Which one is the best???

[NYboy84]

i'm thinking about buying my first handheld laser. preferrably >125mW. however there are a bunch of brandnames like NOVA, LaserGlow, Optotronics, dragonlaser, dealextreme or Wicked Laser etc....please shard your experiences with me and which company is the one i can trust.
Thank you.

 

[Murudai]

Okay.

NOVA, Optotronics and LaserGlow are all the best. You will get the best products and the best customer service from those companies

Dragon is also a good company, though it isn't as tried and true as NOVA and the others.

DealExtreme is a reliable place to buy cheap, crappy lasers. That may sound weird, but lots of us have bought from DX and they have good service. However, their lasers are technically 'scam' lasers, as they are of low quality. However, DX have a good RMA (returns) service and some people just keep returning them until they are good.

A cheap laser from DX is high recommended for people starting off in the hobby, just because they are so cheap If you don't like it, you haven't wasted much

Wicked is great for accessories, lots of people have goggles from Wicked. However, their actual lasers aren't very good. They look nice, but are overprice and sometimes underpowered. Don't buy from them


If you have any more questions, you've come to the right place

 

[NYboy84]

Okay.

NOVA, Optotronics and LaserGlow are all the best. You will get the best products and the best customer service from those companies

Dragon is also a good company, though it isn't as tried and true as NOVA and the others.

DealExtreme is a reliable place to buy cheap, crappy lasers. That may sound weird, but lots of us have bought from DX and they have good service. However, their lasers are technically 'scam' lasers, as they are of low quality. However, DX have a good RMA (returns) service and some people just keep returning them until they are good.

A cheap laser from DX is high recommended for people starting off in the hobby, just because they are so cheap If you don't like it, you haven't wasted much

Wicked is great for accessories, lots of people have goggles from Wicked. However, their actual lasers aren't very good. They look nice, but are overprice and sometimes underpowered. Don't buy from them


If you have any more questions, you've come to the right place

Thank you so much on the recommandations as well as the quick response. so I think I'll go with NOVA for the first time. do you think that;s a good choice?

 

[Murudai]

Absolutely. NOVA have a reputation for having overpowered lasers, and that's what you want

You will not be disappointed with NOVA What were you thinking of buying?

 

[NYboy84]

hmm i'm thinking about alpha125. but how come optotronics have longer lifetime on the similar mW laser? such as alpha125 to ppl100?
and what is DPSS? does it make the laser better?

 

[Murudai]

DPSS is just the way the lasers are made. All green lasers are DPSS, so you don't have to worry about it. I'm sure someone can come and explain DPSS properly for you

Optotronics have a longer lifetime because the diodes aren't being pushed to their max capacity, where as in the alpha they are. But still, at 5000 hours lifetime, that's 1 hour continuous on every day for 14 years, that's a lot

 

[NYboy84]

I see. You are very knowledgable about lasers. Thank you

 

[jamilm9]

Just my recommendation that you should go with the x-sires because they are cheap and don't have annoying safety features.With the money you can buy more laser goodes.Ps make sure to get the safety goggles.

 

[styropyro]

Like everybody said, Nova will be a great place to get a laser from.

If money is much of an issue, I suggest getting the Alpha 105 instead of the 125. Reason why is that there will be almost no difference between the two (You won't tell a difference in brightness) and burning will be nearly the same, to me it isn't worth the extra $100. With that money you can get a nice pair of goggles and still have a little extra. If you are set on 125mW, then by all means by the 125, but if money is an issue than you should be fine dropping to the 105.

 

[f22warzone]

I had the alpha 125 and I must say I was kind of disappointed at first as my first laser I had to RMA the next one they sent me was about 145mw and it was all right but still left me disappointed as my dx200 ( back when they made them good) was still brighter and more powerful..... And now I have an rpl 425 and am very satisfied  .... But all in all I would probably not recommend buying the alpha instead I would save up a bit more and get an rpl

edit*(and by the way the guy i sold the alpha to has also re sold it to another guy inorder to get him an RPL also so as you can see their is a trend.... but i must say thos lasers do keep their value well)

 

[flare02]

What's a good place to resell lasers? Do you just ask the members on this forum? I was reading somewhere that it's not legal to put high powered lasers on ebay and that they will ban your account if you try. Is that true?

 

[Murudai]

Some people get away with it on eBay, but generally they don't allow it.

You can resell just fine here though. We have a section dedicated to that, the Buy, Sell, Trade section of these forums