WLASER 50mW Handheld: Ehh.

[Trevor]

WLASER 50mW Unit

Background

I purchased this laser from Bin Yu directly so that I could write a review.

Unboxing

Surprisingly, the laser came packed only in a padded envelope. Not so good. :undecided:

Inside was the laser in a thin carrying case (it holds it but does not protect it) and instructions.

Inside the carrying case was the laser and a 3v CR2 battery.

Host

The outward appearance of the host is pretty nice. There were a few minor blemishes, but overall it's good. It's quite heavy and feels very good in your hand.

However, looks are not the issue here. When I first unscrewed the tailcap to put a battery in, the little rubber spacer that supports the driver fell out. Curious to see how the laser was put together, I shined a flashlight into the body and was horrified at what I saw. It's a standard green pointer module attached to the aperture cap, with a large (~1/4") gap all the way around it. The module is insulated from the host by a pocket of air. So much for good heatsinking. If you buy this laser, you'll prettymuch have to get a heatsink made for it. Pen pointers have better heatsinking than this.

Output

I have no meter to test the power.

However, when you fire up the laser, it lases in TEM00 for probably 8-10 seconds, then switches to TEM01. My old Optotronics pointer used to mode hop when the batteries were low, so I went out and got two CR2's for $10 so I could post the review. No change... goodbye $10.

It's likely a heating issue from the lack of heatsinking. I'm sure the pump diode is suffocating in there. Moreover, this issue crops up so fast after you turn the laser on, I would've thought that a simple test would have caught it. So the test was either nonexistent, insufficient, or the laser was damaged in shipping due to the small amount of packing it was in.

Divergence

I couldn't keep the laser in TEM00 long enough to measure it. I'll need someone to help me.

Conclusions

I'm very disappointed in the laser. The host is solid sure - if you want to put in a new module and a heatsink, this would be a solid handheld. However, given its stock setup, the heatsinking is terrible and it modehops faster than you can get a beamshot (I tried, they were all ruined). I am not impressed with WLASER so far.

Experience: Negative

-Trevor

 

[daguin]

:thinking: Hmmmm.

Mine holds TEM00 for at least 90 seconds. I haven't tested it any longer than that. Looks like RMA time.

Peace,
dave

**EDIT** Mine is #127494 so it looks like the same run

 

[wlaser]

Oh, We are sorry for that. We do check the laser before ship out. We would like to replace you another one. We just start our business. and this style is the new product in the market, it is not perfect. We are really really sorry for that. We will double check the laser by laser meter before we shipped out from now on. And all LPF members have 60 days warranty. You can get full refund during this period.

 

[Pontiacg5]

Thermal epoxy time?

http://laserpointerforums.com/f42/thermally-conductive-electrically-isolated-epoxy-50485.html

 

[sandidgepatrick]

i called bin after this post and wanted answers he said these lasers were new to his company didnt know much about them..he did tell me he had no prob. shipping any lasers to a vet. like daguin for inspection before being sent out to customer..he says he will pay shipping both ways.....all i know is that the ones i buy are 5mw greens are all way over spec..20mw to 45 mw.... i will be recieving some higherpowered ones soon for review from wlaser....sorry to here of his bad 50 you got...i know he will make it up to you..great guy..

 

[Trevor]

I've been refunded and will be shipping the laser back. Shame about the batteries though. ><

Bin Yu is quite good to work with.

-Trevor

 

[Pontiacg5]

Well, stuff happens. At least they made it right seemingly overnight. That laser design is very bad though, they should quit selling it for sure.

 

[sandidgepatrick]

he is going to stop selling this new design unit for sure he says...

 

[wlaser]

Thank you for everybody in LPF. We submit all the materials to F.D.A that they require, we think it has no problem if you contact service@wlaser.com to buy.

We will supply your F.D.A accession number personally.

 

[Pontiacg5]

Thank you for everybody in LPF. We submit all the materials to F.D.A that they require, we think it has no problem if you contact service@wlaser.com to buy.

We will supply your F.D.A accession number personally.

That would be pretty hard to do with most of your lasers since they don't have all the safety features the FDA requires. I would just like to know how this is possible without aperture shutters, key locks, led indicators, 5 seconds delays etc...

 

[daguin]

Well, stuff happens. At least they made it right seemingly overnight. That laser design is very bad though, they should quit selling it for sure.

I disagree.

I ran one for up to 90 seconds, with ~60 seconds between burns, for four cycles, with NO heating problems.

The front of the module (which is all brass) is directly screwed into the bare brass of the body (which is all rubber coated brass). There is plenty of metal contact to wick away the heat.

Even if was (and I do not believe it was) cherry picked for output, he cannot have cherry picked for construction

Peace,
dave

 

[Trevor]

I disagree.

I ran one for up to 90 seconds, with ~60 seconds between burns, for four cycles, with NO heating problems.

The front of the module (which is all brass) is directly screwed into the bare brass of the body (which is all rubber coated brass). There is plenty of metal contact to wick away the heat.

