O-like product review

[RA_pierce]

First, I would like to say that Susie provides excellent customer service. Questions are answered honestly and promptly.

Shipping takes about 7 days. Unfortunately, I missed the guy by literally 10 seconds and I had to go to the post office to pick up my contraband.

I ordered the new and improved, "firmer" Dilda and the >120mW 532 module.

Post office guy said, "Your address on your ID doesn't match the shipping address on the package. You have to pay a $1000 surcharge."

I laughed weakly at his joke.

On to the review:

FirmDilda:

It comes with two rechargeable CR2 batteries and charger.
Price is great.

Appearance and construction:
Black anodized aluminum? I think so. I haven't tried scratching it yet.
I chose this over the old Dilda because this one does not resemble an anodized phallus.
The click is a forward clicky- I think. It's the one where it turns on when you depress the switch rather than when you release it. Clicky is soft, but sturdy.
Focusing the laser is pretty smooth, but sometimes a little rough and wobbly. It works.
I wish the laser head was the same diameter as the body. It looks cleaner that way. I like that it runs on CR2s. They are small but last a long time.

Beam characteristics:
Divergence doesn't really apply here since it is focusable, but when focus is set to infinity (as close to zero divergence I can get) the divergence is less than 0.6mRad.
Beam at aperture is large- about 5.5mm. This laser can be focused to burn objects up to about 40 feet. I haven't really measured further. I'm lazy.
The beam is elliptical and has the dashed line through the center.
When I get my Laserbee power meter I will update this with power measurements.
It is about as bright as a 20-30mW green laser, as others have described. Power seems stable.

Bottom line:

Does it perform as advertised? Yes
Does it meet expectations? Yes
Is it impressive? Yes
Do I like it? Yes
Would I recommend it? Yes
Does it exceed expectations? No


120-150mW 532nm Module:

Price is great.

Construction:
I don't want to tear it up just yet so I can't provide pictures of the guts.
Solid construction, good heat-sinking, and I think it has a glass lens.
No IR filter. Fine with me.
It's a little longer than I would have liked, so I filed off a few millimeters from the front to make it fit better in a Galileo body.
Pump diode looks like 5.6mm (probably) open can 500mW.

Beam characteristics:
Beam diameter at aperture is small (1mm).
Divergence, as far as I'm concerned, sucks (1.5mRad). I'm feeling really lazy today and pretty content, though, so I won't bother adjusting divergence and replacing lenses now.
Visually, the beam is identical to my >100mW G105. Burning characteristics are also identical. I am sure this is outputting at least 120mW. Real power measurements will be provided when I get my Laserbee power meter.
Output seems stable. Stays in TEM00. In a Galileo body it runs stable for at least 3 minutes. I have not tested it for much longer than that, yet.

Bottom line:

Does it perform as advertised? Yes
Does it meet expectations? Yes
Is it impressive? Yes
Do I like it? Yes
Would I recommend it? Yes
Does it exceed expectations? No

Overall, the products are great, and Susie is easy to deal with. Transactions are smooth and communication is great.

Here is a video of burning ability and some pictures.

This video is still processing so the quality sucks.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ1c8r_G7Cw[/media]

 

[randomlugia]

Nice review, I really like the last picture.

 

[realista]

thanks!

 

[nikokapo]

Thanks for the input! Great help

Oh, how much power is that 808nm burner ?

 

[RA_pierce]

Thanks for the input! Great help

Oh, how much power is that 808nm burner ?

It's only 500mW.
The titles are positioned over the burned spots so it's kinda difficult to read.
I'm working on a 2W at the moment.

 

[XCreedX]

Nice review. Can you still buy those Galileo hosts? I asked laserglow said they would sell one to me for 40 bucks, IMO that's a little steep.

 

[mauswiesel]

I chose this over the old Dilda because this one does not resemble an anodized phallus.

Really ? ;D ;D ;D

Interesting review , im impressed about the power of the 808 nm and 532; do you buy it at o-like.com ? i can't find it (the 808 nm one)

 

[RA_pierce]

I chose this over the old Dilda because this one does not resemble an anodized phallus.

Really ?  ;D ;D ;D

Interesting review   , im impressed about the power of the 808 nm and 532; do you buy it at o-like.com ? i can't find it (the 808 nm one)  

The 532 is from O-like. I bought the module and stuck it in the Galileo host like my old X105.
The 808 is a C-mount diode built into a CNI pen replicating the CNI mounting design. I have one that uses the stock CNI diode and driver too.
2W 808 in the works!

 

[mauswiesel]

Can you tell more about the optic to focalize (to infinite ?) your cmount ? you used the one from the mounting design and place them into a pen ?
how much do you pay for your CNI c mounted ?

 

[RA_pierce]

Can you tell more about the optic to focalize (to infinite ?) your cmount ? you used the one from the mounting design and place them into a pen ?
how much do you pay for your CNI c mounted ?  

The one with the stock CNI diode is just an X50 with the crystals removed. For this one, I used an Aixiz glass to focus the beam. Focal point is at 3 inches from aperture. It was an easy modification.

The other uses a regular c-mount diode that I filed down to fit into the host. To collimate this one, I used two short focal length lenses, one of which is adjustable. The focal point can be adjusted between 2-7 inches. I made a crude copy of the mounting setup that CNI uses to mount the diode in their green lasers.

Divergence on both is poor because of the nature of multimode diodes. To get better results, a more complicated setup with cylindrical lenses would be necessary.