- Joined
- Feb 18, 2013
- Messages
- 48
- Points
- 8
Hello again, LPF! Dragon here! 
I fairly recently purchased, and just a couple of days ago received, an HL450 - 100 from Skylaser (laserBTB), and I have done what I can to put together a comprehensive review of this laser device for the benefit of those who may wish to purchase one in the future.
Shipping/Customer Service
Everything about this order went as smooth as proverbial butter from the moment I placed it, to the moment that the laser arrived at my doorstep...figuratively “at my doorstep”, as I wasn’t home to sign for it when it arrived, so I later had to drive to the local post office to pick up the parcel. XD I had email notifications from Skylaser at every step past payment verification. I got an email letting me know when my ordered laser went into production, then after about five business days, another email kindly informing me that the laser was on its way to me! I paid $13.35 USD for China postal air mail, estimated shipping time of 8 to 14 days, average of 12 days to ship to the US, and I received the laser promptly 8 days from the day that it shipped! Not bad at all.
Packaging
When the parcel arrived, I was quite pleased to find that the laser was very well packaged...it is a rare package that takes me longer than five minutes to open carefully! XD The laser was in a rather nice faux-leather box, along with two keys on a small key-ring for the key switch, which itself was stuffed on the inside with some bubble film, was inside of a white, cardboard sleeve, which was wrapped with several layers of bubble film as well, taped, placed with more bubble film inside of a brown cardboard box that was taped shut with several layers of tape, then that was further wrapped with multiple layers of bubble film, and copiously taped...this thing could have survived a nuclear attack! XD All in all, from the packaging, I would say there was little chance of an issue during shipping having possibly ended with this laser being DOA.
The Host
The host is constructed from rather nice, machined Aluminum. Upon taking off the tail cap to insert the required 2 16340 Li-ion cells, it can be seen not only that the tail’s threads are quite well done, but that the Aluminum itself is hardly cheap, thin tubing...it is rather nice, thick and solid. There is a side-clicky on/off switch, with a red power-indicator LED above it, and the key switch safety interlock below it. At the output end of the laser are two, textured, turn-able rings, the front-most, thinner one being the on/off (open/closed) knob for the output shutter, and directly behind that, the thicker one, being the focus-adjust knob. As far as safety hosts go, it is missing a remote key interlock (dead-man key), and a power-on delay. The indicator LED, furthermore, only turns on when the laser itself is on, not when it is armed with the key switch. The lack of full FDA-compliant safety features in this host does not bother me overmuch, though it may affect the impression that some have of this device.
Performance
The laser, upon being powered up, performs quite admirably, projecting a very nice, stable, TEM00, royal blue beam and dot. The all-Aluminum host wicks heat away from the diode inside quite well, with the unit barely heating up at all during my several-minute-long photo sessions. In spite of the fairly low-visibility wavelength, I was quite stunned by just how bright this laser appears. It has no trouble, for those of you who, like myself, love your beams, in making a fairly visible beam even in relatively well-lit spaces, and the beam is even more gorgeous in dim or dark areas. The good degree to which Raleigh scattering occurs at this wavelength is very apparent in the visibility of the beam. The beam diameter at aperture, which is quoted as being <2.5mm, is roughly correct as an average, but, as the beam profile is approximately oval in shape, it is measured to be, and more accurately stated as, ~1.5mm with respect to the minor axis, and ~3.5mm with respect to the major axis. The divergence of the beam, with the focus set to infinity and measured over ~31ft (~9.45m) comes out very low, with an average <0.25mrad, being <0.4mrad with respect to the minor axis and <0.1mrad with respect to the major axis, presuming that I did my measurements and math correctly. I currently do not have a good way to properly measure the output power, but I have estimated it to sit at ~103mW, just a shy bit above spec, using a quick-and-dirty IR-thermometer thermal LPM. For those that are into burning, there are perhaps better burning lasers, but this laser can make quick work of balloons from across a small room, as well as doing a decent job of igniting red-tipped matches, etching or burning through various dark-colored plastics, and punching holes in dark paper, as well as apparently searing a hole through my microphone’s pop filter, which I’ve often used as a bit of a beam-stop when photographing my green lasers, from ~8ft away...lesson learned...I’m not going to try using my p-filter as a beam-stop again for this laser any time soon. ^^” (A picture of the damage is available here.)
Unfortunately, my camera seems to have a hard time properly capturing the color, despite my best efforts, but my camera isn’t exactly the best to begin with, so kudos to you, little camera, for trying. That’s all that I can ask of you.
