Optotronics RPL-II 532 nm +1400 mW - opinions and experience?

[Deleted member 10578]

$2842 discounted price for 800 mW peak? No, thanks... That is not reasonable even with 100 % duty cycle. The beam specs does not seem to approve that price IMO. Opto or JL seems much better choice to me. However there is a LED showing high temperature warning according to pics - usefull.

Still there might be some DIY external cooling added to prolong the duty cycle. I still consider it for summer nights, where the temperature might be limit for usual laserpainting times (let's say I might need even 20 mins of duty cycle in some cases). It will be my first summer with serious laserpainting art, so let's see.

BTW also I'm not sure what is true on rumors that Laserglow is not good company anymore. Likely because of the price of their products. I have no experience with them, so I cannot say... I just read it here.

Yes, for 100% duty cycle nothing beats a lab laser.
Quick story: One of my best customers who uses the RPL & RPLII for geese control has also recently started using our OEM 532nm 2W lab system for this purpose as well. The OEM units don't have cooling, so a big heat sink must be provided by the user as they are for OEM use. He built a large tower on his farm to use the system from and installed a large heatsink ( I imaging it's shaped like a big aluminum rifle, but not sure). He then got another and had me add a cigarette lighter adapter to it as the unit runs on 12V and uses it mounted on a heatsink from his truck. I need him to send me some pictures as for this one I imagine it like a WWII jeep with 50 cal. machine gun the cost of the 2W oem unit is only $100 more than the RPLII ($1600). He's trying to get the geese to change their migration pattern over time to avoid his property and it must be working as many of his neighbor farmers are also ordering the RPLII, but no one else has gone to the extent of tuck and tower mounting the oem system yet

 

[Radim]

Wow, that must be something. Laser machine gun. Thanks for sharing that, Jack.

Still as I mentioned I'm even module with heatsink and possibly fan or TEC with external battery could be option, but I consider it as too bulky.

Basically I use the lasers in two ways in laserpainting:

1. Static beam - where laser is in some fixed position during exposure - here is not a problem with external batery etc.
   
2. Dynamic beam - where I move on scene being painted with laser in hand and use it as a brush. Here if you consider I do it in night forest with all the terrain, bushes etc. and often with glasses on, therefore I see even less. I need something in one piece and easy to handle - basically portable laser.

So, portables are my preference not only for painting purposes, but also for fast handling as every minute spent during exposure costs me another minute when camera process the photo (and if sky is not clear also it costs me light pollution from sodium lamps captured on pic in addition). Now if I have 20 min exposure it is 40 mins in total just for one pic. Plus preparation of composition for that pic, safe zones exploration, scene and beyond safety check and detering the wild life if any (there are usually no people in night forest, but I take care), waiting for window in air traffic, etc... Some of these steps I do also during waiting for processing but still it is not enough as some need to be repeated just before and during exposure. If you consider I usually do it after work and additional time to get to place, to prepare stuff pack it back and return home etc. If I do like 4 paintings per night it is a lot. Every minute counts and I have not much time to spend with unnecessary gear handling. Therefore everything what can be prepared home is prepared home, on site lasers are ordered by spectrum and power, armed and ready to use. I have also various accessories for lasers at one place and if there are more spots on scene where gear is needed I keep related stuff needed near that particular place. This is the only way I'm aware of to keep handling time on minimum and spend as much as possible of it on making the paintings and enjoying art creation.

When I make more complex artwork, also I prepare list of steps I need to do before and usually it also include purposes to get more safety and reduce time needed for switching the gear, optics etc. So it is not just pointing laser at some place take a shot and go a lot has to be done for each laserpainting what is basically behind the scenes, but I still improve in my techniques.

BTW that price of LG was for their portable laser. It seems to be much larger than RPL/II host, so it could possibly handle even more power than 800 mW even with some duty cycle. Just the price... If that is for package of three lasers or two plus some other lower model, that would make sense.

