Razako
0
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2006
- Messages
- 4,301
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Got some new arrivals in the mail yesterday. My Sanwu Spikers Series 638nm and 520nm. Why? Because if you can't blind the zombies it's nice to be able to club them over the head with your laser
Total time from purchase to arrival of the lasers was roughly 3 weeks. These are well crafted and have excellent machining/threads from what I can tell. Everything works and the focusing rings turn smoothly. These lasers are quite impressive looking and feel very sturdy in your hand. Not ideal if you want a highly portable pocket laser though.
Link to purchase site
https://sites.google.com/site/hkfew5e22/Series/Spike
Power and Duty cycle:
The red 638nm takes two 18650's and the Green 520nm requires two beefy 26650 batteries. Both lasers are supposed to have an unlimited duty cycle per Sanwu, but I probably won't actually test that out. I have left them both on for 3-5 minutes at a time with no negative effects. The large heatsink on the green starts getting a little warm after 2-3 minutes of runtime. The red laser heats up more slowly.
Current draw measured with fluke multi-meter:
Both lasers seem to have a 'soft-start' feature where the current gradually ramps up over a few seconds. The 520nm ramps up to 1.4-1.5amps at max, while the 638nm ramps up to around .5amps.
Beam specs:
These are direct diode 638 and 520nm lasers. You pretty much get a bar shaped beam with OKish divergence. This is unavoidable without corrective optics. If you want good beam specs you gotta get DPPS lasers or lower power diodes.
Burning: Both of these lasers will easily do all of the common tricks. I haven't been able to light paper on fire like I can with my O-like 2Watt 450nm though. Either I need to focus them better, or I need that extra watt of power.
Visibility: The Green 520nm is straight up THE BRIGHTEST laser I've ever owned. The scattered light from the spot can light up an entire room at night when pointed at the ceiling(Note, I didn't actually look at the laser spot, just held the laser up over my head). When your eyes are adapted to the darkness 520 is very close to the peak visibility wavelength.
The red 638 nm has a moderately visible beam in the night sky and seems to be more of a crimson/fire red compared to the darker blood red 650nm lasers.
Accessories: I've got a beam expander for these coming, but it won't be here for a while.
Complaints:
I only have one slight complaint so far. The battery tube in the 638nm seems to be very slightly too long. As a result I need to use the extended length protected 18650's or I have contact issues.
Alright then, enough of the boring analysis. Time for some pictures:drool:
No outdoor beamshots yet. Last night there were a bunch of helicopters flying around and I didn't want to be pointing a 1 watt green laser around. Maybe tonight...
Green laser cutting paper and light a green tipped match unfocused.
Red laser cutting paper and lighting matches.
Total time from purchase to arrival of the lasers was roughly 3 weeks. These are well crafted and have excellent machining/threads from what I can tell. Everything works and the focusing rings turn smoothly. These lasers are quite impressive looking and feel very sturdy in your hand. Not ideal if you want a highly portable pocket laser though.
Link to purchase site
https://sites.google.com/site/hkfew5e22/Series/Spike
Power and Duty cycle:
The red 638nm takes two 18650's and the Green 520nm requires two beefy 26650 batteries. Both lasers are supposed to have an unlimited duty cycle per Sanwu, but I probably won't actually test that out. I have left them both on for 3-5 minutes at a time with no negative effects. The large heatsink on the green starts getting a little warm after 2-3 minutes of runtime. The red laser heats up more slowly.
Current draw measured with fluke multi-meter:
Both lasers seem to have a 'soft-start' feature where the current gradually ramps up over a few seconds. The 520nm ramps up to 1.4-1.5amps at max, while the 638nm ramps up to around .5amps.
Beam specs:
These are direct diode 638 and 520nm lasers. You pretty much get a bar shaped beam with OKish divergence. This is unavoidable without corrective optics. If you want good beam specs you gotta get DPPS lasers or lower power diodes.
Burning: Both of these lasers will easily do all of the common tricks. I haven't been able to light paper on fire like I can with my O-like 2Watt 450nm though. Either I need to focus them better, or I need that extra watt of power.
Visibility: The Green 520nm is straight up THE BRIGHTEST laser I've ever owned. The scattered light from the spot can light up an entire room at night when pointed at the ceiling(Note, I didn't actually look at the laser spot, just held the laser up over my head). When your eyes are adapted to the darkness 520 is very close to the peak visibility wavelength.
The red 638 nm has a moderately visible beam in the night sky and seems to be more of a crimson/fire red compared to the darker blood red 650nm lasers.
Accessories: I've got a beam expander for these coming, but it won't be here for a while.
Complaints:
I only have one slight complaint so far. The battery tube in the 638nm seems to be very slightly too long. As a result I need to use the extended length protected 18650's or I have contact issues.
Alright then, enough of the boring analysis. Time for some pictures:drool:
No outdoor beamshots yet. Last night there were a bunch of helicopters flying around and I didn't want to be pointing a 1 watt green laser around. Maybe tonight...
Green laser cutting paper and light a green tipped match unfocused.
Last edited:
All pictures were taken on a chilly night with no fog and low humidity.
