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Review on Laserpointerstore's Pocket LPM

hoo7h

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Full disclosure: I received this LPM free of charge for the purpose of reviewing it.
Hi All,
Today I am reviewing the 10W Pocket LPM by LaserPointerStore.
A little bit of history about this LPM:
The first version was released in August of 2017. To put in simple terms, it received a lot of negative feedback from the community. The main issue that was brought to attention was the smoking of the sensor’s coating with lasers running way below 15W. Fast forward to March 2018, a newly improved version was released. LPS decided that 15W was too ambitious, and the new version has maximum power reading of 10W. I will review it in this thread and compare some of the results with a professional grade (Ophir head I think) LPM from a near by school who allowed me to use their LPM. However, theirs is rated at a maximum of 3W, so only lasers lower than 3 watts were tested.

I received the package very well packed with a lot of bubble wrapping:



The LPM is smaller in real life than I thought. It is about the size of a pager from the olden days.



Here you can see the ON/OFF button and the sensor (covered with tape)


A micro-usb charging port:


The LPM came charged. Turning the device on, you can see the nice red backlight. If you are ordering one and use a lot of green, blue or purple lasers, make sure to get it in red, otherwise you won’t be able to see it with your protection glasses on (YES they should be on if you are using a 5mw< laser)


Starting off the test with a Sanwu pocket 488nm, advertised to output 60mw:

The meter gave stable reading of 52mw within 5 seconds in. Comparing it to my previous measurement using a professional LPM, this was a really nice result.

Next we have a 405nm BDR-209@530nm with a G9 lens:

A stable reading of 725mw compared to a previous reading of 745mw.

My new NDB7675 9mm 462nm running on my very old (2012) FMT V2 Boost Driver set to 1.5A:

A reading of 1312mw compared to a previous 1410mw reading.

Sanwu Guardian 1W 520nm:


Next up we have my N465nm set at 4.0A. One unfortunate thing about this laser is that it rolled off the table and fell after the test. The diode died :( but I still have a picture of the reading so hopefully it didn’t die in vain


Finally my NUBM44 with a G7 set to 4.5A:

It took about 20 seconds to stabilize

Final thoughts:
Overall this LPM performed very nicely in my opinion. It is small enough to really fit in my jeans but performs just fine even with 6W lasers. I have no idea how they managed to make something like that lol. I didn’t have any issues with the coating smoking, and as you can see below, there are no burning marks:

If you are buying this LPM as a hobbyist and looking for a fairly close estimate to how much power your laser is outputting, I would recommend this product. If you are an electrical engineer calibrating lasers for LASEK eye surgeries, then you may need to look for something else (that will cost more than 80 bucks).
 





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I just bought a Hyperion Aug, but I do like the size of that pocket meter.

Was 5.8w your final reading on your nubm44 ? What batteries do you have in your nubm44 unit ?
 
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Gazen

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Seems like they improved it. Do you have any lower power <10 mW lasers to test the sensitivity at low powers?
 
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Very nice review. I'm glad they were able to get a better version than the last one. I don't need another LPM, so I won't be buying it, but for someone on a budget, it could be a viable option. :thanks:
 
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Hi Nice review of different diodes.
@Red,
Yes I would like to know also about the low reading on the NUBM44 @4.5A. All mine at that Amperage read 6.8 or higher with a G2 lens. Is that the newer 44 or the older diode?? here are some pics of the first 44's DTR had sorry about the crappy pics. All my 44's are set to 4.5A no higher.

Rich:)
 

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I don't know what you would expect from an LPM that costs $80.00? The fact that it is in the ball park of so many diodes makes it pretty good for the price. If you want to measure lasers that go down in power to <1 mW, you will need another meter.
 
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BobMc

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Thanks for the review and the heads up. For the price, not to shabby at all. Thanks for the info. :gj:
 
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Hi Nice review of different diodes.
@Red,
Yes I would like to know also about the low reading on the NUBM44 @4.5A. All mine at that Amperage read 6.8 or higher with a G2 lens. Is that the newer 44 or the older diode?? here are some pics of the first 44's DTR had sorry about the crappy pics. All my 44's are set to 4.5A no higher.