Edit: And thanks, Alex. I think I need better beam specs for high powered 532 nm than my current Sky Lasers dilda as it is kind of flashlight when pointing on sky IMO. That is not bad as in close range it is not a problem and as it is focusable I also use it to paint "blobs" of exactly defined size what is a very nice effect. Just like on my latest artwork The Surreal World. The horizontal lines on the tree and blobs are that same 532 nm 800 mW Sky Lasers dilda. Another 532 nm on left side of the tree branches as in background is painted WL EVO - 100 mW, just to make it clear.

 

[Shakenawake]

super bummed about the RPLs. my old one had some problems, sent it for fixing. it used to be a 450mW one, getting back a 400ish mW one, and now I hear the divergence is inferior. had the oppertunity to trade up for a big discount on one of these new 1400mW units but was too tight on cash, and still am, to take it. oh well

 

[Deleted member 10578]

super bummed about the RPLs. my old one had some problems, sent it for fixing. it used to be a 450mW one, getting back a 400ish mW one, and now I hear the divergence is inferior. had the oppertunity to trade up for a big discount on one of these new 1400mW units but was too tight on cash, and still am, to take it. oh well

Hi Shakenawake,
Your replacement was shipped and will be to you on Friday.
I do want to make some clarifications.
It was never an RPL-450.
Let me explain to the forum:
This is a long story, longest and most number of emails in our history and hopefully over now.
In the summer of 2014 I was contacted about an RPL450 laser that he had bought from someone other than us that was not working. It had no labels on it saying it's output rating as we put on both the outside and inside serial number label.

He sent it to me and it output about 150mw. I did see labels inside but they were not optotronics labels. I carefully removed each as there were 3 of them. The bottom one was our label and the section at the top with the power rating was cutoff; however the our serial number remained and I looked it up. It was an RPL-400 sold to a fellow in Montana in 2008 (so it was already 6 years old in 2014). Shakenawake told me he got it from a fellow in europe by another name, so he was at least the 3rd hand owner.

Told him repairs would be ~$200 plus return shipping and I would send it back for repair to China along with other items at no shipping cost to him if he was not in a hurry as I usually send things back every 2-3 months and another 1lb is no big deal. Well, time passed and after 5 months with no failures to send back he decided to pay for shipping to get it fixed ($50) that would be added to his bill when it was done. I was billed for the repair when I sent it back and I paid the shipping cost.
After several months and chinese new year the unit ended up lost or misplaced and a new one would be sent within a short time and I told him to send me $266 (200 for repair, 50 for shipping to china and $16 for shipping back to him from Colorado. I believe I asked a 2nd time for payment as I had the laser ready and we talked back and forth about upgrade to the new over 1W version. Payment never arrived and after about 5 months I sold the replacement they sent to recoupe my funds. He contacted us again and I ordered a new unit, but this time requested payment up front for the repair. It arrived a few weeks ago, but was only about 200-250mw and had beam flair so it was returned and just this week came back and looked about as good as it's going to get. I added a new battery for free (don't even remember if battery or keys were sent with it as it was so long ago.

In the end, I made no money directly from shakenawake (but I did with the original sale to the fellow in Montana 8 years ago) I was also out $250 for probably about a year (i would need to go thru about 75 emails or more back and forth) and tossed in a new battery for free.

I fell I did the best I could in this situation and whoever told him it was an RPL-450 lied, or was lied to by the other person they got if from 2nd or 3rd hand. There was mention in early emails that it output 600-700mw or more, but I've never seen one do that, perhaps it was modified by one of the owners down the line and doing such a mod on something designed for less will shorten it's life considerably.

At one point I think shakenawake was wondering if he was out his laser and I was out my $250, but I felt confident he would get it back and would have had it back along time ago had payment been made in December of 2015 when first requested, but there may have been a misunderstanding on his part or maybe didn't read that part of the message. I got payment in early February of this year and laser will be at his door on Friday.
Glad it's over before one of us got too old and died

 

[Radim]

Guys, that is a very long and complicated story. Hopefully the case is closed finally. Best of luck to both of you.

