Photonic Disruptor, does it justify the price?

[xJumper]

Well im in the same batch as all the other Wicked hatters here as nothing they make is good (their goggles don't count because they don't make them). But here's another thing they don't make so im assuming its probably not some underpowered/overpriced piece of shit.

It is the Photonic Disruptor http://www.wickedlasers.com/lasers/Photonic_Disruptor-65-3.html

Many of you may have seen it before, and think WOW! 600$ for a 100mW laser =  rip off

But I dug deeper and tried to understand what  makes it 600$

First off, for the Pros

First off it's actually 105mW and its probably over spec so that alone bites a fair 200$, now some of you may think Wicked Lasers being over spec??!??! Are you crazy!

Well see the thing is that its not made by WL, their only the distributor, its actually made by Xads in the US of A so not made in China. (WL is only trying to make people believe they made it)

Next unlike most laser made of brass its made of some sturdy aluminum  (second hand sources outside of WL verified this) and it's fully waterproof + o-rings and all and has a nice tail cap that can except lanyard.  A rubber sleeve encases it and the button for even more waterproofness and extra foam padding inside ensures durability.


Next as you may have seen it has an adjustable lens to go from 1.5mRad to 7.5mRad and if you saw their video you can see how it does help in blinding a suspect. This lens that expands the beam can also colimate it at first few cm to make a good burner.


Now for the Cons


I would think that this would be a laser you could keep on until you wanted it off but its still a simple Momentary On / Off Button unless you buy attachments from Xads and the duttie cycle is 100 sec on/10 off like most other lasers so its not something a soldier could keep on all night long.



Now do the advantages that this laser offers over a standard pen laser at the same output really justify the extra 400$ you would be paying?

 

[maxkillz]

you can mod a laser to do all that for considerably less than $400

 

[artix]

It's a 100mW laser with a coating of rubber, a few o-rings and limited focusing abilities. They should sell it for a MAXIMUM price of $300. But knowing wicked... :

But I do remember they once had a sale and the price was $300.

 

[xJumper]

Like I said it's not made by Wicked Lasers it's made by Xads a company in the USA and if you go to their shop and buy it retail its 799 that's right 800 USD for that thing. So surprisingly WL is selling cheeper!

 

[RA_pierce]

Yeah, and even if they are sold by Xads for $800, what wicked sells are probably the rejects or clones of an original.

It has been said, a laser can be modified to do all that for MUCH less.

Now I'm going to spam every WL thread with this.

 

[SuicideKing]

The price isn't in the hardware, it's in all the testing Xads did to get it certified as a "Non-Lethal" "Non-Damaging", defensive laser weapon.
Xads could care less if individuals want to buy one or two units; The company did all the testing and jumped through all the regulatory hoops so they could sell thousands of units to the Military and local police departments. -These are the same fine institutions that pay almost double retail price for a 9mm Beretta sidearm.

Photonic Disruptor / Laser Dazzler
Cannot physically damage the eye, even at close range, but still must be effective at long range.
Must have zero IR output (not a "little", not a "smidge", but absolute zero)
Must be waterproof (dunk proof)
Idiot proof.
Corrosion resistant.
Survive multiple 12 foot drop tests onto pavement.
Operate on both rechargeable and commonly available battery types. (try finding a CR123 Lithium battery in an Iraqi 7-11).
Casing and contents must be certified not to rupture at pressurized and un-pressurized, high altitude.

-I could go on, there's dozens and dozens of stuff you have to comply with if you want to sell to the military and the sale price of the item is going to reflect those incurred costs. I remember reading about $200 dollar toilet seats the Pentagon bought and how it supposedly reflected on bad accounting/purchasing in government, but what they probably didn't say, was how hard it was to find or make a toilet seat that fulfilled all the government/military regulations and specifications.

 

[Ace82]

Any laser could be modified this way. It's just a typical wicked price. Like I always say, they hype it up and misslead people who don't know any better. Probably has a bitchen housing though.

 

[xJumper]

I think King pretty much said it all, I never thought about it that way. All that testing and crap to have it approved, but one question remains.


How can you build a 100mW+ laser that cannot be harmful at all? If they mean when it's used properly meaning properly un-focused then I get that but under normal 1.5mRad, 100mW will cause damage...

 

[frogger]

its easy for wicked to build a laser that won't harm, it will just be underpowered like most of their units...

 

[SuicideKing]

I think King pretty much said it all, I never thought about it that way. All that testing and crap to have it approved, but one question remains.


How can you build a 100mW+ laser that cannot be harmful at all? If they mean when it's used properly meaning properly un-focused then I get that but under normal 1.5mRad, 100mW will cause damage...

If I remember the white paper I read on the Dazzler (over a year ago), the green laser is more than just diffused or unfocused. It essentially has a full fledged beam expander built into it. I'm talking about the unit actually trademarked the "Laser Dazzler". The adjustable beam expander allows for a broad or narrow beam path that can be quickly adjusted by the user, sort of like the focus on a MagLight (I know, different optics, but the results are enough alike that any 17 year old Highschool graduate can make the beam wider or smaller, just like the flashlight he had at home). -The optics were set with a stop so you couldn't narrow the beam down to a "burn point".

Also, the "Dazzler" (at least the original one I read about), was strobeable for either 4 or 19 pulses per second.
-4 pulses per second, is said to be "soothing" and can calm down an agitated crowd; while 19 pulses per second, scrambles the brain and caused disorientation. -Something to do with a study on drunk drivers crashing into police cars. I think the old police cars had rotating red "cherry's" that flashed between 4 to 6 cycles per second and if a cop was pulled over to the side of the road on a traffic stop, that red light, flashing at 4 to 6 cycles a second would hypnotize passing drunk or sleepy drivers and they'd end up zoning out and homing in on it like a heat seeking missile. Now most cop cars strobe blue and white lights, alternating the timing between them. This way, people are less likely to fall into rythm with them and go zombie (or catch "white line fever", as my Pa used to call it).

When I first read about the Dazzler, I really wanted to make my own, but green lasers were just too expensive then.
I think I'll try to find the design details on it again and see about making a junior, pocket sized model using a 555 timer to create the right pulses. -no beam expander in my budget, but I do have the lens and zoom optics from a disposable film camera somewhere around here...







...I see a busy weekend coming up...