Rich:)

Yes, I am most interested in reading the higher output diodes and I will sooner or later combine a pair of 44's, I have converged a pair and I like the result so I would like to get a read on 12-14 watts worth.

We are seeing and I have learned that falling below the driver minimum is not hard to do with inadequate batteries, so many times I have seen a build on YT with a pair of ultrafire cells and the burning video is weak. I have even seen people use a pair of 18350's which is not going to do well at all to power a nubm44.
 
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GSS

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Thanx hoo..
Just a little confused, are your stated previous reading from your good school unit or this pocket meter after a few tests?
Also wondering how this pocket meter will hold up to even just a moderate laser hobbiest's use. How many total runs are in it and will it last even a year? For $80 it should be more than just a close check of a laser someone just bought.:undecided:
Only way to find out I guess is if hoo7h were to use it frequently over a course of time or any member has had one and has used it frequently...
 
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Thanx hoo..
Just a little confused, are your stated previous reading from your good school unit or this pocket meter after a few tests?
Also wondering how this pocket meter will hold up to even just a moderate laser hobbiest's use. How many total runs are in it and will it last even a year? For $80 it should be more than just a close check of a laser someone just bought.:undecided:
Only way to find out I guess is if hoo7h were to use it frequently over a course of time or any member has had one and has used it frequently...

Well said. Durability is always a concern but when there's this type of heat involved it makes you wonder if this might just be a one hit wonder and then get tossed, especially with this product's history. Like you said, only way way to find out! :can:
 
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It's a hobbyist LPM for sure which with this report shows it's OK for that, but all of the professional units I have worked with separate the head or sensor from the circuit board electronics, otherwise the heat generated inside throws off the readings. However, for short usage maybe not so bad. I have seen a couple of so called professional LPM's which had a sensor on the back side to shoot into, with proper engineering you can make the internal electronics have less impact, but not the ideal setup.
 
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Nice review....

My concerns are that you mentioned a "professional
grade (Ophir head I think) LPM from a near by school".
I didn't see any side by side results or a pics of that
professional LPM nor do we know when that LPM was
last calibrated.

I mention that because years back we went to McGill
University's Laser Lab in Montreal to check the Calibration
of our LaserBee LPMs and found that the last time their
LPM was calibrated was ~20 years earlier. To say the
least that was very disappointing and disturbing.

Without a calibrated reference point the numbers on a
display are just that.

Logic dictates that if the product is in fact improved
you would send a free one for review to the original
reviewer that found it under par....:whistle:

Jerry
 
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GSS

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^^^^^^^This^^^^^^^ and some things Alaskan mentioned..
I'm sorry Tommy but at $80 i'm not seeing it.. Like I had said before 1/2 more money and i'm seeing a Laserbee unit. Something like $29.99 I can see.
Lasersbee gave a honest review last time "which wasn't all a bad rating" and I would definitely expect a honest review again for this upgraded unit. He has enough great reputation to not need to advertise for himself and steer people right on a tight budget.
In my little knowledge of electronics iv'e seen alot of built in battery's with USB ports not last and knowing any type of opening the unit to repair would void any warrentee.
Iv'e seen at least the sensor smoking issue has been worked on but unless someone tells me there's even close to $80 worth of good parts and materials in this unit I see a huge mark up from production costs.
Don't get me wrong the "pocket meter" thing is cool but not at that money and not enough at least a bit of stressful testing yet has been seen.
hoo7, I understand it was given to you and wanting to post positive about it but we really need to see some more before people go buying a product that just might not cut it:)
 
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I would never have put the sensor inside the case with the electronics for the meter. That being said, I looked over the OPs review again and the numbers he got for these lasers is not that far from what I would expect to see. As far as I know there is only the Hyperian Cuprum that costs $75 plus shipping of $25.00 that comes close to this in price and it only reads up to 2 watts. Everything else is double or more for a comparable meter. If you are looking for this to read low power lasers you are out of luck, but that is also the case of high power meters everywhere. Granted, my Scientech can read up to 10 watts and low powers, but only when using an isoperibole attachment. But, it is a professional LPM.
 




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