Here is my little review of the Alpha HP 225 from the Nova Sale. The price reduction and the fact it was a CNI is why I went ahead and bought it so quickly. I've also been wanting a higher power IR filtered greenie. I had a hard time deciding between the 200mW and the 225mW version. I decided to go with the 225mW after an hour.
Some specs From Website: Full list can be found here -> Untitled Page
Beam Divergence: - <1.2 mRad
Beam Diameter: - <1.0 mm
Battery Power Supply: - 1 x CR123 Battery
Recommended Duty Cycle: - 200 sec. ON/20 sec. OFF
Operation Voltage: - 3.0V
Average Current: - <300-500mA
Transverse Mode: - Near TEM00
Pump Diode: - 808nm 1W
Crystal Type: - Bonded Nd:YVO4
Cooling Method: - Radiant
Tested Outputs from Nova:
Peak: - 266.5mW
Average: - 241.7mW
Advertised: - 225mW
The laser was packaged very well. The aluminum case is very nice, I definitely like it. I didn't find anything wrong with the laser after unboxing it. There were no physical scrapes or scratches. After inspecting everything to make sure it was ok I started to read the instructions. The included instructions wanted me to only use AA Alkaline. It looks like I got the old Aplha instructions. Not a big deal tho. Since the online instructions say to specifically use a CR123 3.0v battery I went up to the store and bought a new battery for my tests.
I tested the power with my DIY IR LPM. So far I've tested anywhere from 5mW to 75mW green lasers with it. It seems to come within a few mW of what the lasers I've tested were rated at. I figured it would be able to get me close to what this laser is actually outputting. Before using the battery I tested it and it was putting out around 3.23v. The distance between the laser aperture and the LPM target was about 4 inches. This is the same distance I use when testing my other lasers.
Battery used: New Energizer CR123
Test 1: - 219mW
Test 2: - 214mW
Test 3: - 214mW
Overall I really like this laser. The beam is very thin and the dot shape and divergence look good to me. I like this host for the higher duty cycle and aperture shutter. Now onto the pictures...
Here is an interesting pic. See all those labels on the static bag? All of the stickers match the serial on my laser. The one on the right was on the bottom, the one in the middle was next, then the one on the left was on top all stuck together. I initally didn't worry about the stickers until I measured my power and wanted to see what the other stickers said. I don't get the one in the middle but the others especially the one on the right is interesting. Seems like it was one that came from LaserGlow. I don't see anything wrong with this at the moment. If Laserglow changed their stock they may have sent Nova the extras to sell etc. Not shown in pic but a smaller sticker stuck to the bottom of the Laserglow sticker said "PGL-III-A 532 >200mW".
The case:
Beam Shots with no smoke:
Dot shot at 26 feet:
Dot shot at 26 feet taken through goggles:
I'm very happy with this laser. I got the 3 day select shipping. They shipped on Thursday afternoon and was delivered on Monday. I asked for my tracking through a help ticket and they quickly provided it for me. If after more testing I don't see the Nova tested powers I don't think it will bother me too much since the rest of the laser is nice, spec & quality wise. Before settling on my final power measurements I will get a better LPM. As a matter of fact... No more lasers for me until I get myself a laserbee. After my vacation of course...
*Update* Received fixed unit - 09-10-10
I couldn't be happier with Nova's customer service. Magdalena took care of everything in such a professional manner. I sent the unit back last thursday and got it back today. The dot quality is still the same and the beam is actually aligned better. I would recommend Nova to anyone because if there is a problem you will be taken care of that's for sure.
matrix961
Some specs From Website: Full list can be found here -> Untitled Page
Beam Divergence: - <1.2 mRad
Beam Diameter: - <1.0 mm
Battery Power Supply: - 1 x CR123 Battery
Recommended Duty Cycle: - 200 sec. ON/20 sec. OFF
Operation Voltage: - 3.0V
Average Current: - <300-500mA
Transverse Mode: - Near TEM00
Pump Diode: - 808nm 1W
Crystal Type: - Bonded Nd:YVO4
Cooling Method: - Radiant
Tested Outputs from Nova:
Peak: - 266.5mW
Average: - 241.7mW
Advertised: - 225mW
The laser was packaged very well. The aluminum case is very nice, I definitely like it. I didn't find anything wrong with the laser after unboxing it. There were no physical scrapes or scratches. After inspecting everything to make sure it was ok I started to read the instructions. The included instructions wanted me to only use AA Alkaline. It looks like I got the old Aplha instructions. Not a big deal tho. Since the online instructions say to specifically use a CR123 3.0v battery I went up to the store and bought a new battery for my tests.
I tested the power with my DIY IR LPM. So far I've tested anywhere from 5mW to 75mW green lasers with it. It seems to come within a few mW of what the lasers I've tested were rated at. I figured it would be able to get me close to what this laser is actually outputting. Before using the battery I tested it and it was putting out around 3.23v. The distance between the laser aperture and the LPM target was about 4 inches. This is the same distance I use when testing my other lasers.
Battery used: New Energizer CR123
Test 1: - 219mW
Test 2: - 214mW
Test 3: - 214mW
Overall I really like this laser. The beam is very thin and the dot shape and divergence look good to me. I like this host for the higher duty cycle and aperture shutter. Now onto the pictures...
Here is an interesting pic. See all those labels on the static bag? All of the stickers match the serial on my laser. The one on the right was on the bottom, the one in the middle was next, then the one on the left was on top all stuck together. I initally didn't worry about the stickers until I measured my power and wanted to see what the other stickers said. I don't get the one in the middle but the others especially the one on the right is interesting. Seems like it was one that came from LaserGlow. I don't see anything wrong with this at the moment. If Laserglow changed their stock they may have sent Nova the extras to sell etc. Not shown in pic but a smaller sticker stuck to the bottom of the Laserglow sticker said "PGL-III-A 532 >200mW".
The case:
Beam Shots with no smoke:
Dot shot at 26 feet:
Dot shot at 26 feet taken through goggles:
I'm very happy with this laser. I got the 3 day select shipping. They shipped on Thursday afternoon and was delivered on Monday. I asked for my tracking through a help ticket and they quickly provided it for me. If after more testing I don't see the Nova tested powers I don't think it will bother me too much since the rest of the laser is nice, spec & quality wise. Before settling on my final power measurements I will get a better LPM. As a matter of fact... No more lasers for me until I get myself a laserbee. After my vacation of course...
*Update* Received fixed unit - 09-10-10
I couldn't be happier with Nova's customer service. Magdalena took care of everything in such a professional manner. I sent the unit back last thursday and got it back today. The dot quality is still the same and the beam is actually aligned better. I would recommend Nova to anyone because if there is a problem you will be taken care of that's for sure.
matrix961
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