New Blues????!!!!!

[RA_pierce]

To be honest, guys, I don't think Wicked has even started prototyping until a few days ago.

I think they over-estimated their ability to produce awesome lasers, hence the discontinuation of certain discounts and whatnot.
I think they are realizing that they have a lot to live up to now.
The beam specs they claim are next to impossible for $200.

It seems like they quoted an estimated cost for production and started marketing right away, but I don't think anyone on the Wicked research team has even seen one of these diodes in action until now. Now that they finally took a look at these diodes, I think they are going to have trouble getting the 1.5mm & 1.5mRad beam that they claim.

Don't get your hopes up too high for these. I think that us DIYers can produce better lasers then the Spyder III Arctic. :fightin:
Edit: I think it looks gross anyway. I prefer the functionality and discretion of the Spyder II.

But we will see when the reviews come in...

 

[ElektroFreak]

i'm beginning to think more and more that it's just that their web/marketing team doesn't know or care what tem00 means. I don't see how they could have fixed it. Moreso, i don't see how they could have fixed it and kept the price at $200.

^^^bingo!!!!!!^^^^

 

[oic0]

My biggest let down is that its not actually out yet. I had grand dreams of getting it before friday only to find out they are backordered. They "say" a week or two but I don't see how they could produce thousands of high quality lasers from a relatively low volume operation that quickly.
Its very important that these be high quality too, the first units out will be the ones that get reviewed and will set the stage for the entire rest of the run. If the first review says its a POS people won't search for the most recent one to see if it got better.

In all reality though, it would probably be best to cancel and re-order in a few months when the workers are taking their time though.

 

[aryntha]

This has been the biggest general 'laser' craze/story in years. I mean, it goes beyond LPF - it's been huge all over the internet. Gizmodo, Slashdot, and really, everywhere else. People who just "know I'm into lasers" must have sent me the link to the Arctic about 30 times in the last few days. Everyone is watching this.

If Wicked bones this up (they may have already...) it could turn this from Wicked's biggest publicity balloon in years, to the worst PR debacle for Wicked that we've ever seen.

The world is watching them now. I also have this sinking feeling that this laser only exists "on paper" right now. I don't really care if I get the laser and its 750mW and a line output. (Which is what I bet it'll be.)

I do care if I don't get the laser at all, or if it falls apart in a week, or is out of focus, flickering, <100mW, or otherwise shoddily thrown together. Which, with this demand, might be what it turns into.

(That said, I've already got my 445 build done that *is* a line, and is "only" 300mW or so -- and its pretty awesome... So unless Wicked *really* screws this up, there's still some pretty good potential for some rather nice $200 lasers here.)