WL's 200 mW "Spyder I Pro" - the unbiased review!

[Doofus]

It looks awesome, and were it not for the pricetag, I'd honestly consider getting one. I just can't see myself paying that much.

Thanks for the review!

 

[Benm]

The argument that these units are intended for review and so must be the best of the bunch is no good. Any product review (other than independent customer reviews) that you see anywhere will be subject to the possibility that an above average unit was sent in to be reviewed. This is no different.

That's true!

But as far as the reviews section here goes, the vast majority of reviews have been submitted by users just ordering the laser, without the vendor having any idea about reviewing upfront.

This is nothing specific with wicked lasers, i'd be equally critical about any company sending products to likely reviewers for free or at discount.

Green lasers are especially sensitive to cherry picking as performance often varies wildly between units rolling off the same assembly line. If it were something like a new cellphone, i'd be less weary as they'd all be pretty much equal, and picking would only be on non-DOA and perhaps external appearance.

 

[lasersbee]

The way I see it....
If WL cherry picked all the Lasers that we reviewed... and they were/are all at/over
specs... then when the first production Laser Under spec gets shipped and tested..
WL will be shooting themselves in the foot and all the reviews will be moot..

Not to mention wasting all that money to supply free sample lasers...

I have trouble seeing the logic in that move... It would not be in their best
interest to ship out inferior production lasers...

Only time will tell....


Jerry

 

[ixfd64]

Wow, I'm surprised that most people find my review fair. There are quite a few people (on other forums) who think my review is too lenient, but there are also many people who think the review is too harsh. I guess they cancel each other out.

By the way, I've updated all of the photos. You may notice the following changes:

1. The photos now have better lighting.
2. Distortion and focusing problems have been corrected.
3. The photo with the accessories now shows the tail cap switch.
4. Some of the more redundant photos have been replaced.
6. The photo showing the output graph looked pretty silly, so I've replaced it with a scanned version.
7. The beam shots have been greatly improved.

Enjoy!