 

[NightExplorer96]

As long as a company provides quality products at fair market value, excellent customer service and a good range of choices for their customers then it's all good in my book! Even if they only sell one item, the above first 2 mentions are what make or break it for me

-Alex

 

[Shakenawake]

Hi Shakenawake,
Your replacement was shipped and will be to you on Friday.
I do want to make some clarifications.
It was never an RPL-450.
Let me explain to the forum:
This is a long story, longest and most number of emails in our history and hopefully over now.
In the summer of 2014 I was contacted about an RPL450 laser that he had bought from someone other than us that was not working. It had no labels on it saying it's output rating as we put on both the outside and inside serial number label.

He sent it to me and it output about 150mw. I did see labels inside but they were not optotronics labels. I carefully removed each as there were 3 of them. The bottom one was our label and the section at the top with the power rating was cutoff; however the our serial number remained and I looked it up. It was an RPL-400 sold to a fellow in Montana in 2008 (so it was already 6 years old in 2014). Shakenawake told me he got it from a fellow in europe by another name, so he was at least the 3rd hand owner.

Told him repairs would be ~$200 plus return shipping and I would send it back for repair to China along with other items at no shipping cost to him if he was not in a hurry as I usually send things back every 2-3 months and another 1lb is no big deal. Well, time passed and after 5 months with no failures to send back he decided to pay for shipping to get it fixed ($50) that would be added to his bill when it was done. I was billed for the repair when I sent it back and I paid the shipping cost.
After several months and chinese new year the unit ended up lost or misplaced and a new one would be sent within a short time and I told him to send me $266 (200 for repair, 50 for shipping to china and $16 for shipping back to him from Colorado. I believe I asked a 2nd time for payment as I had the laser ready and we talked back and forth about upgrade to the new over 1W version. Payment never arrived and after about 5 months I sold the replacement they sent to recoupe my funds. He contacted us again and I ordered a new unit, but this time requested payment up front for the repair. It arrived a few weeks ago, but was only about 200-250mw and had beam flair so it was returned and just this week came back and looked about as good as it's going to get. I added a new battery for free (don't even remember if battery or keys were sent with it as it was so long ago.

In the end, I made no money directly from shakenawake (but I did with the original sale to the fellow in Montana 8 years ago) I was also out $250 for probably about a year (i would need to go thru about 75 emails or more back and forth) and tossed in a new battery for free.

I fell I did the best I could in this situation and whoever told him it was an RPL-450 lied, or was lied to by the other person they got if from 2nd or 3rd hand. There was mention in early emails that it output 600-700mw or more, but I've never seen one do that, perhaps it was modified by one of the owners down the line and doing such a mod on something designed for less will shorten it's life considerably.

At one point I think shakenawake was wondering if he was out his laser and I was out my $250, but I felt confident he would get it back and would have had it back along time ago had payment been made in December of 2015 when first requested, but there may have been a misunderstanding on his part or maybe didn't read that part of the message. I got payment in early February of this year and laser will be at his door on Friday.
Glad it's over before one of us got too old and died

this is accurate. I didn't mean to be a pain or insinuate any wrongdoing on your part Jack. I bought it originally from the member here, DJNY

Edit: recieved it today. disappointed with the black finish. there is no knurling on the handle, no optoronics logo, and it no longer has a variable power tail cap. output seems ok. it's strange, the warning sticker now says it emits both invisible and visible radiation, indicating no IR filter, which I thought they did have. I tested it with some glasses I have that don't block IR, about 5-6mW got through, the total output was around 450mW when I did this. I guess that's ok. just kinda bummed about the whole thing, wish I had bought a PL-E instead, but here I am

 

[Deleted member 10578]

this is accurate. I didn't mean to be a pain or insinuate any wrongdoing on your part Jack. I bought it originally from the member here, DJNY

Edit: recieved it today. disappointed with the black finish. there is no knurling on the handle, no optoronics logo, and it no longer has a variable power tail cap. output seems ok. it's strange, the warning sticker now says it emits both invisible and visible radiation, indicating no IR filter, which I thought they did have. I tested it with some glasses I have that don't block IR, about 5-6mW got through, the total output was around 450mW when I did this. I guess that's ok. just kinda bummed about the whole thing, wish I had bought a PL-E instead, but here I am

Hi Shankenawake,
If you want to buy an adjustable tailcap, contact me by email and it can be arranged. Don't worry about what their warning sticker says about visible and invisible radiation, they have always said this as far as I know. If only 5mw of IR is getting thru, I think that's pretty close to our spec as that would be only about 1%.

