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Okay, I haven't ever reviewed a LPM before, so I'll try and be as complete with my assessment as I possibly can be. I also don't have another LPM to compare to, so we'll see how it goes.
First off, I can't directly speak to the shipping time because for the past 3 weeks I've been traveling for work. This showed up while I was away, and I have no direct recollection of exactly when it DID come in. I do have a very faint remembering of it being pretty quick however.
The packaging was more than sufficient, and I was surprised as to how light it actually all was.
So far so good!
Let me start with some pictures.
This is what came in the packaging:
When I put the battery in, I did find that it was incredibly hard to get one of the terminals to fit, just because it was a brand new 9V connector and hadn't been "worn in" yet.
Looking at the top, we have the "Zero Adjust"
Basically, because the ambient room temperature can vary, you use the 0-adjust to make the LPM read 0 after leaving it on for a minute or two to acclimate to the room. Calibration and all that stuff.
Here it is, in all of it's glory with the power turned on and the zero-adjust set.
This is the actual thermopile with heatsink.
Overall construction seems really well done. It doesn't seem flimsy, I don't worry about putting it into the case with the rest of my laser odds and ends.
Now onto performance.
This was a hard one for me to measure, simply because I don't have a direct comparison for input, etc.
Here's what I can say:
It seems low. The outputs measured all seem quite a bit lower than other registered values I've seen in the past.
For example:
I have a 200mW green laser made by Sky Lasers. It's a PGL style gold one (some of you might remember, it's also linked in my signature)
Anyway, the measured output of that laser was around 250mW with a peak of 280mW.
On this LPM, that exact same laser has problems breaking 130mW after warming up.
Another laser I have, my oLike 300mW 650nm laser... It's rated at 300mW and most reviews I've seen to date suggest the exact same. I get maybe 210mW measured on the LPM.
In fact, just about every laser I measure is showing a vast lowering of what the suspected output power actually is.
Here's the question I have.
What are the procedures for PROPERLY LPM'ing a laser?
I took the oLike red laser and when I spread the beam out, the power level drops. When I focus it a little bit, the power level increases. (Makes sense, it's reading temperature)
So logically it seems that the beam should be a specific size for appropriate power output readings.
What is that size? How far away should the laser be? etc.
That all being said:
Here are more pics.
Overall impressions:
I love this thing. It's just very well built, (which is awesome considering it's made by hand) and I really do like the quality. It's not super "pretty" but it doesn't have to be. It's science folks! lol
The 2 disappointments are:The laser readings and the Zero-Adjust.
The readings: I really think I'm doing something wrong because there's *NO* way that my gold laser, which has been measured with an output of over 280mW isn't breaking 130mW. There's something very wrong there. (No it's not the batteries lol)
Also, when I LPM a 5mW pointer (various pointers that are all supposed to be 5mW or less) the meter doesn't even move. That's the only reason I suspect it might not be either as sensitive as I'm hoping or it's reading something incorrectly.
I don't blame the LPM yet though. I am willing to accept that everything else with the scenario is wrong first - mostly that I'm doing something incorrectly, but I'm curious to see what everyone else's thoughts are.
The Zero Adjust: What happens or where I have a problem is that the LPM always shows .001 (1mw) no matter how far I turn the zero adjust. I let it sit and acclimate for a few minutes (4 or 5) and it never actually quite makes it to 0. I have to sit it near a cold window to get it to drop to 0 properly, which drives me a little batty lol. (I'm totally OCD about it)
So those are my very minor gripes about it - nothing really wrong - again I could be mis-using it somehow, but from what I've read I don't believe I am.
As a side note, when I realized that this thing works off of heat, it turns out my thumb is 200mW.
Thought you would want to know ;-)
First off, I can't directly speak to the shipping time because for the past 3 weeks I've been traveling for work. This showed up while I was away, and I have no direct recollection of exactly when it DID come in. I do have a very faint remembering of it being pretty quick however.
The packaging was more than sufficient, and I was surprised as to how light it actually all was.
So far so good!
Let me start with some pictures.
This is what came in the packaging:
When I put the battery in, I did find that it was incredibly hard to get one of the terminals to fit, just because it was a brand new 9V connector and hadn't been "worn in" yet.
Looking at the top, we have the "Zero Adjust"
Basically, because the ambient room temperature can vary, you use the 0-adjust to make the LPM read 0 after leaving it on for a minute or two to acclimate to the room. Calibration and all that stuff.
Here it is, in all of it's glory with the power turned on and the zero-adjust set.
This is the actual thermopile with heatsink.
Overall construction seems really well done. It doesn't seem flimsy, I don't worry about putting it into the case with the rest of my laser odds and ends.
Now onto performance.
This was a hard one for me to measure, simply because I don't have a direct comparison for input, etc.
Here's what I can say:
It seems low. The outputs measured all seem quite a bit lower than other registered values I've seen in the past.
For example:
I have a 200mW green laser made by Sky Lasers. It's a PGL style gold one (some of you might remember, it's also linked in my signature)
Anyway, the measured output of that laser was around 250mW with a peak of 280mW.
On this LPM, that exact same laser has problems breaking 130mW after warming up.
Another laser I have, my oLike 300mW 650nm laser... It's rated at 300mW and most reviews I've seen to date suggest the exact same. I get maybe 210mW measured on the LPM.
In fact, just about every laser I measure is showing a vast lowering of what the suspected output power actually is.
Here's the question I have.
What are the procedures for PROPERLY LPM'ing a laser?
I took the oLike red laser and when I spread the beam out, the power level drops. When I focus it a little bit, the power level increases. (Makes sense, it's reading temperature)
So logically it seems that the beam should be a specific size for appropriate power output readings.
What is that size? How far away should the laser be? etc.
That all being said:
Here are more pics.
Overall impressions:
I love this thing. It's just very well built, (which is awesome considering it's made by hand) and I really do like the quality. It's not super "pretty" but it doesn't have to be. It's science folks! lol
The 2 disappointments are:The laser readings and the Zero-Adjust.
The readings: I really think I'm doing something wrong because there's *NO* way that my gold laser, which has been measured with an output of over 280mW isn't breaking 130mW. There's something very wrong there. (No it's not the batteries lol)
Also, when I LPM a 5mW pointer (various pointers that are all supposed to be 5mW or less) the meter doesn't even move. That's the only reason I suspect it might not be either as sensitive as I'm hoping or it's reading something incorrectly.
I don't blame the LPM yet though. I am willing to accept that everything else with the scenario is wrong first - mostly that I'm doing something incorrectly, but I'm curious to see what everyone else's thoughts are.
The Zero Adjust: What happens or where I have a problem is that the LPM always shows .001 (1mw) no matter how far I turn the zero adjust. I let it sit and acclimate for a few minutes (4 or 5) and it never actually quite makes it to 0. I have to sit it near a cold window to get it to drop to 0 properly, which drives me a little batty lol. (I'm totally OCD about it)
So those are my very minor gripes about it - nothing really wrong - again I could be mis-using it somehow, but from what I've read I don't believe I am.
As a side note, when I realized that this thing works off of heat, it turns out my thumb is 200mW.
Thought you would want to know ;-)
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