Even if was (and I do not believe it was) cherry picked for output, he cannot have cherry picked for construction

Peace,
dave

I'm not sure what you're talking about.

On the unit I got, the module was screwed to the aperture cap. This was screwed onto the body by a wider set of threads. The module was, in a sense, dangling off of the aperture cap. The sides of the module made no contact at all with the host. The only (slight) point of contact was the 1/8" or so that the front of the module screwed onto the aperture cap, which was screwed onto the body. The critical area of the module was in fact insulated from the sides of the host by a pocket of air.

EDIT: Attached an MSPaint drawing of how mine was constructed. Should be pretty clear.

-Trevor

 

[daguin]

I'm not sure what you're talking about.

On the unit I got, the module was screwed to the aperture cap. This was screwed onto the body by a wider set of threads. The module was, in a sense, dangling off of the aperture cap. The sides of the module made no contact at all with the host. The only (slight) point of contact was the 1/8" or so that the front of the module screwed onto the aperture cap, which was screwed onto the body. The critical area of the module was in fact insulated from the sides of the host by a pocket of air.

EDIT: Attached an MSPaint drawing of how mine was constructed. Should be pretty clear.

-Trevor

I agree with your description and drawing. I am not saying that your "observation" is wrong. I'm saying that your assumption is wrong.

I disagree with your belief that the "pump diode is suffocating away" in there. The entire module is brass. The heat does NOT just sit at the location of diode. It is wicked away by the brass and transfered to the body in that 1/8" contact. All "beliefs" aside, the actual tests I ran with the unit showed no significant heating with this design.

The problem with pen type pointers is that there is almost no metal in the body in which to "dump" the heat. That, cheap, pot aluminum that pen lasers are made from cannot hold nearly as much heat as a solid chuck of brass can.

Peace,
dave

 

[Trevor]

I agree with your description and drawing. I am not saying that your "observation" is wrong. I'm saying that your assumption is wrong.

I disagree with your belief that the "pump diode is suffocating away" in there. The entire module is brass. The heat does NOT just sit at the location of diode. It is wicked away by the brass and transfered to the body in that 1/8" contact. All "beliefs" aside, the actual tests I ran with the unit showed no significant heating with this design.

The problem with pen type pointers is that there is almost no metal in the body in which to "dump" the heat. That, cheap, pot aluminum that pen lasers are made from cannot hold nearly as much heat as a solid chuck of brass can.

Peace,
dave

Ahh, I see. Well, I know the voltage was not causing the mode issue (wasted money on CR2's), so I think it's a fairly safe assumption that it was heat. Seems to me that there could at least be improved performance if there was more contact between the host and the module. The heatsinks that are distributed with kits (Jayrob, anyone?) seem to surround as much of the module as possible - that's where I got the idea that the contact was inadequate. Based on what you said, I guess it's adequate but not ideal.

Also I should mention the host isn't as solid as I thought. A huge amount of the weight came from the very heavy tailcap. :thinking:

-Trevor

 

[daguin]

Ahh, I see. Well, I know the voltage was not causing the mode issue (wasted money on CR2's), so I think it's a fairly safe assumption that it was heat. Seems to me that there could at least be improved performance if there was more contact between the host and the module. The heatsinks that are distributed with kits (Jayrob, anyone?) seem to surround as much of the module as possible - that's where I got the idea that the contact was inadequate. Based on what you said, I guess it's adequate but not ideal.

Also I should mention the host isn't as solid as I thought. A huge amount of the weight came from the very heavy tailcap. :thinking:

-Trevor

The Kryton Groove (and many of Ehgemus' fine builds) only has metal-to-metal "contact" at the rear ring of the diode. That is a very small surface. However, the entire body serves as the heat sink. The same is true with this design. Even the tail cap is part of the heat sink.

The mod hopping, especially so quickly after turning the laser on, is a problem with either the alignment of the crystals or the "attachment" of the crystals. BOTH of those things are manufacturer's defects, and the laser should be replaced. However, it was not caused by overheating.

Peace,
dave

 

[Trevor]

The Kryton Groove (and many of Ehgemus' fine builds) only has metal-to-metal "contact" at the rear ring of the diode. That is a very small surface. However, the entire body serves as the heat sink. The same is true with this design. Even the tail cap is part of the heat sink.

Ahh. I've been operating under the assumption that the shorter the distance between the diode and a chunky bit of heatsink the better. My bad, then.

The mod hopping, especially so quickly after turning the laser on, is a problem with either the alignment of the crystals or the "attachment" of the crystals. BOTH of those things are manufacturer's defects, and the laser should be replaced. However, it was not caused by overheating.

When first turned on, it would lase briefly in TEM00. After it hopped, was turned off and allowed to cool for ~10 seconds and turned back on, it lased for maybe a second or two in TEM00 then switched to TEM01. This leads me to believe that it may be a manufacturer defect (like you said) being exacerbated by a buildup (even within acceptable limits) of heat - what's your take on this hypothesis? Forgive me if I'm beating a dead horse; I observed this behavior and am just curious.

-Trevor