I don't even know what a PL-E is....I've been focusing mostly on laser systems sales since the cheap high power blue pointers came out as most the hobbyists were concerned only with total power and burning ability and not beam quality.
Did they have these PL-E lasers back in 2013 or whenever you bought the used RPL 3rd or 4th hand and how much you paid for a 5 year old used RPL-400 I have no idea if you got a good deal or not.
I do know there was not full disclosure of it's history, power and age by at least one of the previous owners if you didn't know it was only an RPL-400 and it was 1st sold to the fellow in Montana in October of 2008...All I know is that you got a broken laser fixed/replaced for $266 and a new free battery?

 

[Encap]

this is accurate. I didn't mean to be a pain or insinuate any wrongdoing on your part Jack. I bought it originally from the member here, DJNY

Edit: recieved it today. disappointed with the black finish. there is no knurling on the handle, no optoronics logo, and it no longer has a variable power tail cap. output seems ok. it's strange, the warning sticker now says it emits both invisible and visible radiation, indicating no IR filter, which I thought they did have. I tested it with some glasses I have that don't block IR, about 5-6mW got through, the total output was around 450mW when I did this. I guess that's ok. just kinda bummed about the whole thing, wish I had bought a PL-E instead, but here I am

Yesterday is long over and gone--never to return--all you can do is work with what is now
and how you you can attempt to shape the future in a way you might enjoy more than yesterday.
Simple solution --sell it if you are not 100% happy with it.
It is a brand new 532nm Opto450 which has a retail price tag of $1258.
Not a bad deal for $266 spent with Optotronics!
You can probably get back whatever you have in it and buy a JetLasers PLE Pro or an PL-E mini 532nm

 

[Razako]

Hi Shankenawake,
If you want to buy an adjustable tailcap, contact me by email and it can be arranged. Don't worry about what their warning sticker says about visible and invisible radiation, they have always said this as far as I know. If only 5mw of IR is getting thru, I think that's pretty close to our spec as that would be only about 1%.

I don't even know what a PL-E is....I've been focusing mostly on laser systems sales since the cheap high power blue pointers came out as most the hobbyists were concerned only with total power and burning ability and not beam quality.
Did they have these PL-E lasers back in 2013 or whenever you bought the used RPL 3rd or 4th hand and how much you paid for a 5 year old used RPL-400 I have no idea if you got a good deal or not.
I do know there was not full disclosure of it's history, power and age by at least one of the previous owners if you didn't know it was only an RPL-400 and it was 1st sold to the fellow in Montana in October of 2008...All I know is that you got a broken laser fixed/replaced for $266 and a new free battery?

PL-E's are the flagship portable laser produced by Jetlasers.
http://laserpointerforums.com/f45/s-here-800mw-532nm-pl-e-pro-98743.html

 

[Shakenawake]

Hi Shankenawake,
If you want to buy an adjustable tailcap, contact me by email and it can be arranged. Don't worry about what their warning sticker says about visible and invisible radiation, they have always said this as far as I know. If only 5mw of IR is getting thru, I think that's pretty close to our spec as that would be only about 1%.

I don't even know what a PL-E is....I've been focusing mostly on laser systems sales since the cheap high power blue pointers came out as most the hobbyists were concerned only with total power and burning ability and not beam quality.
Did they have these PL-E lasers back in 2013 or whenever you bought the used RPL 3rd or 4th hand and how much you paid for a 5 year old used RPL-400 I have no idea if you got a good deal or not.
I do know there was not full disclosure of it's history, power and age by at least one of the previous owners if you didn't know it was only an RPL-400 and it was 1st sold to the fellow in Montana in October of 2008...All I know is that you got a broken laser fixed/replaced for $266 and a new free battery?