Summary
All in all, I must say that I am exceptionally pleased with this purchase, and I would gladly order from Skylaser again should the opportunity arise. The service was good overall, and the product itself is, for me at least, excellent. I hope you all enjoyed this review! If you have any thoughts, comments, suggestions, questions, etc., be sure to post below and let me know! :beer:
Have an excellent day,
Dragon/Cody
I fairly recently purchased, and just a couple of days ago received, an HL450 - 100 from Skylaser (laserBTB), and I have done what I can to put together a comprehensive review of this laser device for the benefit of those who may wish to purchase one in the future.Shipping/Customer Service
Everything about this order went as smooth as proverbial butter from the moment I placed it, to the moment that the laser arrived at my doorstep...figuratively “at my doorstep”, as I wasn’t home to sign for it when it arrived, so I later had to drive to the local post office to pick up the parcel. XD I had email notifications from Skylaser at every step past payment verification. I got an email letting me know when my ordered laser went into production, then after about five business days, another email kindly informing me that the laser was on its way to me! I paid $13.35 USD for China postal air mail, estimated shipping time of 8 to 14 days, average of 12 days to ship to the US, and I received the laser promptly 8 days from the day that it shipped! Not bad at all.
Packaging
When the parcel arrived, I was quite pleased to find that the laser was very well packaged...it is a rare package that takes me longer than five minutes to open carefully! XD The laser was in a rather nice faux-leather box, along with two keys on a small key-ring for the key switch, which itself was stuffed on the inside with some bubble film, was inside of a white, cardboard sleeve, which was wrapped with several layers of bubble film as well, taped, placed with more bubble film inside of a brown cardboard box that was taped shut with several layers of tape, then that was further wrapped with multiple layers of bubble film, and copiously taped...this thing could have survived a nuclear attack! XD All in all, from the packaging, I would say there was little chance of an issue during shipping having possibly ended with this laser being DOA.
The Host
The host is constructed from rather nice, machined Aluminum. Upon taking off the tail cap to insert the required 2 16340 Li-ion cells, it can be seen not only that the tail’s threads are quite well done, but that the Aluminum itself is hardly cheap, thin tubing...it is rather nice, thick and solid. There is a side-clicky on/off switch, with a red power-indicator LED above it, and the key switch safety interlock below it. At the output end of the laser are two, textured, turn-able rings, the front-most, thinner one being the on/off (open/closed) knob for the output shutter, and directly behind that, the thicker one, being the focus-adjust knob. As far as safety hosts go, it is missing a remote key interlock (dead-man key), and a power-on delay. The indicator LED, furthermore, only turns on when the laser itself is on, not when it is armed with the key switch. The lack of full FDA-compliant safety features in this host does not bother me overmuch, though it may affect the impression that some have of this device.
Performance
The laser, upon being powered up, performs quite admirably, projecting a very nice, stable, TEM00, royal blue beam and dot. The all-Aluminum host wicks heat away from the diode inside quite well, with the unit barely heating up at all during my several-minute-long photo sessions. In spite of the fairly low-visibility wavelength, I was quite stunned by just how bright this laser appears. It has no trouble, for those of you who, like myself, love your beams, in making a fairly visible beam even in relatively well-lit spaces, and the beam is even more gorgeous in dim or dark areas. The good degree to which Raleigh scattering occurs at this wavelength is very apparent in the visibility of the beam. The beam diameter at aperture, which is quoted as being <2.5mm, is roughly correct as an average, but, as the beam profile is approximately oval in shape, it is measured to be, and more accurately stated as, ~1.5mm with respect to the minor axis, and ~3.5mm with respect to the major axis. The divergence of the beam, with the focus set to infinity and measured over ~31ft (~9.45m) comes out very low, with an average <0.25mrad, being <0.4mrad with respect to the minor axis and <0.1mrad with respect to the major axis, presuming that I did my measurements and math correctly. I currently do not have a good way to properly measure the output power, but I have estimated it to sit at ~103mW, just a shy bit above spec, using a quick-and-dirty IR-thermometer thermal LPM. For those that are into burning, there are perhaps better burning lasers, but this laser can make quick work of balloons from across a small room, as well as doing a decent job of igniting red-tipped matches, etching or burning through various dark-colored plastics, and punching holes in dark paper, as well as apparently searing a hole through my microphone’s pop filter, which I’ve often used as a bit of a beam-stop when photographing my green lasers, from ~8ft away...lesson learned...I’m not going to try using my p-filter as a beam-stop again for this laser any time soon. ^^” (A picture of the damage is available here.)
Unfortunately, my camera seems to have a hard time properly capturing the color, despite my best efforts, but my camera isn’t exactly the best to begin with, so kudos to you, little camera, for trying. That’s all that I can ask of you.
Summary
All in all, I must say that I am exceptionally pleased with this purchase, and I would gladly order from Skylaser again should the opportunity arise. The service was good overall, and the product itself is, for me at least, excellent. I hope you all enjoyed this review! If you have any thoughts, comments, suggestions, questions, etc., be sure to post below and let me know! :beer:
Have an excellent day,
Dragon/Cody
Last edited:
