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nwfreefly- O-like Crown upgrade 400mW 532nm Review

Joined
Nov 4, 2014
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Just when I decided for my sanity sake I needed to stop dreaming about getting my new laser it finally arrived! Bear with me guys I am not very knowledgeable about lasers compared to most here so Ill do my best to give a solid review.

I ordered a crown Upgrade 532nm in 400mW from Susie at O-like on November 9th. I paid $196 U.S. including shipping via Paypal because their website is not secure which was a shock in today's day and age. Warning to anyone using their C.C. on that site it is open and unprotected. Use Paypal to be safe.

8 days later I hadn't received a tracking number but had received a confirmation of the order. I emailed Just Pay Now Susie and she responded within an hour with the good news that the laser shipped a week ago and gave me the tracking number. November 24, 2014 My laser arrived safe and sound.

The box was a bit banged around but nothing out of the ordinary. The packing was broken slabs of foam board and was adequate. In the box contained the laser with battery inside but with contact tape on both pos. and neg. ends, 5 lenses, charger (aka melting target), belt holster for full dork mode in public, but no power meter documents which I was a little disappointed. I have heard of others getting them but in O-likes defense they didn't say they would provide it.
First thing I did was get my new eagle pair glasses out of the case and at the ready for some cherry popping fun. Second thing was throw out the crappy fire starter charger. I put the surefire battery on my smart charger and while it was charging ordered a Nitecore battery to replace it. I'll use the Surefire as a back up.
The laser feels and looks very solid. Grant you I am a newb but this thing seems great to me. I very much like the rubber O-rings on the host for a secure grip. I added a pic of them up close as well as some other close ups i wish to have been able to see before I ordered.

On to the beam and of coarse later on below the beam shots. 1.5mm(at aperture) The dot measured 6mm at 2 meters and 11mm at 7.5 meters. Im not sure if this is good or bad for a 532nm. Hope someone can give me feedback on that.
Please excuse the poor picture quality. I have a tripod for the laser but not my camera so I am using a handheld night shot mode that snaps 3 individual frames and compresses the files digitally. Its an awesome feature of the Cannon Powershot. However the beam is brighter in the pics than it was in real life. Also I live in the city and there are clouds in the sky which reflect a LOT of light. I will update this thread on a better night but I wanted to get this review done while I am still on my days off.

Overall I'm quite pleased with my purchase. I must confess I did expect it to be brighter than it is at first glance but again it's a very bright night so I'll withhold a final verdict. Wearing these safety glasses were a blessing. Even with them on measuring the dot was very uncomfortable. I can feel the light all over my face and it was hard to see the clear plastic ruler. I have a headache after doing this and it feels like the kind of head ache that's behind the eyes. This could very well be placebo as I have been reading a lot of laser injury reports. But it sure as hell feels real.

I would also like to add a safety warning. I got to see first hand tonight just how easy an accident can happen. Fumbling with a note pad, camera, glasses on and off, moving the tripod and turning the laser on and off is an accident waiting to happen. I stopped myself early on and made a rule. Keep the safety glasses ON while setting anything up, do a quick check to make sure everything is stable, THEN remove them.

Here are the first sets of pictures. I can only upload 8 at a time and can seem to figure out how to put them in the thread. Sorry everyone I tried for 30 min. Here ya go!
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Joined
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Re: O-like Crown upgrade 400mW 532nm Review.

And here are the beam pictures. There is one pic that also contains my ebay 75mw 532nm.
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kilter

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Nice, cool laser even though o-like has gone way down in quality and timelyness. +1
 
Joined
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Nice, cool laser even though o-like has gone way down in quality and timelyness. +1

Thanks! In o-likes defense just less than 3 weeks is pretty damn good time for a company in China plus customs often drags their ass's.
As far as quality goes I did a side by side last night with my friends pricey Krypton and lets just say he was pretty bummed after we crossed beams.

I would like it if somebody could let me know if they feel the beam divergence is good or bad for a 532nm. The one thing I feel is it should focus tighter but as a newb to lasers I don't know if this is justified.

Anyway glad someone read it!!!! I wasn't sure if anyone had. Ha!
 
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Wearing these safety glasses were a blessing. Even with them on measuring the dot was very uncomfortable. I can feel the light all over my face and it was hard to see the clear plastic ruler. I have a headache after doing this and it feels like the kind of head ache that's behind the eyes. This could very well be placebo as I have been reading a lot of laser injury reports. But it sure as hell feels real.