yeah, that much IR getting through doesnt concern me. I paid $900 for that RPL originally IIRC. DJNY told me it had been upgraded with regards to the crystals or something? hard to remember exactly. lemme see if I can find the thread. I am more than pleased with your efforts Jack, no resentment there. I actually did own a 700-800mW PL-E before the opto, but was unhappy with their divergence. this was before they offered them with beam expanders though. their raw divergence is around 2mrad, but they can do over 800mW, my old one peaked just under 1W. the whole point of getting the opto was I wanted <1.2mrad. I think with a BE, a PL-E pro could compete with an RPL, maybe surpass it, albeit at the expense of initial beam diameter

thanks for your help though, I'm sorry it dragged out so long. and thanks for the battery. I don't really need the variable power tailcap, it's just kinda nice to have. tbh I cant remember which cap i sent it with. I might have it laying around somewhere

here was the original sale thread:

http://laserpointerforums.com/f39/s-o-l-d-83103-4.html

 

[paul1598419]

Just noticed this thread and read most of it. This is the Optotronics Dilda? Who named this thing. It doesn't take a vivid imagination to change the last letter in the name to a different vowel of this, unfortunately handheld, laser.

 

[Radim]

this is accurate. I didn't mean to be a pain or insinuate any wrongdoing on your part Jack. I bought it originally from the member here, DJNY

Edit: recieved it today. disappointed with the black finish. there is no knurling on the handle, no optoronics logo, and it no longer has a variable power tail cap. output seems ok. it's strange, the warning sticker now says it emits both invisible and visible radiation, indicating no IR filter, which I thought they did have. I tested it with some glasses I have that don't block IR, about 5-6mW got through, the total output was around 450mW when I did this. I guess that's ok. just kinda bummed about the whole thing, wish I had bought a PL-E instead, but here I am

Oh, sorry to hear that. And thanks for sharing your experience. Even I'm not very focussed on branded stuff, I do not need to have every shorts with name or logo of some manufacturer, with this laser I liked it a lot it carried Optotronics logo on it as showing it belongs to family of the best portables made. I know, it is a bit stupid thinking, but still decreases perceived value of the product for me somehow.

More problem for me is a missing knurling, what is a very good thing for practical use especially for laserpainting, when firm grip is needed.

IR radiation may also become more serious concern for RPL II with much higher power. Although IR does not come out colimated as 532 nm output, for laserpainting, where I use various optics elements, it is essential to keep it as low as possible. I of course have Univet goggles blocking also IR for use with my violet to green lasers. In addition I also use another much cheaper glasses (for better visibility, as Univet goggles has very low VLT) which do not block IR and often the eye protection cannot be used at all as I need to paint without them. In this case I need to be absolutely sure I'm in safe zone before I take them off. I cannot imagine how I would find out safe zones on scene if there is strong invisible beam somewhere (might even be concentrated at some place when extra optics is used). It limits use of this laser significantly for me.

 

[Shakenawake]

yeah the optotronics logo isnt a huge deal, I just liked it on the old one because it isnt a sticker, it's like a darkened part of the knurling. I'd hesitate to call them the best portables made. they have some downsides. like shutter design. I much prefer the shutter on my laserbtb unit

it's good enough for me. I'm mostly done with my laser collection

 

[Radim]

I'm still interested, after some time of searching a better option of this high power, there seems to be none on the market.

I also found the black version pics on LPF and candlepowerforums:

Here's my two best lasers...

The RPL 375 Green settles at 400mW's and the Blue 35 gets to 40mW's.
Jay

And here:

http://laserpointerforums.com/f39/optotronics-rpl-165-green-laser-sale-46879.html#post634538

Review of Optotronics RPL-Blue-20 Laser

So, who knows... One, as originally supposed, easy project at my work complicated itself a lot, looked to be failed, consumed enormous amount of time and now, it looks moving forward in right direction again, hopefully it is finished soon and I could reward myself potentially with this laser... That is my condition - to finish it and get the laser... After some time I started to like the black host...

 

[Alaskan]

As far as I know, that is the best highest power 532 nm pointer you can buy. I do like the black painted version much more.