Sanwu Spiker review

[Skans]

I received my 5W Spiker from Sanwu about 2 weeks ago. Time from order (May 15) to receipt of the laser was about 3 weeks. I still have not received the other part of my order, glasses and beam expander, which is odd, but I have been assured that it was shipped at the same time and should receive it shortly. Still, it's been almost a month now from the date I placed my order and still no expander or glasses.

First, let me say that the Spiker is an exceptionally made piece of hardware and functions perfectly. But, I wasn't sure at first, so here's the rest of the story.

I also ordered some batteries from an ebay vendor which arrived at about the same time my Spiker arrived. I charged the batteries (with the cheap charger that came with the batteries), inserted the batteries and fired up the laser - it fired up just fine, but after a few seconds, the beam would dim. I'd check the batteries in the battery charger and the light was green for both batteries. Well, I let them charge again, and the same thing would happen: Spiker fired up and was quite bright for several seconds, then dimmed substantially.

I suspected I could have a battery problem, even though I went to great lengths to try and pick an ebay vendor who sold good quality, new, genuine Efest batteries. As far as I could tell, the batteries were genuine - came boxed, with proper logos, color, scratch-off thing, etc.

So, I went to one of those Vape shops and bought two new batteries and a really good charger. After charging the new batteries, the Spiker worked like a champ! As far as I can tell, one of the two batteries I got wouldn't charge or held a very slight charge. The other battery was fine. The charger was junk, and the Nicore charger I got allowed me to figure out what was going on.

 

[diachi]

I received my 5W Spiker from Sanwu about 2 weeks ago. Time from order (May 15) to receipt of the laser was about 3 weeks. I still have not received the other part of my order, glasses and beam expander, which is odd, but I have been assured that it was shipped at the same time and should receive it shortly. Still, it's been almost a month now from the date I placed my order and still no expander or glasses.

First, let me say that the Spiker is an exceptionally made piece of hardware and functions perfectly. But, I wasn't sure at first, so here's the rest of the story.

I also ordered some batteries from an ebay vendor which arrived at about the same time my Spiker arrived. I charged the batteries (with the cheap charger that came with the batteries), inserted the batteries and fired up the laser - it fired up just fine, but after a few seconds, the beam would dim. I'd check the batteries in the battery charger and the light was green for both batteries. Well, I let them charge again, and the same thing would happen: Spiker fired up and was quite bright for several seconds, then dimmed substantially.

I suspected I could have a battery problem, even though I went to great lengths to try and pick an ebay vendor who sold good quality, new, genuine Efest batteries. As far as I could tell, the batteries were genuine - came boxed, with proper logos, color, scratch-off thing, etc.

So, I went to one of those Vape shops and bought two new batteries and a really good charger. After charging the new batteries, the Spiker worked like a champ! As far as I can tell, one of the two batteries I got wouldn't charge or held a very slight charge. The other battery was fine. The charger was junk, and the Nicore charger I got allowed me to figure out what was going on.

Guess I'll get to this before Cyp shows up and rips you a new one...

This isn't really a review - most of your post talks about batteries - nothing to do with Sanwu or the Spiker, really. The only bit that mentions the laser is one sentence (Highlighted in red) which doesn't really provide much detail about anything. The first paragraph isn't worth much either - all that tells us is that part of your order has been delayed.

Where are the pictures? Videos? Measurements: Power(OK, not everyone has an LPM), size, weight, duty cycle (Does it get hot quick? How quick? How hot?) and so on. Hell - I don't even see a wavelength mentioned in your post. I'm guessing 445? Or 460??

Perhaps consider updating your post with some more details - or post again with more detail when the rest of your order shows up. Understandable if you don't want to use such a powerful laser much without having yet received your safety glasses...

Not trying to be mean or anything... But, C'mon...

Edited: Formatting, mostly.

 

[Razako]

Glad to see you got the battery issue figured out. If I was you I'd try to get a refund from that ebay seller.

More details would be good though. What wavelength of spiker did you order? Perhaps some pictures would be good. Right now this thread should go in the companies section probably.

 

[Rivem]

Guess I'll get to this before Cyp shows up and rips you a new one...

This isn't really a review - most of your post talks about batteries - nothing to do with Sanwu or the Spiker, really. The only bit that mentions the laser is one sentence (Highlighted in red) which doesn't really provide much detail about anything. The first paragraph isn't worth much either - all that tells us is that part of your order has been delayed.

Where are the pictures? Videos? Measurements: Power(OK, not everyone has an LPM), size, weight, duty cycle (Does it get hot quick? How quick? How hot?) and so on. Hell - I don't even see a wavelength mentioned in your post. I'm guessing 445? Or 460??

Perhaps consider updating your post with some more details - or post again with more detail when the rest of your order shows up. Understandable if you don't want to use such a powerful laser much without having yet received your safety glasses...

Not trying to be mean or anything... But, C'mon...

Edited: Formatting, mostly.

Agreed. Would like to see a bit more on the laser as a non-owner that's considering one. I know technical details are hard, but build quality, buyer experience, photos, and shipping are all good to start off with. You're part of the way there.

If he happens to show up, Cyparagon can sometimes go a little overboard on what he expects out of reviews though. Not sure he can be satisfied, but that's reasonable from an expert.

