X100 Review. Quite disappointed...

[ArRaY]

Hey guys! Today I finally received my X100, that I ordered on the 25.9 and that was shipped on 26.9.
That adds up to a total shipping time of  4+31+4 days. Anyway, I am happy to receive it at all.
So I traveled to custums today, and ended up paying a total of 44[ch8364] for taxes, makes 226[ch8364](!!!!!!!!!!) for the laser + optics holder.

When I unwrapped the package, I was very happy when I saw the ratings:
Peak: 126.0mW
Avg:  121.0mW

But upon examining the laser, I discovered that the golden tailcap has a dozen deep scratches. However, that can´t be seen very good in the picture.

Soon after that, I saw that the aperture cap has a few minor scratches, too.
But the fact that hit me the most was, that when I expected a blueish green tint when looking into the aperture cap, there was nothing.
I always thought that there would be an IR filter!!! Is that the cause for the high power? Did they forgot to include it before measuring my unit? :'( If so, it could be weaker than 100mW, that is what I expect now.

I looked at the lens, only to see that it is not perfectly centered and has a few flaws in the coating an a single scratch, which is , however, not where the laser shines though. Since the lens is not centered perfectly, the beam comes out in an angle and has a terrible divergence. The divergences of sandstones and my dx '50' are at least half of that.

I am sorry that I have no beampics at the moment, but I do not think that it is an 120 mW unit, more like 85-95mW.
Would you recommend me to send it back?

 

[thesk8nmidget]

well you sound far from satisfied so yes send it back!

 

[ben74]

Just had a look at mine and the lens holder is silver and the one on yours its gold  :-? but my clip is wavy and the front cap is not so rounded and the battery cap is flat. I see a IR filter in mine so it look like its a different module.

 

[john_lawson]

the i/r is inside after the crystal thats the same average as mine try burning black plastic on fresh batteries like your comp keyboard it should smoke almost instantly

as for the divergence  my Rpl looks huge compared to my nova and my nova looks huge compared to my leadlight  

 

[RA_pierce]

I can clear up the IR filter part for you...
The filter is placed beneath the collimator lens. That's why it is not visible.
I'm sure it outputs the stated power unless it was damaged during shipping.
If customs got a hold of it they may have damaged it during inspection.

If you are unhappy contact Nova, I'm sure they'll help.

When I first got my X105, I was also disappointed with the divergence. It seemed about twice as divergent as my Galileo, but when I measured it, I found that It was in spec at 1.1 mRad. My Galileo just had really good divergence (0.7mRad).

Ben74: Yes, the lens nut on mine is also aluminum rather than brass... I think their supplier (Pretty sure it's CNI) changes the design of these pens a lot. There seems to be quite a few variations.

 

[AoiShikaku]

I received a scratch on the black paint and also the corner of the sticker was peeling off. (no customs check because I live locally)

As far as my divergence goes it's perfect from their specs. and they must have tested my unit with near dead batteries because I got a peak of 139mw and avg. of 127mw.

My Lens is aligned similar to yours, but the beam is perfectly straight if not less than 1 degree off.

I also have an aluminum nut similar to RA.. not the brass one like the pictures above.


You can go here and see the minor scratch and peeling sticker when I got the unit
http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1224385318

 

[ArRaY]

I am not quite sure atm if I will send it back or not. But I don´t think that I want to wait that long again.
But I don´t under stand why they would send a units with major imperfections. For that much money, i expect them to send me a perfect one...

ArRaY

 

[lazerguy]

That is a very uncommon thing to hear. I haven't heard about almost any bad product from Nova, so why do they do this? I thought that they checked the quality of all their lasers, which they must have done to check the output power. This is wierd. If they have measured the output power, how could they let this thing get through? They must have seen that it was scratchy and that the lens wasn't all right. :-?

Contact them about it, if you haven't done it already. Again, this is really strange, sounds more like a Wicked review to me.

 

[ArRaY]

That is a very uncommon thing to hear. I haven't heard about almost any bad product from Nova, so why do they do this? I thought that they checked the quality of all their lasers, which they must have done to check the output power. This is wierd. If they have measured the output power, how could they let this thing get through? They must have seen that it was scratchy and that the lens wasn't all right.  :-?

Contact them about it, if you haven't done it already. Again, this is really strange, sounds more like a Wicked review to me.

That´s why I am kinda sad in the first place. Ok, if the IR filter is in the crystal section, that is no longer a problem to me.
I just liked the idea to have some kind of protection for the lens. The things that are bugging me most are the lens and especially the tailcap... ArRaY

 

[AoiShikaku]

That´s why I am kinda sad in the first place. Ok, if the IR filter is in the crystal section, that is no longer a problem to me.
I just liked the idea to have some kind of protection for the lens. The things that are bugging me most are the lens and especially the tailcap... ArRaY

Well here is the thing about it you aren't thinking of yet.. because I also thought about resending mine back in because of the scratch on the black paint... as far as the sticker went.. pff.. I peeled it off lol. If I sent it back in I could potentially get something that is serverely underpowered than what you have now. A member here received an X100 and got a reading by them of 109 or so peak and a 103 avg. Mine was listed at 113 peak and 109 avg (but after testing with fully charged batteries I got 139 peak and 127 avg.)

Remember.. if it's functionallity out performs it's looks then who cares about a few dings here and there... it's either you want something that looks perfect and risk getting something lower powered than what you have or keep it as is because at some point... you'll probably end up scratching it up yourself.

BTW.. you can always buy a really cheap ebay laser for like $2 red pointer (shipped) and just swap the tail cap.

 

[WackBag]

I would send it back! Why pay that kind of money and get a scratched up unit. Insist that they resend the replacement unit with expedited service. Also, if you call them, they will most likely send you an even better/more powerful unit to makeup for the mistake. You may be without a laser for a couple of weeks but that is better then looking at your beat up laser for the rest of your ownership. You paid top dollar so you deserve a perfect unit! Worse case...they resend a less powerful unit but you just send it back as well. If they won't work with you then file a chargeback with your credit card company. Of course, this is worst case and I doubt it would ever reach that point. Nova lasers is a good company and will fix the wrong...

 

[ixfd64]

Lasers from NOVAlasers are supposed to be of top-of-the-line quality. Send it back.

 

[AoiShikaku]

wack and ixfd do have a point.. they are a good company from what others have gone through and usually get something good in the end. I personally like my laser as is and if Nova didn't have those problems with the 175's I would have bought one of those instead of the x100.

If you send it back.. the only thing you'll be losing out on is shipping cost and time. Not a huge loss if you ask me.

 

[LRMNmeyer]

I kind of got owned with my X100, like AoiShikaku mentioned, but if you request that you get one with an output comparable to this, they will send it to you. They even upgrade some people to the next highest power occasionally!
Edit: Wackbag beat me too it.

 

[Benm]

Both the tailcap and aperture look pretty banged up - perhaps something went wrong during shipping?

I'm not sure it'd affect performance, but given the price of these things i would not accept a unit looking like yours.

 

[Davo]

that can only be scratched from being opened from customs or before it was sent out, how can it get scratched that bad from shipping if its in a case with foam padding holding it in place?