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FrozenGate by Avery

Review: 50mW 532nm focalprice cheap laser with some pics

HIMNL9

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Hi, just arrived the cheap Focalprice laser that i had ordered a month ago, but trying it i found that it's not a good product, at least not my one, so decided to post here a review with some pics for show what i mean.

Arrived in a common bubble envelope, containing a well smashed and crushed thin cardboard little box (usual for my postal system ..... crushing well your items is the second main feature that Italian postal system have, the first one is the delay :p), but the laser was still integer ..... nothing to argue about this, cause they ship for free, and always ship in this way.

at first sight, it was looking not bad:

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but the external look is the only positive thing that it have ..... i placed two AA alkaline batteries in it, for check the power, and the side switch stopped to "click" ..... then i opened it, and found some problems:

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first, the module is a cheap version, bad assembled, also, it's shorter than the space where the module had to rest ..... the module is not fixed in any way in the front part, just slided in a plastic support, and originally, the front lens was around 2mm away from the front aperture, but inserting the batteries, the module spring displaced the module til the front cap, and slided away the switch from under the button (and in this position, ofcourse, it does not work :p) ..... by the way, as you can see, other than using a very cheap module type, the front part is machined really bad ..... scratches inside, and pieces of aluminium left in the finished product, are not that what i usually call "a good mechanical work" :p

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Also, the front lens is plastic, not glass, and kept in place with just a pair of spots of glue, badly appliqued, cause part of it is gone on the lens surface

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The front part of the cap is approximatively half millimeter of thickness, and have the signs of a "wobbling tool" (don't know how to call it technically in English, sorry ..... is when a tool or a piece is vibrating on a machine for too lack of clamping or bad alignment ..... machinists know probably what i mean ;)) ..... i don't know if this specific piece is badly worked for a defect, or if all of them are so, but also if this is a defective part, there's also another bad thing ..... the module is not heatsinked from the body, it's just slided freely in a plastic spacer, and the only part where the brass touch the aluminium is in front, also cause the hole in the front cap is 12,8mm diameter, where the module is 11,9mm diameter ..... there's half millimeter of air all around it, when it's aligned in the host, and half millimeter of air is not a good thermal conductor :p .....

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so, basicaly the module, when the battery spring push it against the front part, touch only in the small front ring that hold the lens ..... and considering that it become hot relatively quickly, i can say this unit can have a duty cycle of 20/30 seconds on/off, not more .....

I have also checked the power of the module, and it's peaking at 45mW, and resting at 39mW, after an IR filter (there's no IR filter in the laser, ofcourse, i just used mine for check the real power).

In conclusion, i can say it's a badly worked product, at least for the one that i've received ..... but, as i've said, mine can be defective ..... i have other 2 units still in order from Focalprice, and when they come here, i inspect also them ..... for the cost, if they are better than this one, it can also worth the expense, but if they are badly realized like this one, i end dismantling them and using the hosts for made another R G V matched set, and recycle the modules in a fixed heatsink for a mega-multibeam-lumia-wheel that i'm building for the front of my shop, so i can at least recycle the parts :p :D
 

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Too bad its build so crappy.

If you wanted it as a pointer, i suppose some thermal adhesive between module and head would improvove things.

That lens looks particularly cheap: doesnt even have threads for adjustmen, but just glued in place? I wonder how they even get it in the correct position like that.
 
The larger tube is threaded inside ..... the part that hold the lens is threaded where it make the "step" and screwed inside (where you see the other glue drops), they adjust the focus in this point ..... anyway, yes, it's a really cheap lens ..... it's not just a plastic lens, it also looks not AR coated, or at least, i can't see any of the usual colored reflexes that an AR coating produces on a lens (and i have also plastic lenses AR coated, so it's not impossible to make this).
 
..... crushing your items is the second main feature that Italian postal system have ...
:crackup: I thought this was really funny.

HIMNL9 - Thanks for the good review and for confirming that focalprice sells (some) poorly-made lasers. I am sure it will help people that were thinking about buying this laser decide not to. :cool:
 
mine arrived today and has no problems..power seems ok compared to my ledshoppe unit. i dont have an lpm to check the power but seems good
 
The one I recieved, looked like yours on the inside. It worked good after I cleaned the metal shavings out of it.....for about a week. The module still works, but the output is less than my weakest <5mW Ebayzer.

:gj: on the review
 
Reviving this only for add updates.

I just received the last 2 that i ordered (yes, today ..... another "short delay" :p), and they are differents from the first one, also if i've ordered from the same page and item number (probably different manufacturers). ..... arrived in bubble wraps, without any box or anything other :p

As you can see from the pics, these 2 comes with a lace and the "knurled" part near the head is different and more large than the first ..... also, the head is better finished inside (no scratches and aluminium pieces) ..... but the module and the assembly are totally differents.

The first one had just a plastic holder that keep the module in place, no contact with the positive case (so, basically not working, without made an external contact), nothing around the battery spring, and the module was not dismantleable (cannot unscrew the parts of the module) ..... these ones have the modules completely different, they are "pressed" inside a metal part, that is "pressed" (or glued, anyway don't come out) in the body ..... and the upper part of the modules are simply screwed to the rest, not glued ..... still poor quality lenses and crystals, anyway :p ..... also, the space inside the battery part seem too short for 2 AA batteries (but can depend from the fact that these ones have a ring of black foam around the spring) ..... the buttons are black, instead silver as the first one ..... they work without extra parts, opposite to the first one.

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For the cooking part :D ..... the first one had 39mw of medium output, after an IR filter, these two have 34 and 31 mW medium output, respectively, tested after my IR filter ..... also worse than the first one .....

And the worse part, for me, is that now i have 3 pieces that are not perfectly identical, so i have to find another one for complete the matched set that i had in mind, damn :( :( :( AAARGH !


EDIT: and i also forgot to attach the pics, grrrr .....


EDIT2: seeing the poor "half-opened" structure of the crystal holder and lower part of the module, i had a curiosity and decided to make one more test ..... i took away the focusing lens and checked how much IR this structure left leak out ..... as you can see in the pic, not good (I've reduced the luminosity of the camera, for not saturate the CCD, anyway, the scatered pink halos and the pink part is IR)

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Measuring the module without IR filter, keeping off the focusing lens, it push out (unfocused) 98mW at 10 cm from the sensor, and 107mW at 5cm from the sensor ..... placing back in position the focusing lens it still push out 59mW at 20cm from the sensor ..... these damn bad modules pushes out more IR than green ..... not the maximum for the safety, imho ..... i decisely recycle them as hosts :p
 

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lol, nice, I bought that too about 3 weeks ago, and I expecting it. I heard it is around 30mW by styropyro
 


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