disheartened to learn that Wicked Lasers (the ones i have been drooling over for some time) are not the right ones to buy. Also I think the good WLs are way out of my budgets now.

So i'd love it if experts here recommend some good models and stores to buy a laser. Here are my requirements.


1. 120mW - 200mW Green laser
2. Continuous duty cycle
3. Compact, pointer or slightly larger but definitely NOT a full sized hand held like the Aeries / Hercules
4. Needs to look great. I love the hosts that WL makes. I was eying the elite pro
5. Preferably water proof

Some models that I have found:

Gatlin 200mW green laser /waterproof &adjustable /good heatsink [OLGT200] - $189.00 : O-Like, Quality Products, Great Prices - I dont know if o-like will deliver to India. I have send them a mail and yet to receive a reply.

200mW Green Beast : BeamQ Laser Pointers, 50mw-200mw,Green,Red,High Power,Cheap - BeamQ says they will deliver to India on the site, however I am a bit skeptical about their pricing as this product of theirs: 150mW Green Laser Pointer LED&Kaleidoscope 150mW Green Laser Pointers [] - $186.00 : BeamQ Laser Pointers, 50mw-200mw,Green,Red,High Power,Cheap they are selling at $186 USD while its available for less than $50 (with 50mW higher power) here: Ultra Power 200mW Green Laser Pointer gifts in india at rediff shopping.

www.rayfoss.com - I like the size / build of this model and I think I have seen this same host in a lot of sites.

Also of the sites on the list in the buying guide, I came across laserland which specifically states that they dont deliver to India and some other countries. Do most sites have such limitations?

Would love to hear your thoughts

Thanks!

 

[Eudaimonium]

You cannot go wrong with O-like, they are very respectable company to buy laser stuff from, and are up-to-spec.

They offer 150 mW and 200 mW green 'transformable' green lasers, you can add or remove the barrel at the end of a laser to make it suitable for one CR123 battery or one 18650 battery (which is included with the laser and also a charger).

Not too expensive for the power offered.

I don't think BeamQ is known much around here... I've never seen reviews of their lasers.

Is it neccessary for your laser to be waterproof?
Making the so results in quite a mess around the dot as the water dries out of the lens... you would have to wash it in distilled water after usage every time.

EDIT:
Oh an by the way:
WELCOME to the forum!

 

[apurva]

Hey thanks Eudaimonium, love this place already!

Well the waterproof is a good to have feature for accidental spillages / drops or sudden urges of taking the laser under water, but i guess i know what u mean. The lens has to be taken care of.

I dont like the BeamQ models much either, but unfortunately they are the only ones (besides WL) who say that they deliver to my country. O-Like isnt responding to my queries yet

What about duty cycles? I have a cheap unbranded green laser 50mW, and it drops sharply in intensity in around 10 seconds of usage. (Which used to be say 60 seconds when i had first bought it).

So can keeping a laser on for a long time damage it? Do lasers with continuous duty cycles handle this issue if yes?

 

[Eudaimonium]

O-like delivers worldwide, don't worry about that.

Duty cycles of laser usage depend greatly about it's power, cooling, and ofcourse the build quality.

I think you will not have any problems with duty cycles. The dimming problem you are describing does not have anything to do with duty cycles,

Duty cycles are times describing on/off ratio to let the laser cool down.
Your 50 mW laser is simply having bad crystal alligment or similar problem.

Also, every green laser has it's peak and average power, what you have might is 50 mW rated 'peak' power and rated average power could be well below 20 or so.

You never know with cheap pointers, you could get a good one, you can get a bad one, and you can get a worse one.
Or do not get it at all would not be the frirst time it happened...

But they are overall good for familiarization with green lasers and how the look. They can provide good hosts for your later projects if you want.

 

[apurva]

Thanks for the quick replies! is O-like a Chinese vendor? maybe then they must be off for their new year holidays i guess.

You think the transformable one is the best one at o-like? whats the difference when used with the different batteries?

 

[photonaholic]

O-Like is Chinese and they are on holiday.

Welcome!

 

[apurva]

Thanks!

I think I like the rafoss hosts here: www.rayfoss.com and read quite a few reviews of it here on the forums.

I am not interested in Burning, just need a brightest possible beam that points to infinity. Do you think i need 200mW or 100 to 150 will do? Is there a visible difference in the beams of say a 150 and a 200mW?

 

[survivor]

To point is enough with 50mw

 

[randomlugia]

But 100+ will give you a much fuller/more noticeable beam. I think you've narrowed it down to three sites: O-like, Rayfoss, and LaserLands. You can't go wrong with O-like or Rayfoss; both are excellent sellers and guarantee output. Laserlands is kind of tricky, because not all of the lasers are good. If you read up on reviews, you should be able to find a good one. My top choice here is Rayfoss. You'll be very happy with any of those (except maybe the pen).

1000th POST!!!!!

 

[apurva]

Thanks for all the feedback. I think I have settled for Rayfoss. I spoke to Faona (dunno if i spelled that right) of Rayfoss lasers and she did give great patient support for my questions. I am thinking I will start with this model: www.rayfoss.com as i need a compact pointer but hate the pen shaped models for some reason.

Hey Randomlugia, congratulations on ur 1000 posts! keep em coming

 

[apurva]

Hey people, thanks for all your feedback, I have finally ordered my lasers! I am getting the www.rayfoss.com I would have bought o-like but they didnt really respond to my communication

And since I am ordering by DHL, and the shipping costs are really high, I decided to get a violet 50mW www.rayfoss.com that can fit 'stagazer' caps, which wont cost any extra on shipping. So I will have a cool violet laser show thingy!

The sales support from Rayfoss was EXCELLENT, I must have asked over a 100 questions to Faona, and she patiently replied to all of them.

Now am rubbing my palms, twiddling my thumbs waiting for my lasers Next steps, to buy an elite IgorT made custom violet and then make one from Jayrob's mini green kit!

 

[randomlugia]

Good job, you made a great choice.

 

[apurva]

Good job, you made a great choice.

Thanks! It was your buying guide that started it all! Before i read it i was totally confused with the million sites selling lasers, but you really helped with the search!

:thanks: