O-like OL-CR-250 (250mW 650nm red laser)

[midieval10]

I may post a video later tonight. All you do is turn the focusing adjustment until you get to a pinpoint. Then it can easily light matches and cut through electrical tape.

 

[srinag]

I may post a video later tonight. All you do is turn the focusing adjustment until you get to a pinpoint. Then it can easily light matches and cut through electrical tape.

i tried that, had the smallest point possible.... no change. is it because the match head is red in colour??

 

[midieval10]

My match head is red...easily lights it. I don't even have to make it a pinpoint focus to light it. I can light a match that's white in color but it just takes a couple of seconds longer and has to be pinpoint.

 

[LethalLight]

I received mine. It is very overspec. Measures stable 313mW on my Alpha Radiant LPM. Easily lights matches. Can see the beam at night.

Man! That is nice. 313mW in single mode red (650nm) will smoke a lot of stuff around the house. That beam should be somewhat visible in daylight with dust in the air. I hope mine is at that power!!!:wave:

 

[david1235102]

i bought the same o-like 250mw you did. i just recieved it today. so far mine lights matches instantly (without having to charge the battery) and it looks amazingly bright. i personally dont have an lpm but mine is amazing. also some matches dont work well (i think mine were just old. just buy some new ones and they will work great. worked for me). the beam of mine shows up very slightly in a lit room and not very bright but definitely noticable in a semi-dark room. i have yet to try it at night. has anyone been able to take it apart? i saw other threads about the "cute" model lasers and they were able to get theirs apart to fix the slightly loose focus ring. no matter how hard i try to turn the top counter-clockwise, it won't budge.

 

[srinag]

i bought the same o-like 250mw you did. i just recieved it today. so far mine lights matches instantly (without having to charge the battery) and it looks amazingly bright. i personally dont have an lpm but mine is amazing. also some matches dont work well (i think mine were just old. just buy some new ones and they will work great. worked for me). the beam of mine shows up very slightly in a lit room and not very bright but definitely noticable in a semi-dark room. i have yet to try it at night. has anyone been able to take it apart? i saw other threads about the "cute" model lasers and they were able to get theirs apart to fix the slightly loose focus ring. no matter how hard i try to turn the top counter-clockwise, it won't budge.

Man! That is nice. 313mW in single mode red (650nm) will smoke a lot of stuff around the house. That beam should be somewhat visible in daylight with dust in the air. I hope mine is at that power!!!:wave:

Got it to work!!!!!!
Just received the batteries and charger today and the moment I used the battery supplied by them, it became powerful and was able to light the match stick.

The Duracell batteries that I bought first to test the laser is only 3V, whereas the one sent by O-like is 3.7V. So when I popped the new batteries in, it worked like magic

Next, will look into building a 1w blue handheld!!

 

[Heirophant]

I'm thinking of buying one of these ... it's a good price for an above-average powered 650nm. and I currently have no red lasers ... i dont care bout burning so much , more into the beam visibility at night and whatever...

 

[david1235102]

well i don't see it on o-like's site anymore. but for $5 more than what i paid, you can get a 300mW one. BUT i must warn you: mine just broke. The diode is fine but the focus ring slips and doesnt stay in place. It won't let me focus on anything past about 1 inch in front of the aperture. When i try to focus it past there, it just slips back. I have only had it for a little more than a week.
Just don't open the front to try to fix the focus ring. It is a little loose, but it will work unless you try to make it work better (like i tried to do). I have messaged Susie asking if i could send it back for another; i'm waiting for a reply.
Other than that, it really is a very very good laser. The threads on the battery cap are very smooth and the entire host feels very sturdy and high quality. It is also very small and can easily fit in a pocket. Its battery life i'm guessing would be around 45min-75min.... i used it a lot for a few days before it began to get dim.

 

[Heirophant]

Yeah, I think i'm going to get the 300mW one ... thanks for the info.
I don't try to mod/fix lasers---i'd break stuff !
I will leave that to the experts here ...

 

[Vega]

pics of the beam would be great!

 

[Heirophant]

yes I want to see beam shots, also, preferably outside, in middle of night ...
I myself will take some after I get mine if no one else will ...
stay tuned .

 

[david1235102]

Yeah, I think i'm going to get the 300mW one ... thanks for the info.
I don't try to mod/fix lasers---i'd break stuff !
I will leave that to the experts here ...

good idea. make sure you buy safety glasses though. i originally only wanted it for the beam too; but burning is sooo fun lol

 

[david1235102]

http://laserpointerforums.com/f52/o-like-cute-250mw-650nm-red-laser-review-ol-cr-250-a-58900.html
i have 2 beamshots (indoors) at this link. i will work on some outdoor beamshot pics

 

[LethalLight]

Well, slow-like (o-like) finally got my laser out to me yesterday. It took them like 1 week just to ship it out, but I suppose, for the price, I cannot complain.

The laser appears to be well made and as such, I was quite anxious just to see what the beam or spot looked like without the stock battery in its full state of charge from the box. The beam is very bright and the red "dot" is bloody blinding looking in a dark room in an unfocused setting. I did purchase the glasses as a safety precaution for this. I will evaluate it more and perhaps get some beam shots on a fully-charged battery. Also, I was able to get the laser into a very tight focus! It was very easy to do, though, I did not attempt to burn anything yet.

As far as the 300 mW laser they are now selling, who knows, may be they read these forums and saw that the 250 mW overspec model was putting out about 317 mW from one user. Perhaps they just re-labelled the device on their site and charged an extra $5:thinking:

 

[Emc2]

Ok, I got my red 300mW laser in from O-Like today...I'll post some images and videos soon. So far I really like it.

Todd

 

[LethalLight]

Well, I don't trust cheap Lithium batteries from overseas. The 3.7 Volt battery of nominal 1,000 mAh capacity (more than likely about 700-800 mAh in actual) looks ok, but I don't trust it nor do I trust the wall charger that came with it. I took the wall charger apart and looked at its components. They seem decent, but there were no instructions at all on how it operates. So, I got the bright (depends on who you talk to) idea of powering the laser with AA 2,500 mAh NiMH batteries.

The AA 2,500 mAh NiMH batteries that I use in my transmitters for R/C have given me great results and I have a charger that can charge 4 of them within 15 or so minutes. I took a Voltage reading on the stock lithium battery and it was giving me a steady 3.7 Volts. I *believe* these will top-off at about 4.10 Volts? At any rate, I know the AA NiMH batteries peak at about 1.35-1.37 Volts right off of the charger. So, if they settle down as NiMH batteries normally due without load to about 1.3 Volts, then in order to get to 4 Volts, I would need at least 3 of them in series. I decided to go with 4 of them. So, 1.3 Volts x 4 is 5.20 Volts! I am not 100% sure how the clicky-type switch in the back broke from the kit laser, but it did. I went down to Home Depot and picked-up a rod of copper in 1/2" diameter. I cut this to length to fit (tightly) 4 AA batteries in series, making sure the negative end of the "pack" was closest to the laser. I then used some electrical tape to increase the overall diameter of the copper rod to fit very snuggly in the host, while I used an insulated wire with both copper ends exposed as a jumper wire. I confirmed the laser host's casing is negative ground. I rubber banded one end down to the host's exposed aluminum threads, while the other was bent in a "spring manner" to simulate a push button switch at the positive end of the 4S battery "pack". Voila! So far, so good. The laser is very bright. I could see the faint red laser beam outside at night, in a very cold, very clear, dry, full-moon night. Inside, the beam can light-up a room that is dark such that I can use the laser "pen" as a flashlight. I haven't tried burning anything yet, but the beam spread appears to be exceptionally tight at long range outside! Very cool!