WickedLasers E3 "300mW"

[yobresal]

Link to item being reviewed: 100mW, 200mW, & 300mW Laser in Red, Green, & Purple | E3 Series Lasers

Well I ordered this laser finally. I have always desired it because I find the host to be very sexy. Here is my review......


Order date: 1/7/12

Date received: 1/25/12

First impression: Well the laser is much larger than I thought it was. It looks like it should accept 2 X AA instead of 2 X AAA batteries. I thought it would be the same size as a GPL pen or newwish pen laser but it is actually a fair bit larger than those.

Power output: 150-175mW (power fluctuates between this range)
Mode: TEM00 (no mode hopping witnessed as of yet)
Beam diameter: 1mm (measured smaller than spec)
Wavelength: 532nm
Divergence: 2.2mRad (measured)
IR Filter: Yes
Power input: 2 X AAA batteries
Safety features: Pin Key lock on tailcap, red led indicator light, warning label.
Extras: Comes with a nice little quality belt holster
Price: $259.95
Warranty: 1 Year

Burning power: Well it will light dark matches, pop balloons, melt black plastic and do those typical tricks. I am spoiled by the burning ability of 445nm 1W+ lasers so this is really not a burner in my opinion. Just a nice sleek pocket laser.

Overall: The laser is Gorgeous. Even though it is listed as a "300mW" I read the specs and knew not to expect that much. It is above the minimum guaranteed output so I am happy. The laser did not take long to ship and it got here much faster than I expected coming form China. I wish it ran on a single rechargeable 14650 instead of 2 AAA batteries. Hopefully this will be considered in future designs. Unlike many >150mW pen lasers this one maintains a perfect TEM00 so I am thankful for that. Overall I am very pleased with my purchase!

On with the pics....

 

[jimdt7]

If i dont include the power matter, then
you must be happy with it.
I love the host also, its pretty impressive !

Jim

 

[Deleted member 22482]

My laser has exactly those specs. They are cheating on you, when you buy the E3 200mW, it has the EXACTLY same output. I myself had a E3 200mW and a 300mW that I still have, and they were outputting exactly the same things (okay, maybe 4-5 mW difference where the 200mW outputted more!) and my friend still has a E3 200mW that outputs just as much as mine when we compare it at the universitys LPM.

Paying extra $150 for just the host is not OK. I'd go with another laser from O-like or Lazerer outputting 200mW for $100 instead of a "300mW" from WL outputting 170-180 for $279 or whatever the price tag was..

 

[yobresal]

Yeah the labeling of 300mW is not accurate and we all know this. You can expect closer to the minimum guaranteed output with the E3 series. I am and was already aware if this so it doesn't bother me that this laser puts out 160mW. This is what I expected going I to the purchase. I like lazerer also. I've bought a couple of their lasers. Something everyone should be aware of though with "200mW" lasers. They are rarely 200mW of all green output unless they use the larger modules with C-mount pump diodes. The small pen host style modules max out at 175mW no matter what company is using them and regardless of the host.
You got pretty lucky that your 200mW puts out so much. Where's your review? As far as I've noticed this is the first E3 review in LPF. I wouldn't mind seeing how others perform.

 

[eytyxhs]

My condolences for your purchase. :beer:

 

[DJNY]

..The small pen host style modules max out at 175mW no matter what company is using them and regardless of the host..

Ready for this?

Wish I bought it back when NOVA had their -60% sale

 

[electron]

Very nice review, and it is a Great looking host for sure; I might pick myself up one of those too. +1

 

[yobresal]

Ready for this?

Wish I bought it back when NOVA had their -60% sale

Of course.....how could I forget. I remember when Nova first offered those. I wanted one badly but they were so damned expensive. Nobody managed to get them directly from CNI either. Very super powerful pen lasers. They do not use the tiny Green modules. I'm almost positive they use a C-mount IR pump diode. Who got one? Was is SandidgePatrick?

 

[electron]

Yea I bought one of those Nova Endeavor >275mW for full price when it first came out; it puts out an average of 305mW and Peaks @ 329mW.

 

[Jaseth]

Nice review!
I do like this host, but the one I was sent had two major flaws:

1) Button got stuck after about 1/4 of the times I clicked it and it was pretty difficult to release. The side of the button would slide under part of the host.
This can be avoided by pressing straight down and not holding it on for extended periods.

2) The safety pin became quite loose after removing it a few times - so loose it fell out with a bit of shaking.

A third but far from as annoying problem was that the threading had burrs and was not smooth.

Visually this host is amazing - the glossy finish is really nice unless you have a fingerprint phobia. Hopefully they have improved the design - it would be great if you could give some feedback on my three points!

 

[yobresal]

Interesting, I almost commented on how nice and smooth my threading is. It's perfect, not too stiff and not too loose. Nice and smooth. I have yet to remove the safety pin and probably never will so I don't see this being an issue for me. Kind of scared to remove it now. I haven't experienced any button sticking problems but I have been pretty consistent with pressing the button straight down. I will report back with any issues should they arise.

 

[Jaseth]

Good to hear that you haven't experienced those problems. I did get mine when the E3 series was quite new so they have probably improved the host since.

It still annoys me that they label all their lasers at 200% of the minimum power. Everyone knows you are not going to see any of these actually reach 300mW, just like no Krypton or Arctic reaches 1W without modification.

It's like buying a "2GB GPU" and then finding out nobody has ever gotten more than 1536MB out of it, and most of them are slower than that.

 

[yobresal]

While I agree with you about the E3 never reaching 300mW I have to disagree with you about the Kryton and the Arctic. Many of both of those lasers will reach 1W. It is true that the majority will not reach 1W but that is the listed maximum output anyhow. At least with the Kryton and the Arctic you can kind of expect the laser to be in the middle of the listed output range. With the E3 you pretty much have to assume it is going to be toward the bottom of the posted range. They should only have 2 models of the E3. With ranges of 75mW-150mW and 100-200mW and label them as 150mW and 200mW since that's how they do it.

 

[Jaseth]

I must have missed some reviews. In all reviews I have seen and from all the people I have talked to, ~850mW was the highest recorded power.
I apologise for my false assumption.

 

[yobresal]

I have seen somewhere on here an LPM reading of over 1W for the Kryton. I don't remember who owns it. I'll try to find it.

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

Helmock Mike... his krypton peaked at over 1W.

It very unstable though.