Good to see more reviews :)

Got a link to where you got your glasses? Even if they were a low OD2 then that would make your 400mW look like 4mW. Which I wouldn't have thought would be hard to look at.
 
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Good to see more reviews :)

Got a link to where you got your glasses? Even if they were a low OD2 then that would make your 400mW look like 4mW. Which I wouldn't have thought would be hard to look at.

I bought them from Survival laser. Eagle Pair® 190-540nm Standard Laser Safety Goggles Although the dot was quite dimmed but all that light selecting off the wall that was just inches from my face made everything hazy. Like I was in a foggy room. It made me uncomfortable and because of this haze it was hard to see the ruler. Is that normal? In hindsight I should have waited till I had some matte black cardboard to hit with the dot. I used brown box and it reflected a hell lot of light.
 
Joined
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I bought them from Survival laser. Eagle Pair® 190-540nm Standard Laser Safety Goggles Although the dot was quite dimmed but all that light selecting off the wall that was just inches from my face made everything hazy. Like I was in a foggy room. It made me uncomfortable and because of this haze it was hard to see the ruler. Is that normal? In hindsight I should have waited till I had some matte black cardboard to hit with the dot. I used brown box and it reflected a hell lot of light.

I've had my 1W 445nm with the spot on white paper and didn't experience anything like you're describing. But I see one big difference between my and your glasses; yours are better with a visible light transmission of 50%, mine are only 20% so whilst I can barely see a thing maybe it spares me from what you're experiencing? We need somebody knowledgeable to help out!
 
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I bought the same laser ways back, when it was $280 or something.

It was truly an epic laser but just a couple of weeks ago, the spring that is the contact between the battery and the driver broke off.

Soldering it back I could do in my sleep... if I could find a way to take the damn thing apart. I am slowly giving up and will probably post detailed macros of every corner of the laser and simply post an open question on the forum "How to open the damned thing".


But overall, performance of the laser, thermal characteristics and battery lifetime were great and never regretted buying it.

I see yours is nice as well, and yeah that divergence for that power is quite OK.
 

kilter

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I bought the same laser ways back, when it was $280 or something.

It was truly an epic laser but just a couple of weeks ago, the spring that is the contact between the battery and the driver broke off.

Soldering it back I could do in my sleep... if I could find a way to take the damn thing apart. I am slowly giving up and will probably post detailed macros of every corner of the laser and simply post an open question on the forum "How to open the damned thing".


But overall, performance of the laser, thermal characteristics and battery lifetime were great and never regretted buying it.

I see yours is nice as well, and yeah that divergence for that power is quite OK.

We've got an expert ova here! :cool:
 
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We've got an expert ova here! :cool:

Uhh sorry, what's that mean? You know how to take it apart?

Also, @nwfreefly,

Use external image hosting services, and simply paste the IMG code here in the forums. That way you can post both unlimited and much greater resolution pictures, inline with text (not as attachments). Let me know if you need help with that.
 
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Also, @nwfreefly,
Use external image hosting services, and simply paste the IMG code here in the forums. That way you can post both unlimited and much greater resolution pictures, inline with text (not as attachments). Let me know if you need help with that.

Cool, thank you i was wondering how to do that. I played around for quite a while but didn't know I needed to host them. I will get a hosting service and re-do the thread with embedded pics. Which ones would you recommend?
 
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Personally I am using Photobucket because it has very easy uploading, folder management, and IMG link accessibility.

Uploading is drag-n-drop photos into browser, and you can get IMG link below thumbnails of the photos in your folder.
 
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Love the new beamshots. Green goes nicely against the overall warm and homey feeling of your room :)

Except the big skull above your door. Gives me the creeps :D
 
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Love the new beamshots. Green goes nicely against the overall warm and homey feeling of your room :)

Except the big skull above your door. Gives me the creeps :D
Lol! Skulls make a home cozy!

Anyhoo-
I wanted to add some more feedback now that its been a few weeks of using this laser. Its still my favorite but the focusing knob is jiggly and loose. I can actual move the direction of the beam around by grabbing the focusing portion and wobbling it back and forth. Its not a huge problem I am assuming some thread locking tape should fix it. It also doesn't stay at a focused setting because it is so loose so every time it is put in a pocket or bumped it changes the focusing knob position.

Also- great news I am meeting an LPF member in about and hour to put a few of my lasers on his meter. I will let you know what it comes in at. Lets hope close to 400mw.
 




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