 

[Skans]

Sorry for the lack of details. The Spiker I ordered/received is 445nm, 5 Watts. Although I have briefly used the Spiker, due to its power and my lack of eye protection (other than make-shift protection which is probably not much protection), I probably shouldn't have called this a "review" - it's really more of my initial impression. Also, I had a real problem trying to figure out whether it was working correctly or not due to one faulty battery, and since I'd seen that others have had problems with dimming lasers, I wanted to report a little on this experience.

Build quality is truly excellent. Fit and finish is professional quality. The stainless steel has a lightly brushed, almost polished finish and the aluminum fins seem to have a fine bead-blast finish. Every component used appears to be of the highest quality. It is heavy, being constructed of mostly stainless steel. The tail cap and tail-cap button are all stainless steel. It takes two 26650 batteries.

Mine is not multimode, so it is either on full-power or off - makes it easy and simple to use. The diode is encapsulated in a large copper heatsink which is further encapsulated in the finned aluminum head.

The heatsink will start to get slightly warm after 30 seconds; but even at 45 sec it's still not hot. I haven't run it to where the heat sink gets hot and haven't had it on for longer than about 45 sec. continuous.

It will quickly burn things like cardboard and plastic credit card - I just barely tested this out. To be honest, this thing is powerful! I don't have a LPM. I've been a little smart, maybe mostly lucky about this to simply test it to make sure it is working properly. But, I just won't run it again without getting the proper eye protection! I'm sure many here think I'm foolish for even testing it with crappy makeshift eye protection

I will try to take some pictures of the components and eventually a video of it on. I don't know about you guys, but to me, high quality, close-up photos of the individual components (I won't fully disassemble) tend to tell me a lot about the quality.

 

[Podo]

Thanks for the review! :beer: Contacted about the missing items.

 

[Skans]

Here are some photos I took of the laser and its disassembled components. I did not break it down past what I could easily unscrew, i.e. I did not take any of the electrical components or diode out of the unit.

I tried to take pictures of each component so that you could have a better idea of the quality. Sorry for a couple of the pictures being blurry - I used them because they still provide some information. The beam picture may be a bit out of focus and thus show the beam being a bit wider than it actually is - I'll need to work on those kinds of shots.

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[Cel]

Thank you! :beer:

The host is really beautiful.

 

[Richie89]

Nice pics. How the SH** do you post high res pics like that!!? I can't figure out how to do it lol I've tried

 

[Nanolaser]

That is a beautifull laser !

 

[olympus mons]

Maybe ask the mods to move the thread to "companies" subforum. Not much technical data and yes Cyparagon will make you wish you never took the time to write this. Which BTW I enjoyed reading.

 

[Skans]

Thanks, Nanolaser. The photos were taken with a Samsung 23mp camera with macro. I'm actually still learning how to use it; I probably should have used manual focus for some of the shots.

FWIW, I don't mind if the mods want to move this thread to the "Companies" subforum. I just wanted to put up some basic, non-technical information about a laser I purchased so that others considering this purchase would have a bit more information other than what is already out there. I'm not getting paid by anyone or any company to give an opinion of this product, so I didn't really think it was appropriate for me to post this under "Companies".

I know that when I am considering a purchase of something electrical, mechanical or electromechanical, I typically want detailed photos of the object itself. And, I want to know of any problems in delivery, basic performance, use, etc.

Maybe, some day I'll have the equipment, expertise, time, desire, etc. to do a technical evaluation of a laser pointer - I can certainly see the value in such an evaluation. Perhaps there should be 2 subforums: Non-technical Reviews and Technical Performance Evaluations.

 

[olympus mons]

I know that when I am considering a purchase of something electrical, mechanical or electromechanical, I typically want detailed photos of the object itself. And, I want to know of any problems in delivery, basic performance, use, etc.

Maybe, some day I'll have the equipment, expertise, time, desire, etc. to do a technical evaluation of a laser pointer - I can certainly see the value in such an evaluation. Perhaps there should be 2 subforums: Non-technical Reviews and Technical Performance Evaluations.

I agree. To me the technical stuff is just one part of a review and not always the most important to every reader. The buying exp, customer service, pictures different from the companies website, personal opinion of the product, imo are equally as valuable as confirming divergence, duty cycle ext.
I don't always agree with others that will claim this or that is NOT a review.

 

[Trendkilla254]

This isn't a review it's a "First Impression" - We need a new section. I myself don't mind either or, but we really do need a new section.

 

[Pman]

I tell people to put this kind of stuff under its wavelength. In other words I would put it under 445nm. I see the reviews section as for serious information reviews with lots of technical stuff. The exception I've given myself is when I've posted a whole bunch of units at the same time as I tend to do but say up front that I'm doing it because I just want to post it all together rather than a bunch of threads and not to expect any technical stuff as they all tend to be diodes that have all been reviewed before.
Nice clean looking unit. Congrats Can't rep you again yet. Great pics.

 

[Cel]

I agree with Pman.

Maybe we need new subforums as there are new wavelengths appearing here and there.
Or just group them by color (wavelength interval), not by single wavelength.

Something like this:

Color | Wavelength interval
Infrared > 700 nm
Red ~ 700–635 nm
Orange ~ 635–590 nm
Yellow ~ 590–560 nm
Green ~ 560–520 nm
Cyan ~ 520–490 nm
Blue ~ 490–450 nm
Violet ~ 450–400 nm
Ultraviolet < 400 nm